Non-Native Invasive Species

Onionweed or (1) Asphodelus fistulosus –  (2)Onionweed is a perennial in the lily family and grows to about a foot tall and almost a foot wide. The plant resembles chives or scallions. The flat flowers on the plant are less than half-inch across and are white with a pink center line. This plant is often confused with some of Arizona’s native onions. The blades of grass that consist of the plant are very bright green.  The species of plant is a very aggressive one. (3-4) It was first introduced as an ornamental plant. Its seeds regularly and can form large populations very quickly. This plant is also indigestible to cattle and most wildlife. Onionweed is native to southern Europe, Mediterranean Africa, and Western Asia. These plants were introduced to The United States in the 1980’s. 

Onion Weed

Buffelgrass or (1) Pennisetum Ciliare-  (2) Buffelgrass is a shrubby grass that grows anywhere from one and half feet to three feet in height. They come off as very messy looking and not what you would imagine grass blades looking; uniform and organized. They are more so a plant than a field of grass. The branch or twig on them is more of a gray toned color and the blade itself is a vibrant green.  The plant is a primarily a warm season grass. (3) Although after a good rainfall it will near grow anytime if it is under 3000 in our region.  The reason the plant is successful is because it doesn’t require much water to survive and when it gets water it takes from other plants getting the amount of water they need to survive. If buffelgrass is not controlled it spreads like wildfire taking over every inch of land. Buffelgrass is also a big issue when it comes to wild land fires, because it is such a dry plant it’s easily burnable and the results after a fire don’t kill off the seed and it is one of the first things that regrows in the area, whereas most native desert plants are killed. It is also know that buffelgrass depletes soil fertility, and when it dies it leaves behind a sterile wasteland.  (4) The species is native to Africa, the Middle East, Indonesia, and nearby tropical islands. It is most prominent in southern Arizona now and can be found mostly on the road sides on the shoulder and open fields. Buffelgrass was introduced to the United States in the 1930’s as livestock feed.

Buffelgrass

Fountain Grass or (1) Pennisetum Setaceum – (2) This grass is an attractive flowing soft looking type of grass. It can grow up to three feet tall and wide. The leaves can be anywhere from 11-30 inches long from the base. The color variation is an off white and purplish. The plant texture is that of soft silky hairs are over in an inch long and surround the fruits. (3) This is mostly alive in the warm season between July and September. The fountain grass can also flower most of the year if it’s below 3000 feet.  Fountain grass can spread very quickly due to how many seeds in produces and competes with other native plants for space, water, and nutrients. This plant, like the buffelgrass, also provides a lot of fuel for wild land fires. (4) Fountain grass originated from North Africa and the Middle East. In Arizona it is widespread in Phoenix, Tucson, Ajo, and Gila Bend areas.  Fountain grass was originally used in Tucson in the early 1940’s in urban landscapes and refined in Soil Conservation Nursery.

Fountain Grass

(5). Five ways a non-native invasive species can alter an ecosystem

1.       The area can be overtaken by the invasive species and kill off the native species.

2.       The invasive species can take all the of nutrients need for the native plant to live, causing extinction of the native species.

3.       They invasive species can damage the soil in the area causing it to be non-fertile.

4.       These species can cause wide spread fires more so than some native species due to how dry many of the species are.

5.       Many invasive species in water can alter the ecosystem by consuming mass areas of the surface making it hard for native species to survive.

Rainforest & Wolves!

Rainforest

I have chosen the Rainforests of Atsinanana to write about, which comprise six National Parks distributed along the eastern part of Madagascar.  Madagascar geologically separated from Africa about 60 million years ago, so plant and animal life has evolved in isolation.  The rainforests are important to both the ecological and biological processes as well as to their biodiversity and the threatened species they support.  Rainforests generally have an abundance of plants and animals due to their tropical climate and the forest canopy.   Three-quarters of the animals of Madagascar can be found nowhere else in the world, among the most unusual rain forest creatures on the island are the various types of lemurs. The Madagascar tops the list as home to the most threatened primates.  In particular the lemurs are now one of the world’s most endangered groups of mammals.   An incredible 91 percent of the world’s lemurs (out of 103 species and subspecies) are currently classified as threatened with extinction by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List.  Madagascar is also the home to about half the world’s 150 or so species of chameleons.  This chameleon community is not only the world’s largest; it is also the world’s most unique, with 59 different species existing nowhere outside of Madagascar.  

Madagascar’s lowland rainforests have been preserved generally better than the high central plateau, presumable due to historically less population density and longer distance to the capital city via marginal highway.  There has been widespread slash-and-burn activity in the lowland rainforests, together with illegal logging, reducing certain forest habitat and applying pressure to some endangered species.  Slash-and-burn is a method sometimes used by shifting cultivators to create short term yields from marginal soils.  When practiced repeatedly, or without intervening fallow periods, the nutrient poor soils may be exhausted or eroded to an unproductive state.  These habitat loss impacts are especially significant because of the inherent biodiversity and high endemism of these rainforests.  It is estimated that only a third of the original lowland forest remains intact.  Seven percent of the lowland forests that remain are protected in national parks and reserves

Opposing View to Wolf Re-introduction

In 1914 the U.S. Biological Survey was founded and federally funded, with their main goal being to eradicate the wolves in Yellowstone National Park and surrounding areas.  By 1926 the last two wolves in Yellowstone were shot and it is documented that the wolves were almost wholly eliminated from all of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho by 1927.   By 1935, biologists were reporting an imbalance in the ecosystem, thus creating the need for “Wildlife Management”.   As a result of the removal of the wolf, overpopulation of the elk was causing a significant decline in the new growth of native plants and trees, and this, in turn, was causing erosion and a population reduction in birds, beavers etc.  In 1966 wolf reintroduction was presented to Congress by biologists and after much controversy, in 1995 wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone.

Of course, not everyone missed the wolves.  Hard working livestock owners, battled one less obstacle, and hunters loved the new abundance of game animals.  Paradise Valley in Montana became an elk hunting mecca.  Now recent opinion seems to be that the wolf population has recovered to the point that they, like other wildlife, need to be “managed”.  These scientists admit that wolves have had a minimal impact on the elk populations.  Overall, a mess was created when we took it upon ourselves to “manage” Mother Nature.  

 

Energy Lab

Energy Lab. 

1.       In my model, energy is represented by coins.

2.       Trophic levels are represented by coins.

3.       Write a step-by-step description of your procedure for running the energy flow model. Give some detail in at least five steps.

-The first trophic level has 100 coins.

-Next, I transferred 10% of the energy from the 100 coins. The results of the transfer in the next trophic level left only 10 coins.

-I again transferred 10% of the energy of 10 coins. The results of that transfer in the next trophic level left only 1 coin.

With another with 10% of the energy transfer of 1 coin there is only 0.1 left of the coin in the fourth level. (At this point I couldn’t divide the coin into tenths)

-With this process we would never really run out of the coin mathematically speaking but we would never be able to probably see something so visually small unless we had a microscope.

4.       Provide a diagram of your energy flow model complete with the numbers you calculated showing what percentage of high quality “energy” makes it to the next level. Try using Word with text boxes and symbols or a PowerPoint slide or another drawing tool. You can also hand draw and scan. Then attach separately or include in this document. If you use a reference (even your textbook), it must be cited in MLA format; see guidelines here. Also easily found on the YC Library page under Cite Guides.  SEE PHOTO BELOW

5.       Provide an example of a calculation you performed to determine the amount of high quality “energy” lost between trophic levels in your model.  The calculation was 10% of each level of energy. 10% x 100 = 10 / 10% x 10= 1 / 10% x 1 =.1

6.       What is high quality energy? High quality energy is organized and concentrated energy used to perform a task. An example of high quality energy is electricity because it is a high quality form of energy. Electricity can be converted to mechanical energy, thermal energy, and electromagnetic energy (radio broadcast) with little loss of energy while changing form.

7.       Why does only a small percentage of high quality energy make it from one level to the next? Because every level it’s transferred to it becomes less energized.  Just like any break in an electrical wire, it loses more power on each cut.

8.       What happens to the high quality energy if energy is neither created nor destroyed? I would imagine that it doesn’t change. Because nothing is being used. Just like the bowl of coins, If I don’t transfer the energy then they don’t move.

9.       Give a specific name of an organism potentially represented by each energy level.

Level 1 (most high-quality energy)        Producers (plants)

Level 2                                                                 Primary Consumers (herbivores)

Level 3                                                                 Secondary Consumers (carnivores)

Level 4                                                                 Tertiary Consumers (top carnivores)

10.   Could one run out of high quality energy for "levels?” Why or why not? Not mathematically no, because according to my example, 10% of something (energy or a coin) will always be 10% of the starting amount.

11.   In terms of interacting with energy in a sustainable way, why is understanding this is important? This is important because If we use sustainable energy the quality and amount goes down making it harder to survive.