Browsing by Author "Knoeck, Matthew"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Effects of Gopher Disturbance on Plant Diversity in Prairie Ecosystems
    (2011-02-01) Knoeck, Matthew; Oetting, Jerimiah; Plafcan, Wade; Shafer, Nels
    Burrowing mammals can have a pronounced effect on vegetation growth and species diversity. Based on the intermediate-disturbance hypothesis, we estimate that the intermittent disturbances caused by burrowing pocket gophers (Geomys bursarius) encourages species diversity in prairie ecosystems. Mounds that result from burrowing displace vegetation and allow competition for establishment. Competition between colonizer species and competitive species reaches a coexistence maximum as vegetation compensates for this disturbance. We found that these spatially separated disturbances encouraged a higher species diversity compared to undisturbed areas.
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    Impact of Pocket Gophers on Long and Short Term Prairie Vegetation Diversity
    (2011-02-09) Do, Anh; Knoeck, Matthew; Stedman, Kathryn
    The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius) mounds on prairie vegetation. This includes long and short term succession patterns as well as plant diversity on individual mounds. We obtained data by species counts and mound counts on an old field. We found that diversity on abandoned mounds was higher than that on new or old mounds or undisturbed land. In addition, old mounds were found to have the highest proportion of distinct patches of vegetation.
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    Small Mammal Diversity between Forested Areas and Prairies
    (2011-02-09) Knoeck, Matthew
    An experiment was performed in order to determine which ecosystem had greater small mammal diversity, forested areas of prairie areas. This was done by setting mammal traps in both areas, and comparing trap results. Prairies had one more species caught than forests, but this can not be conclusive that prairies have greater diversity. Intro: ` Forests and prairies are quite different from each other, all the way through the vegetation to the soil. These differences create different niches that animals exploit. Every possible resource is used in order to promote the maximum amount of life sustainable. Our experiment of trapping small mammals at these two ecosystems was preformed in order to show us which site has a greater diversity.