Site 7
Grassland
The Great Plains is a major ecological region that encompasses 1.4 million square miles in the middle of North America. When the settlers of the United States moved westward, they found that the grasslands, or prairies as they called them, were more than just dry, flat areas. The prairies were a unique ecosystem that contained more than 80 species of animals and 300 species of birds, and hundreds of species of plants. Today, after decades of agriculture, livestock grazing, and urban sprawl, about four percent of the true tallgrass prairie remains, with the largest areas being the Flint Hills of Kansas and the Osage Hills of Oklahoma.
The Grassland Biome can be examined in four basic categories: terrain, weather, animals, and plants.
Terrain: The vegetation and topography of temperate grasslands are characterized with diverse grasses and flat to rolling terrain that meets the open sky. Since prairie plants have a deep, impressive root system, the soil of the prairies is dark and rich with nutrients. Small sections of the true tallgrass prairie today are found in areas where the land is not tillable due to the slope of the land, rock layers, and soil depth.
Weather: Temperatures in this biome vary greatly between summer and winter. They can be as high as 100+ F and as low as -40 F. There are two real seasons: a growing season and a dormant season. The growing season begins after the last freeze. Warm temperatures revive the soil and bring moisture to the atmosphere for precipitation. The annual precipitation rate of the prairie is 20-35 inches of rain a year – most of it coming from winter snow melt. The dormant season occurs when vegetation is shut down by either freezing temperatures or drought. Lightening ignites fire; however, the perfect weather conditions of low humidity, warm temperatures, and intense wind can feed a small flame into a raging wildfire that sweeps the land.
Animals: The most predominant species found in the temperate grasslands are large grass-eating (herbivorous) ungulates (hoofed mammals), who are able to take full advantage of the various grasses found there, and who have a specially adaptive digestive system to process the grasses. Because of the relatively short height of plants, they are able to see a predator from a distance and have adapted to be able to run swiftly away from danger. Many grassland mammals have front legs and paws adapted to dig burrows where they can be safe from predators and extreme temperatures. Plus, prairie wildlife have coats, feathers, shells, or scaley skin that blend in with the surrounding vegetation, so that they are camouflaged from predators. Examples of animals that can be found in temperate grasslands of North America include bison, pronghorn antelope, rodents, badgers, coyotes, blackbirds, grouses, quails, hawks, owls, snakes, grasshoppers, leafhoppers and spiders.
Plants: Eighty percent of the foliage is indeed made up of grasses, from 40 to 60 different species. The other 20% of the primary vegetation is made up of over 300 species of forbs or flowers. The prairie also has over 100 species of lichens and liverworts as well as numerous species of woody trees and shrubs along creeks and protected areas. The secret to the survival of the prairie plants in such a hostile environment is that 75-80% of the prairie’s biomass, or plant material, is underground. The visible plants seen on the landscape are merely the photosynthetic leaves gathering sunlight for a much larger community underground. Just beneath the surface lies the main stems or rhizomes, running horizontally. Here they lie protected from drying, grazing, trampling, fire, and frost.
The grasses growing in the O.W.L.S. site are Big Bluestem, Indian grass, Switchgrass, and Little Bluestem. All four of these plants make-up the vegetation found in tallgrass prairies. During a moist summer with the prefect conditions for growth, these grasses can reach as high as 8 to 10 feet here in the O.W.L.S. park.
