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Background Information

        A food chain is the main part of life. It shows how energy flows through an ecosystem. It starts off at the primary producers. These get energy from the sun. The sun keeps the primary producers alive. Primary consumers are an animal/plant that eats the primary producers (plants). Similar to how the primary consumers(animals) relies on the primary producers (plants) the secondary consumers (animal who eat animals/plants) relies on the primary consumers. Finally, there the tertiary consumers, and just like every other one it relies on the secondary consumers. There are several plants (primary producers) and a lot of primary consumers. This is because the sun consistently grows the plants (primary producers.) sometimes if the plants are covered up by trees they can’t get much sun. the causes there to be the most primary producers, It is important because without one part of the food pyramid, our ecosystem will be in danger. Energy flows through the food chain because the sun is full of energy then it passes energy to the primary producers. When an animal eats the primary producer, the energy will pass to the primary consumers. This same thing passes on to the secondary consumers and the tertiary consumers. An example is the sun keeps the grass alive. Now, the wolves can eat, and finally the bears can eat.

 

        There are approximately six main ecosystems in Colorado.  Some examples are: Plains Shortgrass prairie, subalpine forest, and Alpine Tundra.  The grasslands begin at the bottom of the mountains and then extend towards the Midwest.  The kinds of wildlife you can find in the grasslands are coyotes, black-tailed jackrabbits, black-tailed prairie dogs, hawks, owls, and many more.  Some kinds of plants you can find in the grasslands are blue grama grass, needlegrass, little blue stem, buffalo grass, and rabbit brush to name a few.  You can find subalpine forests up in the mountains near the Pikes Peak area.  The subalpine forests are about 9,500-10,000 feet in elevation, since the elevation is so high the temperatures becomes too cold for tress to survive which is commonly called the tree line.  The tree line is when there is a line of trees that stops because the trees can no longer survive.  The kinds of animals you can find are mule deer, elk, black bears, and red squirrels.  The kinds of plants you can find in the subalpine area are Engelman spruce, limber pine, and quaking aspen.  You can find the Alpine tundra on the mountains, for example Pikes Peak.  The kinds of animals you can find in the tundra are rocky mountain big-horn sheep, pika, golden eagles, mountain blue bird, ravens, and many more.  The kinds of plants you can find in the tundra are marsh marigold, alpine blue bell, and fairy primrose.

 

        One specific invasive species would be the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The Emerald Ash Borer is about the size of a penny and it is emerald green.  It originated from Asia and eats ash trees; the more ash trees they kill the less food the clearwing moth has to eat.  Which can lead to the predators that eat the moths without food and then it keeps going and destroying the food chain. The adult EABs are approximately ½ inch long. The EAB is very small. The colors are emerald green and its underside is coppery reddish purple. The adult EAB does not harm the tree, it feeds off the leaves. But what the adult EAB does do is lay the eggs on the tree. Then the larva harms the tree by eating the phloem and cambium inside the tree. The EABs predators are woodpeckers and wasps. They are primary consumers, and only eat Ash tree leaves, phloem, and Cambium.

 

        Invasive species are any living organism that comes to a new environment and start affecting the environment, economy of human heath in a negative way. Invasive species are non-native, harmful, to the environment, and human actions cause some invasive species. Invasive species effects can cause serious harm to the environment they invade. These effects include: ruining our whole ecosystem and food chain. An example of this is (not including the EAB.) Yellow toad flax, common starling, Quagga mussel, European rabbits were brought to Australia they ate their WHOLE food source. This left them with NOTHING! Because of that they all died one by one, for example, this can happen with the Emerald Ash bore. They could destroy our whole ecosystem!

Impact of Emerald Ash Borer

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Impact of Emerald Ash Borer

 

        If the EAB comes to our ecosystem, it will be at risk. If it came then our ecosystem, the number of ash trees would decrease. We should always try to keep the EAB out of our ecosystem. The effects would be terrible. For example, our urban trees are fifteen percent ash trees. It would be weird that one day fifteen percent of our trees is gone. Also, some people plant ash trees for shade in their backyard to help reduce their electricity bill, A lower power usage helps our environment. Without the ash trees our environment would be in danger.

 

        Any invasive species would impact an ecosystem. Invasive species are animals or plants that are non-native to the area, depending on the plant or animal it could cause damage to the human economy and human health. It would cause damage to the environment and human economy, because for example the local animals that are native to the area are having a normal day. But then all of a sudden, an invasive species comes along and harms the environment that they are in. This causes to ruin everything for the native animal/plants. Early this year the bomb cyclone hit Colorado Springs and since it was really windy many trees in black forest fell down from high winds. From this it made the conditions great for a kind of beetle that love to eat freshly fallen trees, which kind of made it made a buffet to them because there were a lot fallen trees after the storm. The beetles name was the Ips beetle. The Ips beetle is about three to six millimeters but can cause a lot of damage by burrowing into trees. The Ips beetle eats through dead or dying trees and helps the decomposition. But too many dead trees increase the beetle population. Which causes the beetle to eat healthier trees. This is something that could happen with the EAB if we plant many new ash trees.

 

Action Plan

 

        Our ecosystem is at risk from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). Here are a few steps you can take to prevent our ecosystem from getting effected detrimentally. First, you can have unwanted ash trees removed before they die. Next, if you’re not sure if some ash trees are worth saving you can get a professional to help.  Not moving fire wood is another action step you can take, because the wood that the E.A. B’s live in are cut down into fire wood which is also made into firewood which is also made into shipping boxes. This causes the EAB population to spread. Another action step is some trees should not if they are: Un-healthy, have dead branches and more than half of the leaves missing, or if they are planted in poor sites or are not important to the landscape.

 

        For example, if the ash trees that the EAB invades develops a poison that could kill the larva, the tree has a very high chance at surviving. This tree can reproduce another ash tree with the same poison this tree will also have a high chance of surviving. Only the ash trees with the poison will survive against the Emerald Ash Borer.