Riparian Zone Retreat and Population Studies

John JonesJohn JonesBio IIBio IIPd. 5.Pd. 5.

NicheBobcat: Lynx Rufus

• Habitat dense with vegetation and lots of prey. Lives in a den. Has one main den in a rock shelter or cave, also can be in a hollow log or fallen tree, and then a few auxiliary dens in brush piles, or under stumps which it uses for shelter or hiding from an enemy.

• Bobcats consume rabbits and hares and also are known to eat birds, rodents, bats, and adult deer. They even feed on pigs or poultry when a ranch is nearby.

• Hunts during the night, sneaks up on its prey and then pounces.

• Bobcat gets its name from its stumpy tail.

Factors which Affect Birth Rate of Assigned Animal

• Mates during late winter• Mating occurs once a year• Gestation lasts 50-70 days• 1-6 kittens per litter• Kittens are fed solid food at around two months and

learn to start hunting at around five months.• This process begins in late winter, ends in early spring.

Factors Which Affect the Death Rate of Bobcat

• Bobcats are hunted by humans and if they die then decomposers will feed on them. They prey on small rodents, deer and livestock if there is a nearby farm or ranch. They also prey on turkeys and other birds.

• Life span of 10-12 years• Ticks, mosquitoes • If there are too many people in an area then the bobcat

will move to an area where no one is because it is usually afraid of human beings.

Food Chain of Bobcat

Ferns

Producer

Autotroph

Rabbit

Primary Consumer

Herbivore

Bobcat

Secondary Consumer

Carnivore

Hunter

Tertiary Consumer

Omnivore

Food Web of Assigned Organism

Herbivore

ProducerOmnivore

CarnivoreCarnivore

Producer

CarnivoreHerbivoreOmnivore

Omnivore

Producer

Population Sampling Techniques

• They will mark a certain number of animals and then at a later date they will go out and try to catch this animal again and how ever many the catch that aren't marked they will add up and come out with the total.

• Same method as above

Stream Quality Data & AnalysisStream Quality Data & Analysis

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5

10

15

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No. oforganisms

Class I

Class II

Class III

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

• Class I shows that the stream is healthy because they are pollution intolerant, class II organisms are somewhat tolerant of pollution and class III are tolerant of pollution.

• The bobcat drinks out of the stream and sometimes eats animals from the water like frogs for example and if the stream was unhealthy then it would be affected

• My animal would be affected because this would mean that the stream is unhealthy and it wouldn’t be good to drink out of. They organisms that help make up its food chain would not be there so this would also hurt the bobcat.

Water Testing Water Testing Data & AnalysisData & Analysis

• Class I- intolerant of pollution, if a lot of these organisms are present then the stream is healthy. Class II- somewhat tolerant of pollution, average stream health. Class III- tolerant of pollution, if a lot of these organisms are found then the stream is unhealthy.

• There should not be any phosphates or nitrates in the water. The pH should be around 7 and the dissolved oxygen should be a high number.

• If the bobcats habitat was near the stream then it would be healthy. If it was near the marsh or mine then it would be affected directly because of drinking the water and indirectly because the animals that create the food web of the bobcat would be affected and eventually everything would die off.

• The temperature of the water needs to be cold because the colder the water, the more oxygen it contains. The turbidity also needs to be low so that light can get through and so that the animals can see their prey.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Nitrate

Oxygen

pH Phosphates

StreamMarshMine

Soil Testing & AnalysisSoil Testing & Analysis

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

pH Potash

Phosphorus

Nitrogen

Riparian

School Site

• The pH has to be around 7 so that it is neutral. The potash is high because it is good for the soil and helps it. The phosphorous helps the soil as well but can be bad for the stream so if there is too much its bad. The nitrogen level helps the soil as well but can also pollute the water.

• The pH should be around 4-8. The nitrogen, potash, and phosphorous levels should all be at about a medium range.

• If the soil becomes too basic or acidic then it cant absorb nutrients correctly and then the plants will suffer. If the plants don’t do well then the animals will be affected and the whole ecosystem will fade away.

Positive and Negative Factors• The stream is healthy so this would be good for my organism, because the plants would do well and the stream would be healthy to drink from.

•If the soil was unhealthy it would affect plant growth, it would also contaminate the stream and this would ruin the whole ecosystem around my organism.

• Two common pollutants of PA streams are abandoned mine drainage (AMD) and farm run off. The acidic water from the mines negatively affects stream and ecosystem health. The water run off from farms contains many phosphates and nitrates from the fertilizer, this also negatively affects the stream and the ecosystem. If the ecosystem and stream are unhealthy then all the animals around will suffer and eventually they will all die off.

Conclusion

• I learned about how farm run off is a huge problem in our area and how teams are trying to fix the problem with help from farmers.

• I found it interesting how much each organism depends on all of the other organisms and without one or two of them, then the whole entire ecosystem will suffer and eventually would become extinct. Also how these ecosystems also help us in so many different ways.

• I might want to research how hunters affect the ecosystems positively and negatively. Also I would like to research what would happen if we tried to introduce new animals into our local ecosystems and how it would affect us.

Works Cited•Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commision. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. <http://www.fish.state.pa.us/ splashes.htm>. •Arcadian Outdoor Guidebooks. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. <http://www.thetent.com/thetent/aogcr/ pa/pasf_index.htm>.•UCGS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. <http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/rt>. •World Book Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. <http://worldbookonline.com/student/ search?st1=pa+streams&searchprop=WBS>.•Grolier Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://go.grolier.com/>.