Environmental Science, 10th Edition (Cunningham)

Chapter 13: Restoration Ecology

GE Exercise: Prairie Potholes

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To continue:
- Make sure you have the Google Earth software installed and running.
- Copy the following latitude and longitude and paste into the "Fly to" field under the Search tab.
- Hit "Enter" for Google Earth to take you to the specified coordinates, then come back here and read the following overview.

Latitude/Longitude: 48.9678, -99.8541

Overview: Prairie Potholes, p. 295

Once, millions of small, shallow ponds dotted the prairies of North America. Sometimes called the "duck factory," this region's wetlands produced more than half of all migratory waterfowl that followed the Mississippi flyway. At least half of all the once-existing potholes have been drained, filled and converted to agriculture. If you look around this area of relatively undisturbed prairie in North Dakota and adjacent regions of Manitoba, you'll see numerous small lakes and few roads.

1
If you turn on the "borders" layer, you can see a line running east-west just north of the place maker, at about 49 degrees N. What is this line?
A)The boundary between North Dakota and South Dakota
B)The boundary between North Dakota and Minnesota
C)The boundary between the United States and Canada
D)The boundary between North Dakota and Manitoba
E)Both of the previous two answers are accurate.
2
Why is this a productive area for ducks?
A)This area is home to a variety of elderberry bush that is particularly nutritious for ducks, fortifying their immune system and increasing their ability to fight pathogens.
B)This area is home to a variety of elderberry bush that contains a potent avian aphrodisiac, significantly increasing the breeding success rate of the ducks.
C)The topography and climate in this area are unsuitable to most duck predators, allowing the duck population to exceed its normal carrying capacity.
D)Many ducks breed in grasslands adjacent to small ponds and wetlands, and therefore this area has abundant suitable breeding habitat.
E)Duck hunting is completely prohibited in this area.
3
Why is it relatively easy to restore or recreate potholes?
A)Extensive mining at the turn of the century left a network of underground tunnels that can easily be modified into potholes.
B)Swamp beavers have for years left behind "homes" that can easily be modified into potholes.
C)It's easy to dig a shallow pond with earthmoving equipment.
D)The high unemployment rate in North Dakota means that manual labor is extremely cheap in this region.
E)The simplicity of their design makes potholes easy to restore or recreate.
4
Why do you suppose this area wasn't farmed already?
A)Extensive superfund sites are the legacy of previous industrial operations in this region.
B)There is so much wetland here that it was probably uneconomical to drain it all.
C)Hydroponic farming was tried and abandoned in this area at the turn of the century.
D)There is insufficient rainfall to support agriculture in this region.
E)The abundant ducks graze the young crops, preventing them from producing a mature harvest.
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