Describe the ecosystem in Illinois in terms of its plant life, animal life, and geology?

Question

How dependent is the community on this ecosystem? What are the limiting factors of the ecosystem?

Please serious answer please. I am writing a paper on this subject and I need some feedback. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hey, I live in Illinois!

The main ecosystem across the state of Illinois was tallgrass prairie. However, the southern part of the state was and still is, in part, temperate deciduous forest.

Historically, the tall grass prairie:
1. had tall grasses such as big bluestem and Indian grass as its main plants, mixed with many flowering forbs like purple coneflower, compass plant, blazing star, sunflower, rattlesnake master, and so on
2. had bison, ground squirrels, snakes, insects, birds, ...
3. and I'm not that sure about the geology except to say that the tallgrass prairies were shaped by the glaciers of the last ice age which ground down rocks to form the basis of the soil and flattened the landscape.

Today:
1. We still have the tallgrass prairie soils, but almost all of the original prairie is gone.
2. We grow crops that have tallgrass ancestors - corn in particular. Corn is just a specialized tall grass. In the drier mixed or shortgrass prairie states they grow wheat instead of corn. A short grass instead of a tall grass.
3. The main limiting factors of the ecosystem are precipitation (less than forested areas), and historically, periodic fires. Grazing animals also played a role. All three of these limiting factors kept the tree growth to a minimum and favored the grasses.

I love the tallgrass prairie ... except in the fall when there's a giant spider across your path no matter which way you turn. The sights and sounds make my heart ache. The flowers are exuberant; the grasses stately. The prairie dropseed makes hassock-like tufts that are unmistakeable. Butterflies drift across the tops of the seed heads. I can't even reach halfway up the prairie dock, it's so tall. I trip over a crayfish mound in the wet sections and come across a deer's bed in the dry. Shooting stars peep up from less than knee high in the spring, while the turkeyfeet of big bluestem wave overhead in the fall. There's a bird nest in the goldenrod, and there are the seed heads left over from gray-headed coneflowers that are past their prime. Don't go that way ... too many raspberry brambles. Step over here and see the aphids lined up on the sunflower stalks.