E FFECTS OF C HANGE

 The prairie ecosystem has many populations  Use these organisms to create a food web.  The producers are in green, plant eaters in blue, and animal eaters in orange. TallgrassShortgrass Wildflowers Big Bluestem PronghornBuffalo MicePrairie Dog Black Footed Ferret Prairie Chicken Burrowing Owl Grasshoppers BeetlesSnakes

A L OOK AT O VERGRAZING  The next slide will show an overhead view of a prairie.  For this slide we will only focus on the grass and buffalo.  The grass is shown as green squares and the buffalo as black ovals.

G RASSLAND Each column has 10 squares of grass. There are 20 columns. Calculate how many squares of grass are available.

G RASSLAND Each buffalo needs 25 squares of grass to survive. How many buffalo can live in this area?

G RAZING What will happen if we put 20 buffalo in this area?

E FFECTS ON OTHER P OPULATIONS What will happen to the grass? Explain your answer.

E FFECTS ON OTHER P OPULATIONS What will happen to the ferrets? Explain your answer.

H IGHWAYS What effects will building a highway have on the area?