Nebraska Fun Facts
There are many different types of soil found in Nebraksa. Name at least two.
Sandhills, Loess, holdredge, etc. These are formed from different mixtures of silt, sand, and loam.
There are reasons for why biodiversity study is important and necessary; name at least two.
monetary (ecotourism), medical, scientific, environmental, etc.
Definition of biodiversity.
A variety of different organisms living in an area.
In the field, we saw an example of a corridor. What is it and why would it be useful to an ecosystem?
A corridor is a path or area in which organisms can move more freely. This helps prevent isolation from the group. However, it can also increase predation or the spread of disease.
The sun is responsible for the energy living things need to survive and where most, not all, of the energy comes from. How much of the suns energy is actually absorbed and how much then is absorbed by plants?
51% and 1% respectively.
During what era did glaciers move through Nebraska?
Pleistocene
There are categories in which organisms adapt to environments. How many are there and list them.
three. behavioral, morphalogical, and physiological.
An interaction where one species hunts another for food?
Predation
We went to Morrill Hall and looked at Nebraska's history. What is one thing we might have seen as to why our current biodiversity is what it is today?
Glaciers, it used to be a sea, there used to be a forest, HUMANS, etc.
Why is prairie fire return intervals so much shorter than forests?
Because grass takes less time to grow to maturity and dry out and die whereas wood takes a long time to light on fire due to not being dead.
Nebraska contains how many different plant families?
Upwards of 100. Mostly grasses because Nebraska is a plains.
How does reproductive isolation occur? And name them.
Herbivores are what type of consumer?
Primary
Glacier Creek utilizes fire regimes to study natural prairies. What is the standard fire regime for a prairie versus a forest.
prairie 3-4 years. forest 50-100 years.
The amount of energy needed at that level would be extraordinary considering only 10% energy moves on and the consumer has to expend energy in order to obtain it.
Nebraska is smack dab in the middle of the midwest. We really get almost all the plants the midwest has to offer, and one of our own helped make that known. Who worked for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln who helped make the plant classification system what it is today?
Charles Bessey
How much energy passes from one organism to another after predation?
10%
There are three types of symbiosis, name one.
parsitism, commensalism, and mutalism
When we went to Turkey Creek (forest/slightly residential) we saw many differences compared to Glacier Creek (prairie), for example the types of species in abundance were different. Name some of those differences?
Turkey Creek contained more trees and less flowers. Glacier Creek contained many flowers and hardly any trees at all. All due to maintenance.
There are 6 different biomes. List 3 of them.
Rain forest, desert, grassland, tundra, deciduous forest, boreal forest.
For being called a farming state, Nebraska is not actually the best farming state. That would be Iowa and the reason is?
A huge chunk of Nebraska is actually just sand. They may try to farm there, but it doesn't work the same. And since it can't really be farmed, those sandhills are actually very good for plant conservation. It would be nice to conserve other habitats as well, but we have to take what we can get.
There are two types of succession, Primary and Secondary. What are the differences in these successions and name the ways in which succession can occur.
Primary is when all life gets wiped out and everything has to start from scratch. Secondary is when some life survives so not everything has to start from scratch. The mechanisms for succession are tolerance, facilitation, and inhibition.
What is the definition of rehabilitation?
Returning the habitat to something less than full but similar to it.
Jersey is a coydog and Sarah's dog we met. She has features and behaviors that are very doglike, and some that are coyotelike. Name a few.
Likes to climb trees and can do so using the longer prehensile nail. Is very nocturnal and somewhat independent like a cat. coyote features
Her coat is colored like the dog breed but sheds in a coyote fashion. it comes out in chunks.
What should we humans do to help conserve our environment?
debatable