Mai+Phan's+Science+Project

Mai's Science Project (Back to Mai's Home Page) (Back to 8c's Home Page)  ** Iramoo Grassland ** Grasslands are areas where vegetation is dominated by grasses and other non woody (herbaceous) plants. Grasslands appear naturally on every continent except antarctica. Fifty percent of African land is covered in grassland. These grassland habitats are usaully found in terrestrial climates. It is where annual rainfall ranges between 500 and 900mm. There are many types of grasslands: tropical and sub-traopical temperate grasslands, flooded grasslands, mountane grasslands, polar grasslands, xeric grasslands...

Grasslands are home to many different species of animals (fauna) and plants (flora). My task was to research 2 plants and 7 animals in the grassland ecosystem, the plants and animals I chose were: Plants: Blue Bunch Wheatgrass and kangaroo grass. Animals: Striped Legless lizard, Southern Brown Tree frog, Skinks, Fat tailed Dunnart, Plains Wanderer (bird), Eastern Barred bandicoot and the European ferret.

These are their profiles:


 * **__Blue Bunch Wheatgrass__**
 * Animals that eat the plant:** livestock like cows, sheep, horse, elk, deer

|| **__Kangaroo Grass__ Animals that eat the plant:** kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, insects

|| __**Striped Legless Lizard**__ **Type of eater:** insectivre || **Type of eater:** omnivore || __**European Ferret**__ || __**Fat Tailed Dunnart**__ **Type of eater:** carnivore || || __**Southern Brown Tree Frog**__ ||
 * What it eats:** crickets, caterpillars, cockroaches, spider
 * What it is eaten by:** Foxes, cats
 * __**Eastern Barred Bandicoot**__
 * What it eats:** insects, larvae, earthworms, spiders, berries
 * What eats it:** foxes, cats
 * What it eats:** reptiles, rabbit, mice, rats, amphibians, birds, small mammals
 * What eats it:** hawks, owls, larger carnivorous mammals
 * Type of eater:** carnivore
 * What it eats:** insects, beetles, spider larvae, small reptiles, amphibians, small rodents
 * What it is eaten by:** cats, dogs, foxes
 * __**Skinks**__
 * What it eats:** insects, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, snails, slugs, other lizards, small rodents
 * What it is eaten by:** raccoons, foxes, possums, snakes, crows, cats, dogs, herons, hawks, kookaburras, spiders
 * Type of eater:** carnivore
 * What it eats:** insects, spiders, bugs, worms, mouse, chicks, small birds, snails, slugs, centipedes, rats, bats, small fish, other frogs
 * What it is eaten by:** raccoons, turtles, snakes, lizards
 * Type of eater:** carnivore [[image:southern_Brown_treefrog2.jpg width="300" height="198" align="center"]] || __**Plains Wanderer**__
 * What it eats:** insects, spider, wide range of seeds
 * What it is eaten by:** cats, foxes
 * Type of eater:** omnivore

From knowing which animals ate what and what eats it, I created food chains:

Kangaroo grass → Insects → Skinks → European Ferret → Hawks Kangaroo grass → Crickets → Striped Legless Lizard → Foxes Kangaroo grass → Insects → Amphibians → Fat tailed Dunnart → Cats Blue Bunch Wheatgrass → Cows → Human Kangaroo grass → Insects → Plains Wanderer Kangaroo grass → Insects → Eastern Barred Bandicoot → Foxes

Using the food chains, I created a food web of the grassland ecosystem:

Producers: Kangaroo grass, Blue bunch wheatgrass, Berries

Consumers:  Bats: 3rd Hawks: 3rd Snakes: 3rd Foxes: 3rd Lizards: 3rd Raccoons: 3rd Dog: 3rd and 4th Cat: 2nd, 3rd and 4th Owls: 4th and 3rd Eastern Barred Bandicoots: 1st and 2nd Plains Wanderers: 2nd Fat tailed Dunnarts: 3rd and 2nd Striped Legless Lizards: 2nd Southern Brown Tree Frogs: 2nd European Ferret: 2nd and 3rd Skinks: 2nd Humans: 2nd Spiders: 1st Worms: 1st Amphibians: 2nd Beetles: 1st Insects: 1st Small rodents: 1st Cockroaches: 1st Crickets: 1st Deer: 1st Sheep: 1st Snails: 1st Cow: 1st Rabbit: 1st Larvae:1st Animals From the food web categorised into types of diets Raccoons Eastern Barred Bandicoots Plains Wanderers Humans Amphibians Small rodents Foxes Raccoons Spiders Omnivores || Hawks Snakes Amphibian Small rodents Lizards Dogs Cats Owls Spiders || Amphibian Small rodents Worms (decomposers) Insects Small rodents Cockroaches Crickets Deer Sheep Cow Snails Rabbit Larvae ||
 * Omnivore || Carnivore || Herbivore ||
 * Bats

Venn Diagram displaying predators and prey in the grassland ecosystem:

Predators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prey. . . Both Predator and Prey

Organisms competing for the same food


 * **__ Organism consumed __** || **__ Animals competing for the organism __** ||
 * Blue bunch wheat grass || Cow, sheep deer ||
 * Kangaroo grass || Insects, crickets ||
 * Cricket || Skinks, striped legless lizard ||
 * Insects || Southern Brown tree frog, skinks, amphibians, Plains Wanderer, Eastern Barred Bandicoot ||
 * Small rodents || European Ferret, Southern brown tree frog, skinks ||
 * Sheep || Foxes, dogs, humans ||
 * Snails || Skinks, Southern Brown tree frog ||
 * Amphibians || Fat Tailed Dunnart, European Ferret ||
 * Worms || Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Southern Brown tree frog ||
 * Spiders || Plains Wanderer, Eastern Barred Bandicoot ||
 * Beetles || Skinks, Fat tailed Dunnart ||
 * Eastern Barred Bandicoot || Foxes, cats ||
 * Fat tailed Dunnart || Foxes, cats, dogs ||
 * Plains Wanderer || Foxes, cats ||
 * Striped Legless Lizard || Foxes, cats ||
 * Southern Brown tree frog || Snakes, lizards, raccoons, bats ||
 * European Ferret || Owls, hawks ||
 * Skinks || Hawks, foxes, cats, dogs, raccoons, snakes ||

If the number of first order consumers increased, then the number of producers will decrease because more organisms will use it for there diet while they still grow at the same rate as before the number of first order consumers increased there for the producers won’t have as much time to reproduce.
 * What if consumers... **

If the number of first order consumers decreased then the number of producers will increase because producers will have more time to reproduce and grow when they aren’t eaten by consumers as much.

If second order consumers became extinct, first order consumer populations will increase through not being hunted or hunted less, producer numbers will decrease through increasing numbers of first order consumers, third order consumers will decrease through lack of food and forth order consumers will ,depending on different species, would affect them a little or a lot. The whole ecosystem is affected by the loss of second order consumers.

A grassland decomposer is worms.
 * Decomposers **

**If Striped Legless Lizards...** If the number of striped legless lizards decreased then their predators, cats and foxes will be unaffected because of their great variety of prey for their diet. While cockroach, spider and cricket numbers will increase, this will affect the producers consumed by the cockroaches, spiders and cricket.

If the number of striped legless lizards increased then their predators, cats and foxes will be unaffected because of their wide variety of food already. Prey of the legless lizard including cockroaches, spiders and crickets, will decrease in numbers.

An introduced species is an organism that has been brought into an area where it doesn’t naturally occur, usually bought by a human. They are non-native to the area. Common grassland introduced species are cattle; including cows and sheep. A common introduced flora is legumes.
 * Introduced Species **

Biological control is a method of controlling a disease-causing organism or pathogen or an exotic species by using other organisms to kill, stop the growth of or to stop the reproducing of. Grasslands have had many biological controls to control weeds of different kinds e.g. the biological control of weeds from America invading south-eastern Australia was one of the most successful grassland biological control ever.
 * Biological control **

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