NREM 301Forest Ecology & Soils

Today’s Objectives:

• Get to know each other

• Set up groups & conduct team building activity

• Introduction to class (Syllabus)

• Begin review of basic ecological terms

• Introduce Lab 1 – Doolittle Prairie Lab

Instructors: Dick Schultz/Leigh Ann LongTA: Nick Ohde

Day 1Please Pick Up Papers at Back of Room

We will leave for the Doolittle Prairie at 3:10 from the Science II loading dock and will be back by 6 pm. Be prepared for possible rain.

WELCOME!

Nick Ohde - TALeigh Ann Long

Instructor

I will be at Fall Camp in Montana – Sept 6-26

1. Get to know your Classmates Exercise

3. Conduct team building exercise2. Organize into teams

First Order of Business

Group Seating Plan

Front of Room 202

Group 6

Group 8

Group 4

Group 5

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Door

Door

Group 7

Group 9

Group 10

Study Abroad – Went to China

Hosted Chinese & Korean Students Here

Korean Students

Chinese Students

Review Class Syllabus

• Class material will be on NREM Home Page(http://www.nrem.iastate.edu/class)

Please read & if you have questions on details – let me know.

Note: 1) Student Learning Outcomes2) Course Outcomes3) Class Ground Rules

* Come to class prepared* Respect each other & diverse opinions* Actively participate discussion* Actively listen in group activities* Encourage & support each other

4) Apply Professionalism Rubric

Reading Guides & Assignments

Book has a lot of important information that we willnot be able to completely cover.

We have prepared reading guides that take you through the important material in the book.

There are exercises at the end of each guide to helpyou process the material.

Periodic quizzes over the reading materials on or shortlyafter the dates listed on the reading guide. Quizzes also cover any lecture or lab material discussed by that date.

Chapter 1 – 4 quiz will be Thursday, Sept 3, 2009.

All information in the course is cumulative.

Discuss Major Issuesof the Day

Wildfire & Beetle Problems

Pacific NW Salmon Habitat

Restoration/ Neil Smith Wildlife Refuge in IowaAg Impacts on Environment

BiofuelsLoss of CRP

Global Food SecurityGlobal Warming

Carbon SequestrationWater QualityQuality of Life

Availability of Basic Needs

Should be a nice day – chance of scattered thunderstormsBring rain gear – in case

Temperature - ~ 80 F

Long pants and closed-toe shoes recommended

There is prairie cord grass – sharp edges

Numerous ant mounds

Also poison ivy mixed in the other vegetation

Today’s Laboratory

Doolittle Pothole/Prairie – first of 3 native ecosystems

Doolittle Prairie Laboratory

Ox-eye daisyHeliopsis spp Marsh milkweed

Asclepias spp

Tall thisleCirsium altissimum

Ecosystems are a function of = f(Clipsrot)

Cli = climate

P = parent material

S = soil

R = relief, topography

O = organisms (plants,animals, microbes)

T = time

Soil Forming Factors = f(Cliprot)

Consider the differences in each factor across the state of Iowa

Terrain Characteristics

• fresh glacial till* no loess cover* bands of knob and kettle terrain* areas of level terrain* poor surface drainage* natural lakes, wetlands

Winnebago County, Rice Lake photo by Gary Hightshoe

Generally Level Terrain Where would the potholes have been?

Where would the hilltops have been?

Where would creeks/streams develop?

Spring Run State Wildlife Management Area, Dickinson County Photo by Douglas C. Harr

Poorly developed drainage

Over time these potholes would connect and create creeks/streams

Prairie Pothole Region

Doolittle PrairiePothole

Ecosystem

Soper’s Mill Forest Ecosystem

Aquatic Ecosystem Bear Creek

Confluence with the Skunk River

Ames

DoolittlePrairie

Skunk RiverHighway 69

E 18

Story City I - 35

AndersonAccess

Doolittle Prairie/Wetland Laboratory

Group Activity - Paired reading exercise

• Part of each group please read the prairie section (p 3-7) and the other part read the wetland section (p 7-10) of the lab.

• Make sure you understand the differences between the three kinds of prairies and the four kinds of wetlands.

• Once you have read your section discuss it with your other teammates.

1 hectare (ha) = 2.47 acres (ac) 1 meter (m) = 3.3 ft

Doolittle Prairie, Story County               Photo by Gary Hightshoe

Kinds of Prairies

WetSwitchgrassPrairie Cordgrass

MesicBig BluestemCanada Wild RyeIndian Grass

DryFew in Central IowaLittle BluestemSide oats gramaNeedle grassBig Bluestem

Kinds of Wetlands

PaulustrineLacustrineRiverineTidal

Doolittle Prairie, Story County               Photo by Gary Hightshoe

Kinds of Wetlands Type IEphemeralWet PrairieShort high waterDrains/farmed

Type IITemporarySedge MeadowsWT within inches of surface muchof the year

Type IIISeasonal WetlandUsually at least6 in of water, maydry out in late summer

Type IVSemi-permanentDeep fresh marshes6 in to 3 ft of water

Parent materials – Lacutrine sediments, local alluvium or glacial till.Depressional soils – Okoboji (center), Harps may surround it.Kossuth soils – generally poorly drained on broad upland flatsOttosen gently sloping – somewhat poorly drained Bode – more slope, well drained, convex knolls (not at Doolittle)

Doolittle Prairie Soils Kossuth – Ottosen – Bode Association

Lab Exercise

1. General introduction to siteusing Soil Survey Info

2. Transects across prairieDescribe plant communitiesIdentify major plant speciesRelate to microtopographyRelate to soils

3. Compare prairie soil and plant community with adjacent crop field soil and community

4. We will devote about 0.5 hours to finishing the lab in class on Thursday.

Each Group will complete a transect through a prairie/pothole complex. You will evaluate conditions in 1 - 1 m2

plot in the prairie before the wetland,1 plot in the center of the wetland & 1 plot in the prairie after the wetland.