RiparianRiparian Zone Retreat Zone Retreatand population studiesand population studies

Chelsea BlaszkowskiBiology 2 H

Period 1

Niche of Assigned OrganismInclude common and scientific name for your assigned

organism

• The cottontail rabbit prefers an environment between woody vegetation to open meows.

• The cottontail rabbit depends on the plants in its habitat to provide it food, including grass, trees, and flowers. Other animal depend on the cotton tail rabbit to survive like the fox, weasels, and other predators like humans.

• This animal has the protective coloring of the blending of brown to blend into its habitat, all the animal has to do is stay still and it is no longer visible.

Factors which Affect Birth Rate of Assigned Animal

• The cottontail rabbit mate between February and September.

• They can have 3 to 4 litters a year. The Gestation period is 25 to 28 days.

• gestation period is about four months.• They have one to nine babies each pregnancy.• The cottontail rabbit feeds it young twice a day the babies

are weaned after about three weeks, and leave the nest after about seven.

• The cottontail rabbit beings reproduction four month after it is born until it cannot longer reproduce.

Factors Which Affect the Death Rate of Assigned Animal

• Some predator-prey situations that the cottontail rabbit participates in are the prey situation when it is being hunted down for food by another animal and when it becomes the predator is when the rabbit hunts for food by eating the producer like grass and other plants.

• An average life span in the wild is about five years or less.

• Ticks, tapeworm, and with internal parasites range from worms to protozoan (intracellular parasites)

• over population can affect the rabbit my depletion of food and habitat.

Food Chain of Assigned Organism

Producer

Autotroph

Primary Consumer

herbivore

Secondary Consumer

Carnivore

Tertiary Consumer

Omnivore

Food web of Assigned Organism

Herbivore

Omnivore

Carnivore

Producer

Carnivore

Population Sampling Techniques

• population sampling techniques used by ecologist to find the population of the cottontail rabbit are trapping and tagging techniques.

• population sampling techniques used to estimate the size of assigned animal is keeping track of one family of rabbits and tag and track them.

Stream Quality Data & AnalysisStream Quality Data & Analysis

0

100

200

300

400

500

No. oforganisms

Class IClass IIClass III

• the stream conditions are very good because there are a huge amount of class one organisms.

• The more of that class organism depends on how well the stream is doing class 1 is good stream quality and class 3 can live anywhere but mostly in bad stream quality water and class 2 organism can live basically anywhere.

• The water quality will affect my animal by if the stream is healthy then the animal will be healthy but if the stream isn't healthy the animal may end up with some parasites get sick and die.

• Both the ecosystem and the cottontail rabbit will be struggling to survive because the plant need to have good water and soil in order to produce and that is what the cottontail rabbit eats.

Water Testing Data & AnalysisWater Testing Data & Analysis

• The more dissolved oxygen the better for the ecosystem and also to have less nitrates and phosphates and an average of a 7.0 for the ph.

• the ideal range is for nitrates is 0 except for the marsh had a height about. The range for phosphates was 0, the range for dissolved oxygen went from 0 to 16 and ph ranged from 4.5 to 7.0.

• The cottontail rabbit would survive well around a stream because their would be good vegetation and it would create a healthy habitat for it. If it was to live by a marsh it would still do well because there is a lot of nitrates for the plants their would be more leafy vegetables, foliage plants and grass, and they would be a darker green and it helps the growth of leaves and stems. In a mine the rabbit wouldn’t do so good because there is no good vegetation or habitat for the rabbit to survive in.

020406080

100120140160180200

Nitrate

Oxygen

pH Phosphates

StreamMarshMine

Soil Testing & AnalysisSoil Testing & Analysis

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

pH Potash

Phosphorus

Nitrogen

Riparian

School Site

• The important of PH is that plants need the correct ph so that the plant can control how it utilizes the nutrients available in the soil. The important of nitrogen is for proper functioning of a plants metabolism. The important of phosphorus is for nutrients in root formation, creation a good fibrous root system. And potash is important for stimulation flowers.

• The ideal ranges for the soil was all the same except the ph, in the riparian zone it was lower then the schools site.

• chemical levels which are out of their ideal range can damage the ecosystem by either killing off the plants or an over growth can occur.

Positive and Negative Factors•The stream would keep the rabbit healthy and keep its food healthy as well. The marsh would have too much nitrates for the plants and would not make a good food source for the rabbit and the mine would also not be a good source for the rabbits vegetation due to the nitrates, and potash.

•The riparian zone soil would affect my animal by the soil being healthy and producing many plants.

• some factors that positively affect the riparian ecosystem is making sure it is healthy and some negative factor that would affect the stream would be pollution like littering and dumping in the waters.

Conclusion

•Something new that I learned was how to find the chemical levels of PH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and potash.

•What I found interesting was how to clean a polluted pond or stream using lime stones and plants to filter and purify the water.

• an environmental topic I might want to research further is find new ways to clean a stream.

Works Cited

•animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/cottontail-rabbit.html •http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html •The New Book of Popular Science (power library)