Couldn't make Saturday's field trip? Here's the alternate assignment:
Research Nebraska Prairie restoration, and in a 1/2 PAGE to ONE PAGE TYPED essay (arial font, 12 point) explain the processes and considerations involved in restoring the native prairie here in Nebraska. Make sure you do not plagiarize. You must include resources used (not a part of the size requirement). You MUST email your essay to me by Friday, September 30th 11:59pm to be accepted for a grade. Here's one suggested link, but you are not limited to only this one: https://prairienebraska.org/restoration/
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Go to the following link, on the right hand side, click on Data Activity Tutorial and download
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/gorongosa-scientific-inquiry-and-data-analysis APPENDIX 1: GORONGOSA ECOLOGY
As you read, explore the Gorongosa Interactive map to learn more about the hydrology, vegetation, and human influences in and around Gorongosa National Park: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/gorongosa-national-park-interactive-map Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique is a 1,570-square-mile protected area at the southern end of the African Rift Valley. The valley runs through the center of the park with plateaus to the east and west. Water flows from Mount Gorongosa, down the Cheringoma Plateau, into Lake Urema in the center of the valley. During the wet season, from January to March, Lake Urema expands to over 10 times its size, covering the grassland in the center of the park. During the dry season, from July to September, the lake contracts. The grassy plain provides rich, nutritious grass for many of the park’s herbivores. As the dry season progresses, the grass throughout the park slowly turns brown and dies. This dry grass fuels large wildfires that burn sections of the park in the late dry season until the rains come again. Four broad vegetation types make up the Gorongosa ecosystem. Grasslands cover almost 20% of the park, primarily in the center. The grasslands are maintained by the seasonal flooding of Lake Urema and its rivers, by natural fires in the dry season, and by grazing herbivores. Elephants also play their part by knocking down trees along the edges of the floodplain. Grasslands are an extremely productive ecosystem, providing food to support a vast diversity of species. Gorongosa’s large grazers, including hippos, buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, and waterbuck, eat a staggering amount of grass each day and help “mow” tall grasses, creating patches of short grass. Smaller antelope, like impala, reedbuck, and oribi, feed on the lush, green grass shoots that grow in these short patches. These herbivores attract large predators, like lions. The mixed savanna and woodland vegetation type is found in the rift valley. It includes distinct forest patches—with bright yellow fever trees, tropical palm trees, and miombo woodland— which provide habitats for many different wildlife species, from insects to elephants. The tree canopy of the savanna patches is open, allowing enough light to reach the ground for grasses and herbs to blanket the ground. This vegetation type also provides different habitats at different vertical layers, from grass, flowers, and leaf litter on the forest floor, to short shrubs and tree trunks, to tall trees of different heights. The combination of forest and savanna patches across the landscape and the diversity in vertical habitats allows nearly all of Gorongosa’s species to live in this vegetation type. The most common type of forest in Gorongosa is the miombo woodland. Miombo is the Swahili name for the most prevalent type of tree from the genus Brachystegia. The smallleaved Brachystegia trees can grow in poor soils and are commonly found in the rocky plateaus to the east and west of the rift valley. Miombo woodlands are home to many of Gorongosa’s antelopes that feed on leaves (browsers), including impala, bushbuck, nyala, kudu, eland, and sable antelope. Some of these antelopes are mixed feeders that also eat grass. Primates, like baboons, vervet monkeys, and bushbabies, are commonly found in woodland habitat, foraging on the ground or high in the trees. Birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects, also found in miombo woodlands, are an important food source for small carnivores, like mongooses, genets, and civets. Because this forest is dominated by a single type of tree, there is typically less diversity of animals here than in the patchy woodland/savanna habitat. The limestone gorges of Gorongosa National Park were formed over many millions of years as erosion from rivers and rain carved out deep gorges in the side of the Cheringoma Plateau in the eastern side of the park. Many of these gorges still contain small rivers surrounded by lush, riparian forest. The gorge stays cool and moist, even in the dry season, and provides nutritious green vegetation for a variety of animals year-round, including antelopes, baboons, birds, and carnivores. Sunlight only reaches the floor of the gorge for a limited period of time each day, so very little grass covers the ground. Primates, like baboons, and birds are especially common in these gorges, as are small antelopes that prefer dense forest. Massive animals, like elephants and hippos, and herbivores that eat only grass are much less common. Humans are also a part of the Gorongosa ecosystem. Tourists stay in the Chitengo camp inside the park and drive on dirt roads to view animals during the day. Some animals are very used to these vehicles, while others, like elephants, tend to avoid them when they can. Local people live in villages around the park, and some live very close to the park borders. Many of these people grow crops on small farms next to the park, and animals, including elephants, hippos, and baboons, visit these farms to feed on crops. Crop raiding by animals can wipe out a family’s food source in the course of a single night, so villagers use various techniques, like loud noises and the scent of chili peppers, to repel animals. Want to watch the movie again? Try here: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/guide-biologist-gorongosa
Wildcam Gorongosa https://www.wildcamgorongosa.org/#/classify |
AuthorMrs. Pagett Archives
February 2017
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