Between 1947 and 1956, U. of Wisconsin researchers did an extensive study of the most pristine remaining prairie systems in Wisconsin............They determined that the physical size of the prairie remnant and the incidence of fire greatly influenced the plant composition ...........As is true of so many terrestrial natural systems, "a changing climate and loss of habitat are impacting prairie ecosystems"............, "While fire used to be commonplace on the prairie, people have fundamentally changed the nature of the landscape by suppressing this natural disturbance".............."Some sites, the research team found, had fewer than 18 percent of the species documented in the 1950s survey".................., "Some were now made up of more than 60 percent non-native species"....................... "More than one species is being lost in the average year"................."The species that we're losing most frequently are specialist prairie plants, like rattlesnake master"............ "The species that are showing up are more generalist plants, like those you might find in a roadside ditch or in a thick, brambled woods"............... "For the most part, it's fast-growing weedy trees"............"It's box elder, it's buckthorn, it's honeysuckle, and probably a big part of their success is the absence of fire".

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/ecology/~3/vS64La-a7AA/160219185208.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

60 years after pioneering survey,

 Wisconsin prairies are changing

 rapidly

Date:

February 19, 2016

Pictured below in the following order are:

-Historical rendition of prairie fire lit by Plains Indians so

as to stampede Bison

-Current day Bison on a verdant prairie

-wildflowers in bloom on the prairie

-prairie pot holes

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