Breanne Penn, Oscar Schmidt, Oliver Smeeton

Prairie Field Trip Report

Healthy Prairie

Introduction
The team is going to Sugar Grove Nature Center to study biodiversity on the prairie, and
determine whether or not the prairie is a healthy natural environment. S
Sugar Grove is located in Funks Grove.
FunksGroveisthelargestremainingintactprairie
groveinthestateofIllinois.SugarGrove
is a nature center where people can study and

explore the environment. There is an observatory, a small museum, a birdwatching area,

and a park for children to play on, along with acres of open prairie, which is where we will
be studying.
There are three elements of a healthy prairie: the biodiversity of the plants and animals
living there, the precipitation and temperature of the region, and the health of the soil
which can be determined by measuring levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
The team will determine whether or not the prairie is healthy by measuring the levels of
nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus in the soil and by examining the biodiversity of the
region.
Some initial research was done and it was discovered that the prairie is 1,200 acres and
that the average annual temperature is 10.8
C.
About 954mm of precipitation falls
annually. These are average numbers for a healthy prairie ecosystem.
Precipitation Levels:

Average Temperature:

Methods
Upon arriving at the location the teams split up to cover different areas
of the prairie. Our group used steaks and string to measure out a ten
by ten meter quadrat to study. Following this, two members of the
team began measuring the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and
potassium in the soil to determine its health. While they were doing
this, a member of the group walked up and down the marked out
zone, graphing the location of all the different types of plants. A
researcher then went on to record the number of plants in each
species while someone else recorded any insect/animals found.

Data
Team Data:
Biodiversity
Animals- Diversity of animals was low, with only 4 species counted and a low quantity of
each species. There were 13 animals recorded total for our quadrat.

Plants- Diversity of plants was relatively low. In our quadrat Indian grass far outgrew any
other plant, coming to a total of 150 plants. Not counting miscellaneous plants the
closest species was wild bergamot which came to a total of 27 plants. The number of
members of the species of the rest of the plants remained relatively low. There were 10
different identifiable species, however there were several other plants that our team
could not identify. This was a good sign of diversity and variety on the prairie.

Soil
The soil test showed that the soil in this section of the prairie had a low concentration of
nitrogen and a high concentration of both phosphorous and potassium.

Class data:
After calculating and examining the data for our teams quadrat, we synthesized the data
from all of the teams and found the biodiversity of all of the quadrats combined.
Animals- The biodiversity of animals for the entire prairie was still relatively low. The
shannon index was about 1.5. There were 8 different species recorded, and grasshoppers
dominated the population of animals with 19 individuals.
Plants- the biodiversity of the plants on the prairie was much higher but it still had a high
dominance of Indian grass. There were about 10 different identifiable species however
Soil
One other team did a soil test and came up with the same results as our team: low
nitrogen, high phosphorus, and high potassium.

Conclusion
Based on the data we collected, the prairie is not a healthy prairie. The biodiversity
we recorded is low, which means that there are roles (niches) not being filled. The soil is
also not as healthy as it should be. The Nitrogen levels should be higher, and the
phosphorus should be about a medium, on the scale. The potassium level is healthy. This
data was however, all taken in late fall. The prairie is not going to be at its prime in the
fall. It is too cold for insects and at this point most of the plants are dead or dying. To
accurately test if a prairie is healthy, we could next time conduct this test in the spring or
summer.