biodiversity in minnesota by: hailey oachs. american coot (fulica americana)

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Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs

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Page 1: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Biodiversity in Minnesota

By: Hailey Oachs

Page 2: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

American Coot (Fulica americana)

Page 3: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Description

• Male and Female, the American coot is a dark, duck-like bird. You can recognize it by its chicken-like white bill, red eye, and small red spot at the top of its bill.

Page 4: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Size, Color and Sounds

• Size: Coots are about 15 inches long.• Color: Black and dark grey, white edge on

their wings, white under their tail. Legs and feet are green.

• Sounds: Coots make many different noises. Sometimes it’s a ku-ku-ku sound. They also grunt, cluck, and croak.

Page 5: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Reproduction

• Coots build floating nests in marshes or shallow lakes. The female lays 9-12 eggs, light with brown spots. The eggs hatch after 21-25 days. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the young. The young fledge at about 50-55 days. Coots raise only one brood per year.

Page 6: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Food

• Coots eat a variety of food such as insects and plants, ducking down on the waters surface, diving to the bottom, even nibbling on land.

Page 7: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Predators

• American Coots have a certain sound to warn other birds of predators. They will also splash around in the water to discourage predators. They are preyed upon osprey and bald eagles as adults. Eggs and nestlings are preyed upon by raccoons, skunks, coyotes, snapping turtles, and many other small predators.

Page 8: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Habitat

• The American Coot is a popular resident of the semi- open water in marshes, lakes and ponds. As well as rivers with similar vegitation.

Page 9: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Population

Page 10: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Diseases

• No know diseases.

Page 11: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fun Facts

• Coots are not very good at taking off in flight.• They migrate as far as Central America.• They only fly short distances at a time.

Page 12: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Hunting Regulations

• You must be 16 years of age or older.• You must have a firearms license, permit to

carry.• You also need a small game license.

Page 13: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis)

Page 14: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Description

• The lynx is a medium sized cat with long legs, large, well-furred paws, long tufts on the ears, and a short black tipped tail. It has very thick light brown or grey fur with black spots.

Page 15: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Reproduction

• During mating season, the male will follow the female. Lynx mate between February and March. Two months after mating, the female will give birth to 1-6 kittens. The kittens have soft streaked and spotted fur.

Page 16: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Food

• About 75% of the lynx’s diet is made up of the snowshoe hare. It also eats birds, meadow voles, carrion and sometimes larger animals like deer and caribou. Lynx often store leftover kill by covering it with snow.

Page 17: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Predators and Habitat

• Predators: The lynx is threated by loosing their natural habitat. The lack of guidance to conserve the species in current federal land management plans.

• Habitat: Lynx live deep in coniferous forests near rocky areas, bogs and swamps.

Page 18: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Population and Diseases

• Population: The range of the lynx include Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

• Diseases: Lynx are prone to pneumonia.

Page 19: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fun Facts

• Lynx are very territorial and solitary. • In the 1970’s and 1980’s the threat to lynx

from trapping reached a new height when the price for hides rose to as much as 600.00 each.

• The link between the lynx and the hare is so tight in the north that the two species populations fluctuate in almost perfect synchrony.

Page 20: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Hunting Regulations

• The lynx cannot be hunted at the present time. They are on the verge of becoming endangered.

Page 21: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Page 22: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Description• Trout have very small, fine scales on their

torpedo-shaped body. They have silvery sides with a horizontal pinkish band that varies in intensity in different populations. The back is bluish to greenish with black spots on the back and sides. Rainbows have no teeth on the tongue. Rainbow trout belong to the family of fish known as salmon and are characterized by adipose fins and by an axillary process at the base of each pelvic fin. The caudal fin is not forked, and has radiating rows of black spots.

Page 23: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Reproduction

• The trout of our mountain areas such as the Sierra Nevada are resident; that is they do not make long migrations to spawning grounds as do salmon and trout of many coastal streams. An interesting thing to note is the fact that the salmon spawn once and die, while trout may spawn for several successive seasons.

Page 24: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Food• Trout are predators with a varied diet, and will eat nearly

anything they can grab. Their image as selective eaters is only a legend. Trout are not quite as aggressive as brown trout or lake trout. Young Trout survive on insects, fish eggs, and smaller fish (up to 1/3 of their length), along with crayfish and other crustaceans. As they grow, though, the proportion of fish increases in most all populations. Some lake-dwelling lines may become planktonic feeders. While in flowing waters populated with salmonids, trout eat varied fish eggs, including salmon and cutthroat trout, as well as the eggs of other trout, alevin, fry, smollt and even leftover carcasses.

Page 25: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Predators

Trout populations have declined due to human and natural causes.

Page 26: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Habitat

• Many trout live in just a short stretch of stream—we call this home area a trout’s habitat. Trout need just a few basic things to survive: cold water, clean water, food to eat, places to hide from predators, and clean gravel to lay their eggs in. All the land around a stream that drains into a stream is called that stream’s watershed. Trout are affected by what happens in their whole watershed, because something that happens on the land can change one of those things they need in their stream habitat.

Page 27: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Population• Improved soil conservation techniques and reduced erosion

mean cleaner water and more trout with less stocking. It also means that there are more trout available now than at any time in the past 30 years. According to more than 2,400 DNR fish population surveys, the trout population in southeastern Minnesota has tripled since 1970 and the average number of browns more than 12 inches long increased from 26 per stream mile in the 1970s to 55 in the 1990s.

• But a general population increase doesn't guarantee good fishing every time. Trout populations still tend to fluctuate from year to year as floods and other factors affect natural reproduction.

• Three other factors: growth, fishing pressure, and habitat also affect trout populations, especially the number of large trout. Good growth and suitable habitat are needed for streams to support larger fish. Also, heavy fishing pressure and harvest can have a negative effect on trout size and numbers.

Page 28: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Diseases

• Sea lice is the common term used for one group of parasitic caligid copepods which occur naturally on fish world-wide. Most are planktonic, while others are found living in the sediments. Some species are specialized to live as parasites, on or in host organisms at some stage in the lifecycle, although one or more stages are free-living as plankton in the water, usually during the early stages of development.

Page 29: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fun Facts

• The trout is native only to the rivers and lakes of North America, west of the Rocky Mountains, but its value as a hard-fighting game fish and tasty meal has led to its introduction throughout the world.

• They are members of the salmon family and, like their salmon cousins, can grow quite large.

• They prefer cool, clear rivers, streams, and lakes, though some will leave their freshwater homes and follow a river out to the sea.

Page 30: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fishing Regulations

• Stream trout Fishing Opener (mid-May) to October 31.

• Lake trout Fishing opener (mid-May) to September 30.

Page 31: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Range of Trout in MN

Page 32: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)

Page 33: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Description

• Bullfrogs are usually green to greenish-brown. Sometimes, partoicularly when found in the South, they are spotted. Their eyes are gold or brown and they have a broad flat head and body. They grow on average to be about 3 and a half to 6 inches (9-15 cm) long in bodylength (although there are records of some as big as 8 inches!!), legs add another 7-10 inches (17 - 25cm) to lenght!

• Females have an eardrum the same size as their eye. Males eardrums are larger.

Page 34: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Reproduction

• Fertilization is external in ranid frogs. In the mating grasp the male rides on top of the female, grasping her with his forelimbs posterior to her forelimbs. The female bullfrog deposits her eggs in the water and the male is constantly releasing sperm.

• Breeding begins in late spring or early summer. Males defend and call from territories, attracting females into a territory to mate. The call is reminiscent of the roar of a bull, hence the frog's common name. A female may produce up to 20,000 eggs in one clutch.

Page 35: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Food

• Stomach content studies going back to 1913 suggest the bullfrog preys on any animal it can overpower and stuff down its throat. Bullfrog stomachs have been found to contain rodents, small turtles, snakes, frogs (including bullfrogs), birds, and a bat, as well as the many invertebrates, such as insects, which are the usual food of bullfrogs.

Page 36: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Predators

• Predators of young bullfrogs include snakes, turtles, fish and birds. Older bullfrogs can be taken by water birds such as herons, and even raccoons. However, there are far fewer predators of the mature bullfrog, which is why their population is so strong.

Page 37: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Habitat• Bullfrogs tend to live in freshwater

ponds, lakes and swampy areas.• Breeding habitat: Breeding occurs in

permanent bodies of water.• Summer habitat: This highly aquatic

frog prefers large bodies of water such as lakes, ponds, sluggish streams, and backwaters of rivers. Although introduced local populations occur in several counties in central and southern Minnesota, this species is only native to the southeastern corner of the state.

• Winter habitat: Aquatic.

Page 38: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Population

• Formerly bullfrogs were found only in the southeastern corner of Minnesota. In the past, people have tried to establish bullfrog populations in other parts of the state.

Page 39: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Diseases

• Bullfrogs, often shipped live between continents to be eaten, are spreading the deadly chytrid fungus that is threatening amphibians worldwide, new research indicates.

• A team of researchers collected bullfrogs on sale at Asian food stores in seven cities in the United States and found 41 percent of the frogs were infected with the fungus.

• The chytrid fungus is harmless to people, but it has caused species declines and even extinctions among amphibians.

Page 40: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fun Facts

• The bullfrog provides the majority of the frog legs for gourmet restaurants.

• While under water, bullfrogs close their nostrils and continue to "breathe" through their skin.

• The bullfrog is named for its deep call, which sounds like a bull roaring.

Page 41: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Hunting

• Bullfrogs do not have a season where they are hunted in Minnesota. Sometimes people catch them and grill up the legs. I guess if you spice them up right they taste just like chicken!

Page 42: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Range of Bullfrogs in MN

Page 43: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea)

Page 44: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Description• Balsam Fir is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically

14–20 meters (46–66 ft) tall, rarely to 27 meters (89 ft) tall, with a narrow conic crown. The bark on young trees is smooth, grey, and with resin blisters, becoming rough and fissured or scaly on old trees. The leaves are flat needle-like, 15 to 30 millimetres (½–1 in) long, dark green above often with a small patch of stomata near the tip, and two white stomata bands below, and a slightly notched tip. They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but with the leaf bases twisted to appear in two more-or-less horizontal rows. The cones are erect, 40 to 80 millimeters (1½–3 in) long, dark purple and ripe.

Page 45: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Bark

• Smooth, grayish, prominently marked by blisters filled with resin or balsam pitch.

Page 46: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Leaves

• Needle-like, but flat; length 1/2" to 1" with rounded point; dark green and lustrous above and silvery-white beneath; arranged on twig apparently in two ranks; resinous and fragrant

Page 47: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fruit

• Cones upright on branches, purple, oblong; length 2" to 4"; become ripe in the autumn of the first year; cone scale wider than long; seeds have very wide wings, and when ripe, fall together with scales of cone, leaving hard central axis standing upright on twig like a spike.

Page 48: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Seeds• Regular seed production probably begins after 20 to 30 years. Cone

development has been reported for trees 15 years of age and younger and only 2 m tall. Good seed crops occur at intervals of 2 to 4 years, with some seed production usually occurring during intervening years. On the average, 35 L (bushel) containing 1,000 to 2,000 cones weighs approximately 16 kg (35 lb) and yields 1000 to 1200 g of cleaned seeds. The number of cleaned seeds per kilogram ranges from 66,000 to 208,000 and averages 131,000. These are about 134 seeds per cone.

Page 49: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Seed Disbursement

• Balsam are found in Himalayan regions, mainly. The seeds are basically disperes by wind. Balsam seeds are provided with special structures that help balsam seeds to fly away far from the original place, so that they would not grow at the same place in groups.

Page 50: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Diseases

• Needlecast diseases are common in balsam fir stands and Christmas tree plantations in the northeastern and north central United States and in southern Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Three different needlecast fungi, Lirula nervata, Lirula mirabilis and Isthmiella faullii, cause similar disease symptoms on balsam fir. These diseases may affect other firs planted in the same stand, but will not affect Douglas-fir or other conifer species.

Page 51: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Economic Uses• Owners of large tracts sometimes suppress the growth of broad-leaf

trees in favor of softwood stands, increasing the amount of fir available for saw timber and pulpwood. Besides being an important source of wood products, the balsam fir is a versatile tree with numerous craft, utilitarian and medicinal uses. Historically, fir resin was applauded for its medicinal properties among Acadian residents of the St. John River watershed and was ingested to treat kidney ailments. Resin blisters would be carefully harvested and placed on sheets of wax paper that could be refrigerated until they were needed. Loggers would also use fir resin topically to treat gonorrhea. Although not as big of a business as in Washington County (Downeast Maine), wreathmaking is an important small-scale industry in the St. John River watershed. For the two months leading up to Christmas, business owners hire seasonal employees to harvest and process fir boughs into wreaths that will be shipped all across the country.

Page 52: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fun Fact!!

• Balsam fir is an important conifer of the northernmost parts of eastern and central U.S. and Canada. It is both commercially useful and integral to the survival many species of northern wildlife.

Page 53: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Swamp Milkweed(Asclepias incarnata)

Page 54: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Description

• Plant species native to North America. It is found growing in damp to wet soils and also is cultivated as a garden plant for its attractive flowers, which are visited by butterflies and other pollinators due to its copious production of nectar. Like most other milkweeds, it has sap containing toxic chemicals , a characteristic that repels insects and herbivorous animals.

Page 55: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

When it Flowers• Flowers attract butterflies and often conceal crab spiders lying in wait for the

pollinators. Pointed 3 inches, seed pods open up late summer with downy airborne seeds. Milkweed does not produce individual grains of pollen like most plants do. Instead, the pollen is fused into waxy packets called pollinia. Each stamen produces two pollinia connected by a thread. The flowers are generally very fragrant and produce copious amounts of nectar. This makes them very attractive to bees and butterflies which visit the flowers in droves. The fused stamens have narrow slits between them into which a careless insect might accidentally insert a leg. If it does, the leg will likely catch on the sticky thread connecting the pollinia. When the insect withdraws its leg it will usually have the two packets of pollen attached, ready to be carried to another flower to pollinate the flower and fertilize its eggs. Sometimes, however, an unfortunate insect will be unable to extricate its leg and will die trapped in the milkweed flower. When you see a milkweed plant, look for these unfortunate insects.

Page 56: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Uses

• The Chippewa and Iroquois have used an infusion of the roots externally to strengthen the body and heal babies’ navels. The Iroquois and Meskwaki have also used a decoction of the roots and/or aerial portions of the plant as a de-worming agent. The common name, Pleurisy Root, comes from its once common use to treat lung problems. Swamp milkweed is toxic when taken in large doses. The tough stringy stem fibers have been used to make twine, rope and rough textiles.

Page 57: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

Fun Fact

• Like all milkweeds, swamp milkweed is an important food source for Monarch caterpillars.

Page 58: Biodiversity in Minnesota By: Hailey Oachs. American Coot (Fulica americana)

• Resources, Department Of. "Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: Minnesota DNR." Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: Minnesota DNR. Minnesota Department of Public Safety, 12 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/index.html>.

• Wikipedia. "Bullfrog." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.wikipedia.org/>.

• "Swamp Milkweed." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 Dec. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_milkweed>.

• "Trout." : Minnesota DNR. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/trout/index.html>.

• "Balsam Fir (Abies Balsamea)." Balsam Fir: Minnesota DNR. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/trees_shrubs/conifers/balsamfir.html>.

• "Mammals of Minnesota: Canada Lynx: Minnesota DNR." Mammals of Minnesota: Canada Lynx: Minnesota DNR. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/canadalynx.html>.