Environmental Science

5. ****These tall grasses can grow as tall as ten feet and average a height of six to eight feet. The soil underneath the prairie is a dense tangle of roots and bulbs.***** Prairie Plants •• • Over 100 plant species can occur in prairie of less than 5 acres. • The major grasses of the tall grass prairie are the big bluestem, the little blurstem, Indiangrass and switchgrass. • Some prairies plants put out roots that extend 12 feet below the prairie surface. • Each year some of the roots die.Large quantities of organic matter are Added to the soil as roots die and decompose making rich and fertile soil.

6. Big Bluestem Little Bluestem switchgrass Indiangrass •

7. Prairie Animals • Up to 60 million bison grazed on the plains and prairies of North America when European explorers first arrived and fewer than 600 existed by 1885. • An adult male bison stands about 6 ½ feet high at the shoulder. • A bison bull weighs up to 2,000 pounds and a cow weighs up to 1,000 . • Grazing was an integral part of the prairie ecosystem and Increased the growth of prairie plants. • Prairie dogs gravitated to the patches of close-cropped grass Left by grazing bison where they could watch for prowling predators. • Prior to pioneer settlement,some five billion prairie dogs in extensive Colonies spread across hundreds of miles of prairie. • Saving prairies dogs means saving prairie wildlife. Other creatures have suffered due in good part to the prairie dogs’ Decline. For example , the burrowing owl roosts and nest in prairie dog town burrows. • Prairies chickens once flourished on the grasslands .As the grass disappeared, so did the prairie chicken.Today,only about 400,000 survive in the entire country,in 11 states.

8. Other subterranean animals include flightless insects and grubs, and the many burrowing mammals; rodents, mice, gophers, prairie dogs and rabbits.