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Wilderness and Culture Class

Week 6 – Week of Oct 18
Native Habitats:
Woodlands, Wetlands, Prairies

Monthly Unit: Local Native Habitats
Weekly Topic: Local Native Habitats: Woodlands, Wetlands, Prairies, Dunes, and Lake Michigan

Homework Title: Woods Food Web Ecology

Nature:
people & wildlife’s ecology, economy, home  

Ecology is studying “the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.” – dictionary.com    Ecology is studying how plants and animals relate and depend on each other for food, shelter, seed spreading, and more within their home, the local habitat. 

Economy is the “use of something” such as resources and “the management of the resources of a community” – dictionary.com   Wildlife has an economy.  Wildlife’s economy is nature.  Wildlife uses resources in its community (its natural habitat) for food and shelter.  Also, people use nature and its natural resources in its economy.  People breathe air, drink water, grow food in soil, get lumber from trees, etc.  Air, water, soil, trees, etc. come from nature.  People depend on nature for food and shelter.  Nature is the economy for both people and wildlife.   People manage the economy (nature) by increasing, sustaining, or decreasing natural resources.    

In a primitive wilderness tribe, people got stuff directly from nature.   In civilization, people use money to buy stuff from a business that took stuff from nature.   Either way, our stuff comes from nature, either directly or indirectly.   The origin of all materials in our manmade stuff (low-tech and high-tech), comes from nature.  Economy is nature.  Nature is economy.   Some of the economy truly grows on trees!   Even in modern times, even though we may use money, nature is the fundamental base of economy.  High-technology is made from rare earth materials that come from nature. 

Ecology and economy come from the same Greek word, “eco,” which means home.    Ecology is learning about and studying our home.  Economy is about managing and taking care of our home.  Nature is home to both people and wildlife.   

Below is an ecology image of a few local native flora and fauna of southwest Michigan.  It shows their food web relationship to each other.   The predators eat the prey for food.

Within a food web, there are many food chains.  A food chain is a list of organisms, each of which is food for the next listed organism, which is a larger predator.  Following are a few examples of a food chain.  The blueberry bush flower nectar is eaten by the hummingbird moth, which is eaten by a blue jay, which is eaten by a pilot snake, which is eaten by a crow, which is eaten by a great horned owl.   The poison ivy is eaten by a eastern forest snail, which is eaten by a box turtle, which is eaten by a raccoon, whose dead body (carrion) is eaten by a turkey vulture. You may have fun finding more food chains in the ecology food web image above.

Quiz Six

1. “Eco” come from the Greek language meaning …
a.) money
b.) sustainability
c.) home
d.) climate change
e.) friendly

2. What is the fundamental base of our economy?
a.) money
b.) banks
c.) shopping
d.) professions and careers
e.) nature

3. Look at the image above of southwest Michigan’s Abridged Food Web Ecology.  What does the red fox not eat?
a.) raccoon
b.) box turtle
c.) eastern cottontail
d.) great horned owl
e.) pilot snake

4. Look at the image above of southwest Michigan’s Abridged Food Web Ecology.  What does not eat acorns from an oak tree?
a.) raccoon
b.) squirrel
c.) blue jay
d.) wild turkey
e.) turkey vulture

5. Look at the image above of southwest Michigan’s Abridged Food Web Ecology.  What eats the eastern forest snail?
a.) poison ivy
b.) box turtle
c.) hummingbird moth
d.) eastern cottontail
e.) red fox

6. Look at the image above of southwest Michigan’s Abridged Food Web Ecology.  Which food chain is true?
a.) blueberry is eaten by black carpenter ant, which is eaten by a wood frog, which is eaten by a cottontail, which is eaten by a red fox
b.) poison ivy berries are eaten by a crow, which is eaten by a box turtle, which is eaten by a raccoon, whose dead body (carrion) is eaten by a turkey vulture
c.) oak acorns are eaten by a blue jay, which is eaten by a pilot snake, which is eaten by a raccoon, which is eaten by a red fox
d.) oak tree eats a squirrel, who eats a pilot snake, who eats a red fox, who eats a great horned owl