ENCS406 Lecture 3: Tallgrass Prairie

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Environmental and Conservation Sciences
• Course: ENCS406
• Professor: Edward Bork

Document Summary

Historically, tgp composed the eastern great plains of north america. Currently, most tgp has been cultivated (corn and soybean belt: this area is super productive; high rainfall, great soils. Usa remnants in ne kansas (flint hills), oklahoma (osage hills) and nebraska (great sand hills) Moisture is by no means limiting in tgp! Very well developed black chernozems: thick ah horizon (>30cm, high organic matter content (>10%, high n cycling. Do(cid:373)i(cid:374)a(cid:374)t pla(cid:374)t spe(cid:272)ies a(cid:396)e c4 (cid:862)tall(cid:863) g(cid:396)asses: recall: c4s are warm season grasses; they are more efficient at conserving water during their photosynthetic cycle, but require higher temperatures and full sunlight to get going. They have a higher maximum production than c3s and are harder to digest (more fibrous). A note on c4s and c3s: cool season grasses become much more dominant as you move up in latitude, however c4s can still be found in. Diversity and production are high: this is due to the (cid:448)e(cid:396)y high (cid:373)oistu(cid:396)e le(cid:448)els.