Morton Genesis

A rock formation found in southwestern Minnesota. It is one of the oldest rocks known to the world estimated to be around 3.5 million years ago. It is the oldest rock in MN It is dated to the Precambrian era when the continents were still being formed It helps scientists learn more about the formation of the earth's crust and development of landscape

Lake Agassiz 

• When the Wisconsin glacier retreated for the final time about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, the continental divide prevented the water from draining into the MN River and instead formed a huge lake called Lake Agassiz. It covers a total area around 123,500 square miles and a maximum depth of about 400 feet. The lake eventually grew high enough that it began to drain over a dam creating the glacial river warren which is now the valley of the MN River. During this, the natural drainages through lake superior, and the hudson bay opened and Lake Agassiz began to drain. Now there remains the basin of Glacial Lake Agassiz in north-central MN.

Ecosystem

• A community of living organisms interacting with each other and with the nonliving environment.

• Relationships through biotic factors - living elements (plants, animals)

• relationships between through abiotic factors - nonliving elements (soil, light, water)

• Food chains - primary consumer (bottom of the food chain, plants) secondary consumers (what consumes the primary, snails)

Watershed

• Watershed as a water-land area where water drains into a lake, river etc. 

• Runoff, snow, rain etc all drains in - this carries minerals, nutrients, and pollution into the water bodies 

3 vs 4 Biomes 

• Tallgrass prairie 

  • Located mostly in southern and western MN 

  • Dominated by grasses, flowering plants, and few trees 

  • Lower precipitation - drought - fires 

• Deciduous Forest 

  • Diagonal band stretching from southeastern to north-central MN 

  • Dominated by trees that lose leaves seasonally - maple, basswood, elm 

• Northern Coniferous Forest 

  • Northeastern MN

  • Dominated by evergreen trees - spruce, pine, aspen, birch 

  • Cooler temps and shorter growing seasons

• 4? - Wetlands, aquatic systems

Biomass and there is no away 

• Biomass is the total amount of a living organic material in an organism, population, or ecosystem at a given time

• Energy flow and trophic levels - plants create organic matter through photosynthesis while other organisms consume plant biomass

• The amount of biomass depends on factors like sunlight, water, nutrients, climate 

• There is no away is a concept stating that nothing really disappears, waste we throw away remains in the environment and affects it. 

• Matters such as logging and other human activities deeply affects biomass

Tester’s Creation Story of MN lakes 

• Lakes were primarily created by glacial activity during the Ice Age, impacted significantly by the retreat of the Wisconsin Glacier - 10,000-12,000 yrs ago

• As glaciers moved across MN, they scraped and made depressions in the surface, when the glaciers melted these areas filled with water creating lakes 

• Processes 

  • Scouring by ice - moving glaciers created basins in the bedrock and soil 

  • Buried ice blocks - ice chunks got trapped in sediment when they melted they left holes to be filled with water 

  • Moraines and glacial deposits - glaciers deposited rock and sediment that created dams which helped lakes form 

  • Glacial meltwater - rivers of meltwater reshaped valleys and created basins and wetlands

Nutrient Cycling 

• The continuous movement and reuse of essential nutrients - carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen through living and nonliving organisms

• Plants absorb from soil/sun/water, animals obtain them by eating plants or other animals

• Organism waste, or death - decomposers like fungi, bacteria, insects break down this organic material and return the nutrients to the cycle

Types of Aquatic Systems 

• Wetlands 

  • Where water stays near or above the soil for long periods of time

  • Prairie wetlands - shallow for ducks and amphibians

  • Peatlands - northern with peat, moss, tamarack, and spruce 

  • Bogs, marshes, swamps 

• Lakes 

  • Were mostly formed by glaciers 

  • Vary in depth, nutrients, temp, and productivity

  • Oligotrophic lakes are deep, clear, and nutrient poor 

  • Eutrophics lakes are nutrient rich, with more plant and algae growth

• Streams and Rivers 

  • Flowing water ecosystems formed by glacial drainage systems 

  • Ecology is influenced by current, oxygen, temp, and sediment movement 

  • Supports fish, insects, amphibians, and vegetation 

Types of wetlands 

• Prairie wetlands

  • Shallow common in western MN 

  • Ducks, amphibians, and aquatic plants 

• Bogs 

  • Acidic, nutrient poor 

  • Dominated by moss, spruce, and tamarack 

  • Water comes from rain 

• Fens 

  • Fed by groundwater 

  • Contain many nutrients and plants 

• Marshes 

  • Dominated by grasses, cattails, sedges, nonwoody plants 

  • Water levels fluctuate seasonally

• Swamps 

  • Forested wetlands containing trees and shrubs 

Peatland: Bogs vs Fens 

• Peatlands are wetlands with thick accumulations of partially decomposed organic matter called peat. Bogs and Fens 

• Bogs 

  • acidic and nutrient poor wetlands 

  • Water comes mostly from rain or snow 

  • Moss, spruce, tamarack 

• Fens 

  • Groundwater fed 

  • Brings in dissolved minerals making less acidic, more nutrient based ecosystem

  • Support many grasses, and plants

Types of Prairies 

• Tallgrass prairie 

  • Found in wetter regions 

  • Dominated by tall grasses - bluestem and switchgrass 

• Mixed-Grass Prairie 

  • Moderate rainfall areas 

  • Medium and shorter grasses 

• Shortgrass prairie 

  • Driest regions 

  • Dominated by short, drought resistant grasses

Disturbance and Succession 

• Disturbance is an event that disrupts an ecosystem and changes its structure, resources, or species composition - natural fires, floods, or unnatural - logging, farming, pollution 

• Succession is the gradual process of ecological change that occurs after a disturbance. Overtime the ecosystem changes and adapts 

  • Ex. Fires in prairies. Fires remove dead or old vegetation (grass/trees) and allows new grass to grow quicker

Fragmentation of Landscape 

• When large natural habitats are broken into smaller, isolated pieces by human activities. Ex: agriculture, roads, logging, urban development.

• In MN fragmentation has affected tall grass prairies which are now farmland

• Deciduous forest 

• Mainly in southeastern and central MN 

• Trees include Maple, Elm, Basswood, and Oak 

• Trees that shed leaves in the fall 

• Coniferous forest 

• Northern MN 

• Trees include spruce, fir, pine, tamarack, cedar 

• Adapted to colder temps, shorter growing seasons, and thinner soils 

Two trees in the Big Woods/Deciduous forest and one ecological role

• Basswood 

• Elm 

• In this forest leaves fall from trees and decompose on the forest floor returning nutrients 

Two trees in Northern Hardwood forest and one ecological role 

• Yellow birch 

• Pine - balsam fir 

• Sugar maple 

• Provides shade for the animals and saplings 

Two native prairie grasses, and one ecological role 

• Switchgrass 

• Bluestem 

  • Grasses provide soil stabilization and nutrient storage 

Period of time prairies were largely destroyed in MN and how 

• Largely destroyed during the late 1800s and early 1900s due to settlers expanded across the state and converted prairies into farming land 

Invasive species and two examples from two MN biomes 

• Invasive species are non-native plants and animals that spread into ecosystems and disrupt 

  • Ex 1 - Zebra mussels (aquatic biome)

  • Canada Thistle (Prairie Biome)