NREM 301Forest Ecology & Soils
Objectives:
• Get to know each other
• Set up groups & conduct team building activity
• Introduction to class (Syllabus)
• Review basic ecological terms
• Introduce Lab 1 – Doolittle Prairie Lab
Instructor: Dick Schultz
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.
WELCOME!
I will be at Fall Camp in Montana – Sept 6-26
Sara Berges - TALeigh Ann Long
Instructor
1. Get to know your Classmates Exercise
3. Conduct individual & team awareness exercise2. Organize into teams
First Order of Business
Awareness ExerciseLocations
Teams 1-3Teams 4 & 5
Team 6Bike Rack
Teams 7-8Teams 9-10
Science II
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
Review Class Syllabus
• Class material will be on Web CT &/or – NREM 301 • Material will also 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 quiz will be Thursday, Sept 4, 2008.
Chapters 2, 3, & 10 will be on Thursday, Sept 4, 2008.
All information in the course is cumulative.
Discuss Major Issuesof the Day
Wildfire & Beetle Problems
Pacific NW Salmon HabitatRestoration/ Neil Smith Wildlife Refuge in Iowa
Ag Impacts on EnvironmentBiofuels
Loss of CRPGlobal Food Security
Global WarmingCarbon Sequestration
Water QualityQuality of Life
Availability of Basic Needs
Should be a nice day – sunny
Sunscreen/Water - ~ 80 F
Long pants and shoes recommended
There is prairie cord grass – sharp edges
Numerous ant mounds
Also some 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
Spring Run State Wildlife Management Area, Dickinson County Photo by Douglas C. Harr
Poorly developed drainage
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 2-4) and the other part read the wetland section (p 4-6) 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 2 - 1 m2 plots in the prairie & 2 plots in the wetland.