RiparianRiparian Zone Retreat Zone Retreatand population studiesand population studies

Margo LattanzioMargo Lattanzio

Biology IIBiology II

Pd. 1Pd. 1

Kingdom: AnimiliaGray Fox - Urocyon Cinereoargenteus

• The gray fox lives in woodland area and occasionally are found in old fields when they are searching for fruits and insects. They prefer a place with brush and woodlands.

• eastern cottontail- most important food source

• voles, field mice, shrews- these are readily eaten

• to supplement their diet, the grey fox will eat whatever fruits and insects are available and also vegetation- corn, apples, nuts, berries and grass

• grasshoppers and crickets are in important part of the grey fox’s diet in the autumn and summer

• lynx, bobcats and coyotes may hunt the gray fox

Gray fox can climb and they occasionally look for food in trees or sleep in trees The gray fox is a peppery gray on top, reddish-brown on its sides, chest and the back of its head. Its legs and feet are also a reddish color. it has a long bushy tail with a black stripe on topit has pointed ears, a pointed muzzle and long hooked claws

Factors which Affect Birth Rate of Gray Fox

• Mating season is between January and April.

• Gray fox’s reproduce once every year

• The gray fox will give birth 53 days

• A litter is usually between 3-4 pups

• The mother will nurse the pups till they are 10 weeks old, during that time the father provides food for the family

• Gray fox’s reproduce after one year and continue to reproduce once a year for life.

Factors Which Affect the Death Rate of Gray Fox

• The gray fox is a predator to mice, moles, rabbits and other small animals as well as some plants. It is prey to bobcats, lynx and other larger animals. Also, there are ticks that can get on them as well as other parasites. Also, when gray fox’s die bacteria decomposes them.

• The gray fox has a lifespan of 6 years in the wild and 12 in captivity

• List and describe any common parasites which may harm your assigned animal.

• If the population grows too rapidly and an area becomes overpopulated, this can mean shortages in food supply. When this happens, the gray fox tends to start killing small farm animals which usually ends with the farmer killing the gray fox.

Food Chain of Gray Fox

Producer

Autotroph

Primary Consumer

herbivore

Secondary Consumer

omnivore

Tertiary Consumer

carnivore

Food web of Gray Fox

Omnivore

Producer Omnivore

Carnivore

Omnivore

Decomposer

CarnivoreHerbivoreHerbivore

Herbivore

Producer

Population Sampling Techniques

• We did three labs in class that dealt with population sampling. One was the circle test with the plankton where we threw a paper circle on a picture of plankton then counted the different types inside that area. The second one was the fake stream study we did where we placed organisms face down in the stream and chose two at a time. The third one was the beads in the tray that we scooped up with a spoon. The beads represented the mice and the spoon represented the weasel.

• One type of population sampling technique is the Quadrat sample. This is where you divide an area into sections and survey the number of animals in a few random areas. Then you can figure out the population trends from the data you collected.

Stream Quality Data & AnalysisStream Quality Data & Analysis

0

100

200

300

400

500

No. oforganisms

Class IClass IIClass III

• The stream is healthy because there are a lot of class I organisms.

• The more class I the better because they can’t live in dirty water while class II can live in a wide range of water quality and class III live in polluted water.

• Since everything in an ecosystem is entwined, if one thing is unhealthy it would effect the other animals around.

• If the majority of the organisms found were class III that would indicate that the stream was unhealthy and that would effect the rest of the animals in a negative way.

Water Testing Data & AnalysisWater Testing Data & Analysis• pH- ahs to be neutral; phosphates

and nitrates should be 0; dissolved oxygen should be 10 or higher

• If these elements go outside their ideal range this can cause stream life to die or eutriphication of a body of water to take place.

• The gray fox would want to live near the stream because it is healthier then the other two places. The mines wouldn’t be a good place because there is not going to be a good habitat for the fox. The marsh would be the second best place to live but still the water would not be as healthy as it should be.

• The temperature of the water needs to be cooler because the class I organisms cant live in warmer water. The turbidity needs to be clear because it enables clingers to cling, predators to hunt, gills to stay unclogged and sunlight to reach the plants below the surface

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Nitrate

Oxygen

pH Phosphates

StreamMarshMine

Soil Testing & AnalysisSoil Testing & Analysis

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

pH Potash

Phosphorus

Nitrogen

Riparian

School Site

• pH- controls how well plants use nutrients from soil; P- important for root formation and strength; K- stimulates flowering and is needed during photosynthesis; N- essential to proper functioning of metabolism

• pH- 4-7.5; P-medium; K-medium; N-medium

• Chemical levels that are out of the range can harm plant life because plants need a certain level to stay healthy. If the level is not right plants will either die or there will be an overgrowth.

Positive and Negative Factors•If the habitat that the gray fox lives in becomes polluted then that can cause the population to drop. The organisms in the stream would start to die which would cause a chain reaction that would cause other things to die. This in turn would cause things to die or have to move to a different area.

•The soil conditions would affect the gray fox in the same way the water conditions I described above would.

•Some things that would effect the ecosystem around here would be pollution and abandoned mine drainage. In PA there are a lot of abandoned mines that drain into the steams and cause organisms to die. This causes a chain reaction like the one I described in the first paragraph. There are ways to clear up AMD. One way is to use a marsh system. This runs the water through a series of marshes that cleans it before it goes into streams. Some choose to do a fly-over that drops chemicals into the water from the mines. This is only a temporary fix and needs to be done frequently.

Conclusion

• I never realized that there were so many ramifications to things such as pollution and AMD. I didn’t realize that one thing that seems so trivial can actually affect the entire ecosystem. I think that people need to be more careful with the way they treat the environment.

• I found the whole thing interesting. I felt like this was more interesting because it was more hands on. We got to go to Powdermill which was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed going in the stream although it was cold.

•I want to learn more about how they clean up abandoned mine drainage. I think it is very interesting how they clean up the mine drainage and the negative affects it can have on the environment.

Works Cited•Cypher, B.L., Fuller, T.K. & List, R. 2008. Urocyon cinereoargenteus. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. •Jansa, S. 1999. "Urocyon cinereoargenteus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed May 07, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Urocyon_cinereoargenteus.html. •"fox." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 7 May. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.