What is a Prairie?

QW: Look at the picture above and write a reponse.

QW: What do you know about prairie?  What do you want to know about prairies?

 

A prairie is an ecosystem that is dominated by grasses and forbs and scarce of trees and shrubs.  Many species are specifically adapted to the soils and climate in prairie regions. Historically, North America’s prairies expanded north and south from Canada to Mexico and east and west from Indiana to Colorado. Today, habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation have led to the loss of nearly 90% of all prairies, and up to 99.9% in Iowa.

Iowa's Prairies

Iowa’s historical and remaining grasslands are classified as tallgrass prairies.  However, today's prairie landscape is much different then that of the past. IPrior to settlement, it's estimated that 81-85% of Iowa's landscape was praire. Today, Iowa's tallgrass prairies have been reduced by 99.9%. As a result, Iowa's tallgrass prairies are amongst the most endangered ecosystems on Earth.  Below is a comparison map of historical and current prairies ranges in Iowa.  Prairies are represented in red.

QW: What caused Iowa's prairie ecosystem to decline? Hint: What landscape do you see as you drive outside of the city such as that in the picture below?

                                         http://christimcguireblog.com/2011/07/22/no-more-settlin/