Enriched History
Enriched History
The Forks National Historic Site
Animals In Winnipeg, Manitoba
Amphibians
Canadian Toad-Bufo Hemiophyrs
Description: This relatively small toad can differ between either brown to grey-green or reddish with reddish warts surrounded by black spots when it comes to the colour of the species. There is a light line down the middle of the back, and the belly is pale with grey spots. It can be identified by its cranial crests which conjoin to create a lump between the eyes. The parotid glands are large and oval or kidney-shaped and meet the cranial crests. Two prominent tubercles on its hind feet are used for burrowing. Maximum adult size is can only reach up to 7 cm.
The call of the Canadian Toad is a brief harsh trill shorter than that of the American Toad but longer than that of the Gray Treefrog. It is repeated every 15-20 seconds. Males may call at temperatures as low as 5°C.
Distributions: The Canadian Toad is widely distributed through the eastern half of Alberta, most of Saskatchewan and the western half of Manitoba. It reaches its northern extent in the Northwest Territories near Fort Smith. In the United States, it is restricted to Montana, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, with a disjunct population in Wyoming. This is one of the few amphibians with most of its range in Canada.
Habitat: Canadian Toads are found near ponds, lakes, and potholes throughout the prairies and aspen parkland and more sparsely in boreal forests. Breeding occurs in the shallow margins of permanent water or in temporary ponds and puddles.
Reproduction: Breeding occurs from May to July. Up to 7000 eggs are laid in a single strand and hatch three to twelve days later. Juvenile toads emerge six to seven weeks later.
Natural History: The Canadian Toad may be active during the day or night depending on temperatures. It burrows underground to avoid extreme heat and also hibernates below the frost line. Worms, beetles, and ants are among the foods eaten. Although highly terrestrial it will take towards the water to avoid capture.
Conservation Concerns: The Canadian Toad has declined in southern Alberta and parts of Manitoba. Possible threats include wetland drainage and drought.
Confusing Species: The Canadian Toad overlaps with the American Toad in central Manitoba, the Great Plains Toad on the extreme southern prairie provinces and the Western Toad in Alberta. It can be distinguished from these species based on the presence and shape of the cranial crests and parotid glands. The American Toad has elongate parotid glands which do not touch the cranial crest. The Great Plains Toad has cranial crests which diverge between the eyes. The Western Toad has no cranial crests. Spadefoots also have to dig tubercles on their hind feet, but unlike toads, they have neither cranial crests nor parotid glands.
Painted Turtles-Chrysemys Picta
Painted Turtles (Chrysemys Picta) is the most widespread turtle across North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh water. Fossils show that the species lived up to 15 million years ago. The female turtle is 10-25 cm (4-10 in) long, while the males are smaller than the female. These turtles eat water vegetation such as algae, small water creatures including insects, and small fish. It is also an animal that consumes the hatchlings (eggs) of rodents, canine, and snakes. Turtles mate every spring and autumn, then once the female has produced her eggs she would dig a hole on land and lay the eggs there to hatch between late spring and mid-summer. Hatchet turtles grow until they sexually mature: Males 2-9 years and Females 6-16 years. Adult turtles can live up to 55 years in the wild. These turtles are not endangered yet, but we still have to be careful for they are close to making the endangered species list.
"Various organisms have the ability to act as indicator species of environmental change and ecosystem health. Chrysemys Picta ( Painted Turtles ) is one of the most well-studied reptile species due to their large geographic distribution and environmental tolerance."
-Credits to Ernest and Lovich 2009
Bats
LITTLE BROWN BAT – MYOTIS LUCIFUGUS
DESCRIPTION: The Little Brown Bat is a species that is well known. It is very small with an overall body size that is from 2.5 inches to 4 inches. They also weigh no more than half an ounce. The span of their wings when outstretched can be up to 11 inches. They are brown in color and they have ears which are short and round.
It is very small with an overall body size that is from 2.5 inches to 4 inches.
DISTRIBUTION: The Little Brown Bat is typically found living around swamplands. They have been found living in Alaska. They are also well known in areas of Georgia and Arkansas. The largest recorded number of them in the United States happens to be in New Hampshire. The only states where they aren’t known to live include Texas, Florida, and Mexico. This is strange to experts though since those are humid regions and these bats certainly do live the humid areas.
The Little Brown Bat is the one that people are the most familiar with. There are more of them in the United States and Canada than of other species combined with bats. Those that live in colder regions including Alaska take part in hibernating during the winter. This can take up six months per year, so they aren’t always seen in the high numbers that are really out there.
Their hibernation cycle can last from four to six months.
BEHAVIOR: The Little Brown Bat sleep and grooms during the day. They are fast creatures and hunt by night. They live in caves and mines during the winter months. Their hibernation cycle can last from four to six months.
Diet: The Little Brown Bat is an insectivore and primarily lives off of moths, wasps, beetles, gnats, mosquitoes, midges, and mayflies, among others. They have a generalist diet and are categorized as a primary consumer (1 consumer) on the trophic level in the food web.
Bats may look frightening to us, but bats themselves need to be frightened of a number of predators. Hawks and owls regularly kill and eat bats. Snakes and predatory mammals such as weasels and raccoons climb into bat roosts during the day and attack bats when they are sleeping. Because bats are a food source for a lot of animals if we were to get rid of The Little Brown Bat that would cause a chain of effects in the food web. Reasons such as overpopulation of insects could disturb the balance of the food web. But you may think that the effects wouldn't be so bad because the bat is not a primary source of food for either the hawks, owls, weasels, and raccoons, but you would have to take into consideration that it would probably force all of these predators to slightly evolve their diets and the location in where they hunt which could also affect where the hawks, owls, weasels, and raccoon's predator hunt, and so on. Knowing that it would cause a chain reaction in many species that are higher and higher up in the food web this could mean that the whole ecosystem could be provoked and everything in the food web that starts from the bat and continues throughout the food web from there could be drastically affected.
THE NORTHERN LONG-EARED BAT-Myotis Septentrionalis
Appearance: The northern long-eared bat is a medium-sized bat with a body length of 3 to 3.7 inches but a wingspan of 9 to 10 inches. Their fur color can be medium to dark brown on the back and tawny to pale-brown on the underside. Just like how the bat is recognized by its name, this bat is distinguished by its long ears, especially when comparing it to other bats in its genus, Myotis.
Winter Habitat: Northern long-eared bats spend winter hibernating in caves and mines, called hibernacula. They use areas in various sized caves or mines with constant temperatures, high humidity, and no air currents. Within hibernacula, it is commonly found that they hibernate mostly in small crevices or cracks, often with only the nose and ears visible.
Summer Habitat: During the summer, northern long-eared bats roost singly or in colonies underneath the bark, in cavities or in crevices of both live trees and snags (dead trees). Males and non-reproductive females may also roost in cooler places, like caves and mines. Northern long-eared bats seem to be flexible in selecting roosts, choosing roost trees based on suitability to retain bark or provide cavities or crevices. This bat has also been found rarely roosting in structures, like barns and sheds.
Reproduction: Breeding begins in late summer or early fall when males begin to swarm near hibernacula. After copulation, females store sperm during hibernation until spring. In spring, they emerge from their hibernacula, ovulate and the stored sperm fertilizes an egg. This strategy is called delayed fertilization.
After fertilization, pregnant females migrate to summer areas where they roost in small colonies and give birth to a single pup. Maternity colonies of females and young generally have 30 to 60 bats at the beginning of the summer, although larger maternity colonies have also been seen. Numbers of individuals in roosts typically decreases from pregnancy to post-lactation. Most bats within a maternity colony give birth around the same time, which may occur from late May or early June to late July, depending on where the colony is located within the species’ range. Young bats start flying by 18 to 21 days after birth. Maximum lifespan for the northern long-eared bat is estimated to be up to 18.5 years.
Feeding Habits: Like most bats, northern long-eared bats emerge at dusk to feed. They primarily fly through the understory of forested areas feeding on moths, flies, leafhoppers, caddisflies, and beetles, which they catch while in flight using echolocation or by gleaning motionless insects from vegetation.
Range: "The northern long-eared bat’s range includes much of the eastern and north-central United States, and all Canadian provinces from the Atlantic Ocean west to the southern Yukon Territory and eastern British Columbia. The species’ range includes the following 37 States and the District of Columbia: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming."
Diet: The Northern Long-Eared Bat Like most bats, emerge at dusk to feed. They primarily fly through the understory of forested areas feeding on moths, flies, leafhoppers, caddis flies, and beetles, which they catch while in flight using echolocation or by gleaning motionless insects from vegetation. They have a generalist diet and is categorized as a primary consumer (1 consumer)-like many other bats-on a trophic level of the food web.
Badgers
European Badgers:
The European badger has a more elongated head, a much wider white stripe down the center of the face, and appears slightly more upright than the American badger, which tends to have a somewhat "flattened" look. Badger species live in groups of 5 to 20 individuals in enormous dens that may have up to thirty different chambers and 1/2 a mile of tunnels.
American Badgers:
The American badger is a fixture across the plains and woodlands of the central United States. They range from Canada and Mexico as well, but the midwestern plains are their most common residence.
These badgers have a flattened appearance with a remarkably broad torso, short, powerful limbs, and massive front paws and claws. They have a grizzled grey body with whiter undersides and dark brown or black legs. The stripe down the center of the face is narrow compared to the European badger, and the skull and cheeks are wider with low-set ears and black cheek patches. And badgers have stout tails of a few inches in length.
Honey Badgers:
The honey badger is in a separate genus from the American and European badgers and is actually more closely related to wolverines and weasels.
Nevertheless, the honey badger is exceedingly "badger-like" and has a reputation for being one of the most fearless and relentless animals on Earth.
Babys:
Badgers come together to mate in the late summer and early autumn and both males and females may mate with multiple partners. Once the female is impregnated, the development of the embryos is delayed over the winter, so that the baby badgers arrive when the weather is right. The eggs don't fully attach to the uterus until early spring. This is a process known as "delayed implantation", and is one of the more unusual badger facts. In late winter or early spring, the eggs become implanted in the uterine wall and begin to develop. Although the entire pregnancy takes about 7 months from fertilization to delivery, the eggs do not develop at all for the first 5 months, and then, once implanted, take about 6 weeks to fully grow.
Cougars
Cougar
Common Name: Cougar (Mountain Lion)
Scientific Name: Pumma Concolor
Diet: Carnivores
Size: Head and body, 3.25 to 5.25 ft; tail 23.5 to 33.5 in
Weight: 136 lbs
Breeding
Cougar are polygamous (one male will breed several females) and only the female tends the young. Females reach sexual maturity at 2 to 3 years of age. Breeding happens all year around. Six kittens are born after a gestation period of about 96 days. The kittens eyes are closed for 10 to 14 days after birth. The kittens nurse five to six weeks.
Territory
Home ranges are up to, or greater than, 100 square miles.
Other Animals In Winnipeg, Manitoba
Coyote
Gray (Timber) Wolf
Mudpuppy
Moose
To learn more about animals in the area go to the website http://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/wildlife/mbsp/list.html
Bobcat
Plants In The Area
Gastony’s Cliffbrake (Pellaea Gastonyi)
Gastony’s Cliffbrake (Pellaea gastonyi Windham) is a fern (Pteridaceae) of calcareous outcrops and cliffs (Windham 1993a). its distribution consists of scattered occurrences in central and western North America (Windham 1993b), including South Dakota, Wyoming, Missouri, and Washington in the united States (Windham 1993b; Rocky Mountain herbarium 2008). Aside from Manitoba, its Canadian range includes the cordilleran regions of British Columbia and Alberta and a disjunct population in northern Saskatchewan (Rigby and Britton 1970; Windham 1993a). The global conservation status of Gastony’s Cliffbrake is G2G3 – imperilled–Vulnerable (NatureServe 2013), although it may be locally abundant (Brunton 1979).
The species arose through hybridization of apogamous triploid Purple-stemmed Cliffbrake (Pellaea atropurpurea [l.] link) and diploid Western Dwarf Cliffbrake (Pellaea glabella ssp. occidentalis [e. e. Nelson] Windham), except for Missouri material, which has the diploid Pellaea glabella ssp. missouriensis (Gastony) Windham as a parent (Gastony 1988; Windham 1993a). Because the hybrid is apogamous and, thus, able to reproduce autonomously from the parent taxa, it was described as a new species by Windham (1993a). of the parent taxa, only Western Dwarf Cliffbrake occurs in Manitoba, where scattered populations are known from the southern half of the province, and plants are often locally abundant where suitable habitat, i.e., calcareous outcrops, exists (Manitoba Conservation Data Centre, unpublished data).
The sparsely villous rachis and purple-brown petiole of Gastony’s Cliffbrake reliably distinguish it in the field from Western Dwarf Cliffbrake which has a hairless rachis and a light-brown to strawcoloured petiole (Windham 1993a; harms and leighton 2011). it is distinguished from Purple-stemmed Cliffbrake by the presence of long, divergent (versus more abundant short, curly) hairs along the rachis, smaller ultimate leaf segments, and large spores (Windham 1993a).
(Windham 1993a). its distribution consists of scattered occurrences in central and western North America (Windham 1993b), including South Dakota, Wyoming, Missouri, and Washington in the United States (Wind- ham 1993b; Rocky Mountain herbarium 2008). Aside from Manitoba, its Canadian range includes the cordilleran regions of British Columbia and Alberta and a disjunct population in northern Saskatchewan (Rigby and Britton 1970; Windham 1993a). The global conservation status of Gastony’s Cliffbrake is G2G3 – im- perilled–Vulnerable (NatureServe 2013), although it may be locally abundant (Brunton 1979).
ultimate leaf segments, and large spores (Windham 1993a).
The species arose through hybridization of apogamous triploid Purple-stemmed Cliffbrake (Pellaea atro- purpurea [l.] link) and diploid Western Dwarf Cliff- brake (Pellaea glabella ssp. occidentalis [e. e. Nelson] Windham), except for Missouri material, which has the diploid Pellaea glabella ssp. missouriensis (Gastony) Windham as a parent (Gastony 1988; Windham 1993a).
Because the hybrid is apogamous and, thus, able to reproduce autonomously from the parent taxa, it was described as a new species by Windham (1993a). of the parent taxa, only Western Dwarf Cliffbrake occurs in Manitoba, where scattered populations are known from the southern half of the province, and plants are often locally abundant where suitable habitat, i.e., calcareous outcrops, exists (Manitoba Conservation Data Centre, unpublished data). The sparsely villous rachis and purple-brown petiole of Gastony’s Cliffbrake reliably dis- tinguish it in the field from Western Dwarf Cliffbrake which has a hairless rachis and a light-brown to straw- coloured petiole (Windham 1993a; harms and Leighton 2011). it is distinguished from Purple-stemmed Cliff- brake by the presence of long, divergent (versus more abundant short, curly) hairs along the rachis, smaller.
The first Manitoba collection of Gastony’s Cliff- brake (Manitoba: South side of Marble Ridge Road, 1.6 km west of its junction with highway 17, about 12 km north of Fisher Branch, 51.18361°N, 97.62556°W, dolomite cliff face, 26 July 2001, B. A. Ford 0140, M.
-Credits to Gastony’s Cliffbrake (Pellaea gastonyi) in Manitoba: New Records and Assessment of Conservation Status
And Chris Friesen1,2 and Colin Murray1
Things To Think About
What would happen if the food web changed and the cause of this chain of events were humans?
For Ex. The Forks National Historic Site is located in downtown Winnipeg. Because it is the urban area of the city, that concludes that there are bound to be people living in the area.
So if the pipes of the house and/or apartments belonging to the people burst, the grass gets polluted (10% LD50 pollution increase). Then the deer come and eat the grass (20% LD50 pollution intake). The bears come and eat 2 deer (40% LD50 pollution intake). Then based on the weight or the allometric of the bear, that will confirm if it's LD50 intake of pollution was reached and/or surpassed and whether or not it becomes lethal to the bear or not.
Livestock eats grasses which can all contain particles of biomagnification which the cow could eat, which infers that they could be digesting molecular particles of biomagnification.
Biomagnification can occur in grasses and plants in different ways. An example could be that the Tifton 85 Bermudagrass which is a mimic of real grass, is currently used in United States-due for reasons such as being able to withstand colder weather when compared to regular grass.
It can contain (and there have been reported cases of it containing) a lethal poison known as hydrogen cyanide, also could be classified as prussic acid poisoning which farmers use to feed their livestock. This poison is a lethal substance. Because it is already used in the United States there is a chance it being exported to Canada (specifically in Winnipeg) and Canadian farmers. Canadians could start feeding it to their livestock and there is a chance it could be contaminated with hydrogen cyanide and it could also be possible for them to consume this poison. If they consume too much and reach their maximum LD50 (which is determined by factors such as weight and the allometric of the cow) intake limit it could cause some of them to die.
Livestock can be a prime food source for wolves and coyotes. If there start to be less and fewer cattle then wolves and coyotes will be forced to alter their diet. A change in diet can lead to a change in where they hunt and reside. If they start to evolve in such a way that they would be hunting and residing in a new different place then animals such as bears who will sometimes go into the nest of the mother's wolves to hunt for the babies will also have to adapt and possibly change their hunting and residing location too, based on the fact of where it can find food. (This can create a chain of events which could lead to a whole set of more species to do the same thing, changing the whole ecosystem).
If the cattle do not reach their maximum LD50 point and does not die and continues through the process of being milked or ending up as meat at the grocery store while it still has traces of hydrogen cyanide, the human then has a chance of having an intake of the poison and through this method the poison continues to spread throughout the population of both cows and humans.
What would happen if we removed Winnipeg's wood bison from the food web? What if the removal was accidental and caused by us? What kind of impacts would that have on the ecosystem?
American bison played an essential role in shaping the ecology of the Great Plains. They graze heavily on grasses and disturb the soil with their hooves, allowing many plant and animal species to grow and prosper. Prairie dogs also prefer areas grazed by bison where the grass is short so they can keep a lookout for hungry predators, and wolves rely on bison herds as a major food source. Though bison once roamed across much of North America, today they are “ecologically extinct” as a wild species throughout most of their historic range, except for a few national parks and other small wildlife areas.
Because the American bison plays such an essential role in the format of the ecology of the ecosystem if we removed them from the food web some of the smaller animals that highly benefit from the plants growing in that certain ecosystem would be forced to migrate elsewhere where there is an ecosystem that plants do prosper. Another problem would be that there could be a decline in the population of prairie dogs due to the heightened grass which prevents them from looking out for predators which in turn could lead them to be captured more often and killed.
