Farming is a lot of work. Seeds need to be planted, the growing crops need to be tended to, and finally the harvest occurs at the end of the growing season. After the harvest, the field is considered to be in no shape for the next season’s seedlings. Often, the field is riddled with crop residue, which is the leftover growing material such as stalks and husks. When it comes to removing these remains prior to reseeding, farmers have a…
Dams have been built with the purpose of serving society. Some of a dam’s benefits may consist of flood control, irrigation, water storage, and the generation of hydroelectric power. However, few people stop to consider the negative consequences a dam can have on the environment. A river’s features can be drastically altered by a dam, and potentially the biggest victims are the fish living in the vicinity. One of the more obvious issues fish face is surviving the journey through…
Only found in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California and Baja California, the white abalone is a rare species of sea snail that has almost become extinct. The snails have colorful shells and can grow to a size of 10 inches and almost two pounds. Their diet consists of algae and kelp. Feeding on kelp is beneficial for the ocean ecosystem because it keeps the kelp population in check and allows for a variety of kelp species…
In Canada’s southwestern corner, just off the coast of the mainland, sits the rugged and stunning Vancouver Island. At almost 300 miles long and about 50 miles wide, it is large enough to hold urban areas as well as wild, undeveloped landscape. In addition to its beaches and coastline, the island’s glacier-cut terrain has mountains, lakes, forests, and a vast array of wildlife. Some of the wooded areas receive enough precipitation to be classified as temperate rainforests. While much of…
The piping plover is a species of bird that lives along the coastline, chiefly in three regions – along the northeastern Atlantic coast, on the Great Lakes’ coastline, and alongside lakes and wetlands of the Great Plains. While they breed and spend much of the year in these areas, they are migratory birds that travels to the southeastern U.S. coast and the Caribbean for the winter. Piping plovers forage along the beaches in search of worms, insects, crustaceans, and sometimes…
Prairie dogs are commonly referred to as a keystone species. This is due to the large number of animals that depend on them, primarily as a food source. While not endangered, prairie dog numbers have been decreasing. A major reason of the decline is due to the sylvatic plague, a non-native disease that is transmitted to prairie dogs by fleas. Another species that is negatively impacted by the plague is the black-footed ferret (BFF), North America’s only native ferret with…
Dusky gopher frogs are extremely rare, and their established habitat has dwindled to about three small ponds in Mississippi. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers the species to be one of the 100 most endangered species in the world. The frogs, which received their ‘gopher’ moniker due to living much of their lives in underground burrows dug by other animals, used to inhabit areas of Alabama, Louisiana, and additional land in Mississippi, but habitat loss has decimated…
Wetlands play a very important role in the environment, and provide a home to many different plant and animal species. Among other benefits, wetlands help reduce shoreline erosion, they provide flood control by storing vast amounts of flood water, and they work to break down pollutants which improves water quality. The major types of wetlands are bogs, fens, marshes, and swamps. Bogs are formed after many years of decaying plants form a spongy substance named peat. They are critically important…