The prairie

The prairie that we are

going to is in Funk’s Grove which
is located at 4532 N 725 East Rd,
McLean, IL. In 1824 the prairie was
found by the Funk family through
hard work, strong values, and forward
thinking they were able to
permanently embed their legacy in
the landscape. The prairie is the
largest intact prairie in IL. To know
how to do the research we will
need to be aware of the
differences between specific plant
and animal life as well as insects.
Such as the differences between the stems on the Compass Plant and the Prairie Dock.
The Compass Plant has sprouts of the flower all up and down the stem. Both are yellow
prairie flowers but both have distinct differences and it will be our job to determine which
flowers are which to provide evidence of biodiversity to determine a
healthy prairie.

Prairie Dock Compass Plant

 Temperature
The weather of the prairie during this
time of year is on average is 55.7 Fahrenheit.
The precipitation during our prairie was 10%
and our humidity was 45%. This weather is not
unusual for this time of the prairie. Most of the
birds in the prairie have migrated, which is
why we did not see a lot of biodiversity with
the bird’s species in the prairie. On September
28th the temperature reached 71 degrees
Fahrenheit; using Beaufort scale we deemed
the wind a 1, meaning smoke drifts or not
much wind at all. The total cloud coverage
when arriving was 30% and when leaving the
cloud coverage was 35%. After comparing the average temperature and actual
temperature on September 28th at Funks Grove Prairie, the weather during the day we
went was warmer than average.

Healthy prairie
To know what is a healthy prairie we will be evaluating the amount of
plant, animal, and insect species. We will see if there is a lot of biodiversity and the
amount of density the animals have on the prairie. Another way to check if its a healthy
prairie is to see if life is blooming in the prairie for example: the plants and the animals
at the prairie also if there is enough light going through at the prairie. The soil is another
way to check if the prairie is healthy and we can see if its dried up or if the soil is fertile.
As we are in fall and getting closer to winter we saw many dried up plants. The cup
plants were pretty much dried up totally.

Methods
The data that we will be collecting will revolve around the biodiversity of the
Prairie which will help us evaluate how a healthy Prairie should look. We will observe
the surrounding plants and the different species of animals that inhabit this specific
Prairie. Some specific examples of data that we will collect will be the number of
different species of plants, insects, and animals in total. The data will be collected by
each group creating a quadrant and using stakes with 10 yard yarn attached. The yarn
was used to accurately measure out 10 yards and create a box. A 10x10 box was then
created and we went through the box and marked down each species of plant, animal,
and insect. We had 3 members in our group so we split up and divided the quadrant
amongst ourselves. 2 of us proceeded to identify plants, starting on opposite ends of the
box, while the 3rd person went through and attempted to identify as many insects as he
could. Once the two members identifying plants eventually met in the middle, they
added their numbers together to find the overall total of each plant in the quadrant.

Collection of data
To collect the data at the prairie we will be looking at what type of plant is in our
quadrant and how many there is. We will see if he dominance is high in our quadrant
and others quadrant. Another way that we will collect our data we will see if the species
richness is high or low, to determine if the prairie is healthy we will see if the dominance
is high and the biodiversity is also high, to determine those thing we will collect the data
in our prairie. Animals are another way to look if the prairie is healthy. We started
collecting data as soon as we got to the prairie over temperature, evidence of humans,
and evidence of animals. The evidence of humans was obvious due to the pavilions,
park museum, benches, trails, and gardens. The park museum had different types of
animals, insects, and plant life that we would be seeing in the prairie. Those things
include snakes, compass plants, and large garden spiders, fortunately we did not see
any snakes. However, we did see quite a few compass plants and one garden spider
was caught and put into our specimen jar.

Prairie Data
When we look at our prairie in our quadrant we saw many tall goldenrod, we also
saw that there were some cupplants. When we were looking at our quadrant we could
of saw some Indian grass. There were 392 tall goldenrods that was the most dominant
in our quadrant and the second most dominant was the Indian grass which had 122
plants in our quadrant. Tall Goldenrod is the dominant plant for most of the quadrants
but other groups also had plants that we did not have in our quadrant. Stiff Goldenrod
was more common in one group’s quadrant than Tall Goldenrod which was uncommon
in comparison to all of the other quadrants, including our own. In regards to animals and
insects, beetles were most commonly discovered in our quadrant and one other
group’s. Ants/Flies/Bees/Moths were extremely common in one quadrant with a total of
100 found in one area. In comparison to that group’s 100 found, our group only
discovered a total of 8. No other group exceeded double digits in that category so that
one quadrant accounted for most of those insects. No birds were seen in the Prairie
itself however they were observed outside of the main building. Other common insects
seen in all of the quadrants were grasshoppers and spiders. No mammals were
observed by any group, making insects the only animals observed in the Prairie itself
while birds were seen outside the main building.

Analysis
After analyzing the grassland closer, we found that our prairie is not healthy. The
reason that our prairie in our quadrant is not healthy is because the species richness is
not high and there are too many goldenrods in one quadrant. In order to be a healthy
prairie, there should be different kind of plants in the same area. In the article we read it
states, “more diverse communities are more resistant to invasion”. This can be used as
evidence to back up our claim that the health of a prairie can be evaluated based off its
diversity. The statement does not only support our claim but it also provides us with
evidence that a healthy prairie should have a high species richness. We analyzed the
amount of plants within each quadrant, and we also documented the different types of
species that were observed. After doing so, we gathered the data giving us the
reasoning behind our prairie not having much biodiversity. Having too much tall
goldenrod, compass and cup plants, and few of others, along with few insect and animal
diversity, provided evidence of a lack of biodiversity.
Conclusion
The prairie was an interesting trip where we studied what a healthy prairie is and
the key role that dominance of species plays in evaluating if a prairie is healthy or not.
Our conclusion, based off of the data we acquired, is that the prairie we observed was
not healthy. We based our conclusion off of the data we acquired concerning the
diversity of the animals and plants. Our personal data came from our quadrant but we
then compared that data with that of other group’s quadrants. There was little evidence
of diversity amongst animal species as we only found a few different types. Most other
quadrants also found the same types of animals as us, showing the little diversity that
there was. Plants also brought us to the same conclusion. Almost all quadrants had the
same type of species. All quadrants had an abundance of these plants, just not a
diversity. The diversity of the prairie is important in deciding its health because most
other scholarly reports based their analysis off the diversity of the prairie as well.
Overall, we encountered multiple species of both plant and animals that are not
common outside of the Prairie, however we did not encounter enough different species
to create a diverse prairie, thus making it an unhealthy prairie when compared to others.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.13057.x

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1526-100X.2002.02023.x