question about prairie ecosystems?

Question

What are the factors that maintain prairie ecosytems? What will happen if these factors are not present? How do these factors interact to make a more diverse habitat? Also, how and when is grazing a problem?

Answer 1

1. biological diversity.
2. the remaining organisms will be stressed
3. supply and demand, survival of the fittest
4. when overgrazing occurs

Answer 2

Prairie ecosystems are maintained by the occasional fire. If fire isn't present in a prairie, woody vegetation will begin to fill in the prairie and over a large period of time the prairie will add more trees and eventually become a forest. The absence of fire causes a change in the successional stage of the prairie ecosystem. This is why when maintaining praries prescribed burning is utilized to mimic natural fires, prescribed burns are also much safer then natural burns. Occasional prairie fires will eliminate most woody vegetation, though some trees and shrubs are able to withstand prairie fires due to their thick bark, as well as any exotic non native species that may wish to colonize the prairie. Fire will increase the species diversity after regrowth since some species only live in recently burned areas

Grazing in prairie becomes a problem when the grazers stay in one area of the prairie like in a pen. If the animals stay in one pen for a while it's likely that they will overstress the prairie by eating too much of the grasses as well as compacting the ground. This is why most ranchers will rotate where the grazing animals are in multiple pens, to allow a time for the prairie to recooperate after being grazed. If it's just light grazing like a bison herd moving through the prairie it may actually help the prairie grass to grow stronger.

Answer 3

here in North Carolina we labored with the Mecklenburg county parks and interest and carried out a prescribed burn on approximately 60 acres that they have got been going to transform into prairie. First we drum chopped the section which crushes the flora that are there down and chops them up. after all of it browns and the section starts off to sprout you burn it with a terrific plowed line around it for secure practices. the hearth kills lower back extremely some the flora that sprout lower back. Then from there you're able to do artwork like discing to get the section waiting for seeding with in spite of you will plant.