Botany_Invasives_and_Biomes Flashcards
Pollination Ecology
-wind
-bee
-bird
-butterfly
-beetle
-fly
-moth
-bat
Wind pollinated
– Grasses and trees
– Flowers drab, small
Bee pollinated
– Fragrant
– Blue or yellow, not red
Bird pollinated
red
Butterfly pollinated
Blue, yellow, sometimes orange
- Beetle pollinated
– Strong, spicy, fruity odors
– White or dull in color
- Fly pollinated
– Dull red and smell like rotten meat = carrion
flowers
– E.g. Stapelia
- Moth pollinated
white, fragrant, open at night
- Bat pollinated
Dull flowers that open at night
Rafflesia arnoldii
- Largest flower in world,
– c. 1 meter in diameter - Parasitic plant with no leaves, stems, roots
- Sometimes called the corpse flower (smells like
rotten meat)
Purple Loosestrife:
Wetlands Menace
* Native to Eurasia; introduced into US in early 1800’s
and has spread through much of North America
* Outcompetes natives and provides poorer habitat for
native wildlife.
* Noxious weed in many states (PA Included).
* Up to 3 millions seeds per plant per year; lacks
natural predators
* Releasing insects (beetles) from Europe for biological
control
Kudzu
PA Noxious Weed
* Member of legume family; native to Asia
* Introduced into US in 1876 in Philadelphia
* Encouraged as ornamental, forage crop, and
for erosion control
* Spreads rapidly by runners, rhizomes, and
vines; lacks natural predators
* Hard to remove deep roots
Mile-a-minute
= PA Noxious Weed
* Native to India and Eastern Asia
* Established from a PA nursery site in the
1930’s
* Can grow up to 6 inches a day.
* Produces lots of seeds.
* Chokes out other vegetation
* Wear gloves to remove.
Asiatic Bittersweet
Serious threat
* Vine native to Asia; introduced into the US in the
mid-1800’s as an ornamental plant.
* Overgrows other vegetation, strangling shrubs
and tree limbs.
* Produces many seeds dispersed by birds.
* Also reproduces by stolons (above ground stems)
and by rhizomes.
* Plants should be removed before fruiting.
* Hawk Mt. has been using goats to control it.
Japanese Stilt Grass: Serious threat
- Annual grass native to Asia and India
- Found growing in Tennessee in early 1900’s
- Used as packing material for imported porcelain
and probably introduced that way. - Grows rapidly following a disturbance.
- Spreads by seed and by rooting of stem segments.
One plant can produce 1000 seeds. - Best to remove by hand before seed production.
Japanese Barberry
- Native to Japan
- Started planting it as ornamental in late 1800’s
- Was promoted as it is resistant wheat stem rust that infects native
barberry. - Grows in forests, wetlands, pastures, fields (and on the KU
campus) - Outcompetes native species that provide superior wildlife habitat
and food; habitat for ticks. - Reproduces by seeds spread by birds and small mammals as well
as by root fragments. - Remove before seed set.
Tundra
=Almost treeless (tiny trees up to 2 feet tall)
* Dwarf shrubs, sedges, grasses, lichens, mosses, flowering
perennials
* Permafrost (permanently frozen soil) restricts root growth
* Average of less than 10 inches per year precipitation
* Short growing season
* Very fragile
Taiga
(e.g. in Alaska)
- From Russian, means wet forest
- Northern coniferous or boreal forest
- Located south of the tundra
- Harsh winters
- 10 to 39 inches of precipitation per year
- Evergreens: spruce, fir, larch, and pine
- Some birch, aspen, and willow in wetter areas
– Adapted to cold and permafrost
Temperate Deciduous Forest
- Mostly on large continents in Northern hemisphere
- 20 to 65 inches of precipitation per year on average
- Appalachian Region before European colonization
Mountain and Coastal Forest
(Coniferous Forests)
- E.g. Pacific northwest and California coast
- Very tall trees (e.g. Coastal redwoods)
- Rainfall can be > 100 inches per year
- Many species well adapted to forest fires
Grassland
(Prairies)
- Found in the interior of continents
- Rainfall from 10 to 39 inches per year
- Prairies were home to herds of buffalo
- Many of our prairies have been destroyed
– They have been turned into fields of corn and
wheat
Desert
(e.g. Sonoran Desert)
- Less than 5 inches of rain per year
- Hot days, cool nights
- CAM plants
- Succulent plants
- Perennials from bulbs
- Annuals germinate after rainfall
