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Unit 1: Basic Ecological Concepts and Principles Related to Agricultural Systems
The tallgrass prairie of the interior United States provides an example of how different kinds of diversity are manifested in ecosystems.
In its natural state, hundreds of plant species could be found in the tallgrass prairie. Each plant had a distinctive flowering time, height, leaf structure and rooting depth. Prairie plants could be as tall as 10 feet and have root structures as deep as 10 feet or more. Others were confined to within several inches of the soil surface. These differences allowed the plants to occupy particular niches in the ecosystem, thus reducing competition. This diversity of plant species also provided natural habitat for a wide variety of animal life.
Click on the image on the left to enlarge it and explore examples of prairie plants and their root structures.
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