ECOSYSTEM EXPLORER. Name: Hometown:

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1 2018 ECOSYSTEM EXPLORER Name: Hometown:

2 MONTANA RANGE DAYS PLANT ID & ANATOMY TALKING POINTS Ecosystem Explorer GRASS PLANT IDENTIFICATION Blue grama G, P, N, W, I Has a shallow, fibrous root system. This grass spreads by basal tillers and often forms large, circular mats on rangelands. Collar area is hairy. Has short, green-tapered leaves that change color (brown) and curl when dry. Seedhead is shaped like an eyebrow. Needle and thread G, P, N, C, I Medium sized bunchgrass Ligules are long and split into rabbit-ears Leaf blades are narrow and flat Panicle seedhead arrangement Each grass flower (floret) has a long, bending, twisting awn (thread) and a sharp callus or point (needle) GRASS-LIKE PLANT IDENTIFICATION Threadleaf sedge GL, P, N, C, I Wiry, black roots. Dense bunch habit. Culms (stems) are triangle-shaped and solid. The stems are so small that you can not always see or feel the triangle shape. The bases of the leaves shred apart and are brownish-red in color. Only one spike per seedhead. Flowering spike is unique (female flowers on the bottom of spike and male flowers at the top).

3 CACTUS PLANT IDENTIFICATION Pricklypear C, P, N, X,I Knobby roots. Stems are flat, jointed, succulent (filled with water) and spiny. Cactus spines are modified leaves. Pricklypear reproduces by seed or by rooting stems. Flowers are yellow to red. Fruits are spiny. FORB PLANT IDENTIFICATION Hairy goldenaster F, P, N, W, I Tap root Decumbent growth form. Stems are brown and hairy. Leaves are alternate and hairy. Flowers are golden and in heads. There are many flowers per plant. Prairie onion F, P, N, C, I Stems are modified into edible bulbs The bulbs taste and smell like store-bought onions. Leaves are hollow and smell when crushed. Flower color varies from white to pink. Flowers are arranged in an umbel (umbrella shape) and often nod.

4 Silverleaf scurfpea F, P, N, W,I Tap root with rhizomes. Stem are single and branch into a bushy top. Compound leaves are arranged alternate with 3-5 palmately arranged leaflets covered with white, silky hairs. Pea-type flowers are small and blue. They cluster from upper leaf axils. Seeds form in pods that are not edible. The stem breaks away and tumbles late in the summer. This releases the seeds. Small-leaf pussytoes F, P, N, C,I This plant grows low to the ground and often forms mats. It is named pussytoes, because the immature flower heads resemble kittens paws. Flowers are white or pinkish. The stems holding the flower heads do not elongate like other kinds of pussytoes. The leaves are very small and silver-haired.

5 SHRUB PLANT IDENTIFICATION Fringed sagewort S, P, N, W, I Small half shrub. Leaf growth is primarily basal. Leaves are pointed, silvery-hairy and divided into small linear divisions (fringed). The stems grow up beyond the leaves and bear small, non-showy, nodding flowers. Smells like sage. Rose S, P, N, C,I Tap rooted with rhizomes. Alternate leaves are compound. The compound leaf shape would be odd-pinnate. Leaflets are serrated. Flowers are large, fragrant, 5-petaled and pink. Modified skin cells form prickles on the stem. Soapweed yucca S, P, N, C, I Taproot that is very fibrous and can be used to make ropes or soap. Leave are shaped like a Spanish saber. Flowering stems are long and rise above the leaves. There are many white/green flowers with flower parts in threes. Seed are large, flat and black.

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7 LIVING THINGS + NON-LIVING THINGS = ECOSYSTEMS 2

8 Living things Use and store energy Have cells that work Grow Reproduce Use nutrients Give off waste 3

9 Circle the living things. Make an X on the non-living things. 4

10 Take a hike with your instructors. Talk about the living and non-living things that you see. Sketch some of the things that you find in the back of this notebook. Describe them. 5

11 Ecosystems can be large or small. Look at the area around you. Can you find two different ecosystems? List them here: 6

12 Living and non-living things come into ecosystems. These things are called inputs. Living and non-living things also leave ecosystems. These things are called outputs. Some things stay within an ecosystem. These things are called residents. 7

13 Look at your yard. The yard is an ecosystem. What does your family add to the yard? Inputs: What things are taken away or removed from the yard? Outputs: What things always stay in the yard? Residents: 8

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17 ECOSYSTEMS NEED ENERGY Energy is not a living thing. Energy can be an input or an output. There is always the same amount of energy. Energy flows. Energy has different forms. 12

18 In rangeland ecosystems, the sun is a very important source of energy. To understand energy more, read the book My Light with your instructor. Then use a lemon as an energy source to power a clock. This experiment is in your explorer box. 13

19 Living things are divided into two groups. AUTOTROPHS OR HETEROTROPHS Autotrophs are plants. Heterotrophs are fungi, bacteria and animals 14

20 Auto means self. So plants can feed themselves. This is why plants are very, very important!! Plants use the power of the sun to make their own food from simple things like carbon dioxide and water. This is called photosynthesis. 15

21 PHOTOSYNTHESIS SUNLIGHT CARBON DIOXIDE WATER Plants utilize energy from the sun. Plants take in Carbon Dioxide through little openings on their skin called stomates. Plant roots get water from the soil. Special cells in the plant stem carry water to the leaves. Leaves have some stuff called chlorophyll in their cells. Chlorophyll reacts with the sun to make energy. Leaves also have tiny openings called stomates or pores that absorb air from the atmosphere. CARBOHYDRATES OXYGEN The food that plants make for themselves is called carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are a simple form of sugar called glucose. You and I breathe the oxygen that plants make. 16

22 Because plants make their own food, they are called producers. They produce food to feed plant-eating animals. 17

23 Plant-eating animals are called herbivores. There are many different kinds of herbivores. Write down the kinds of herbivores that you think might live on rangelands? 18

24 Meat-eating animals are called carnivores. Carnivores eat herbivores. 19

25 Animals that eat meat and plants are called omnivores. Humans are omnivores along with bears. 20

26 There are also scavengers, detritivores and decomposers in the food chain. Scavengers eat dead animals. Detrivores eat detritus (have your instructors explain detritus). Decomposers break down dead animals, dead plants and animal wastes. Discuss scavengers, detritivores and decomposers with your class. Try to write down one example of each. Scavenger Detritivore Decomposer 21

27 An ecosystem has a limited amount of resources available to living things. What are resources? Water Food Cover Light Soil 22

28 Healthy ecosystems have more resources available to living things compared to unhealthy ecosystems. If the plant producers in an ecosystem are not healthy and do not produce much vegetation, the land will not be able to support or carry as many animals of any kind. The carrying capacity of that land will be low. 23

29 If too many animals try to live in the ecosystem, there will not be enough light, water, food, cover or space to keep them alive. The animals will die of hunger or disease until there is the right number again. 24

30 Play the survival game with your Explorer instructors. This game will help you understand how animals interact with their resources. 25

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34 Photo courtesy of USDA-NRCS 2 29

35 PLANT NAME NUMBER OF PLANTS With your instructors help, give the community a name. For example, wheatgrass, needlegrass, sagebrush. 30

36 Write the name of your Montana plant community: Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS 31