1. Organism’s in the Riparian Ryan Torrance Biology Period 4

2. Niche of the Ruffed GrouseRuffed Grouse, BonasaUmbellus The Ruffed Grouse lives in the forest. It is rarely or if ever found in open fields. You will find it in quiet woods, deep thickets or sheltered swamps. They eat mainly fruit. One fourth of their diet is fruit such as thorn apples, blueberries, and strawberries. It also eats seeds and buds off of the trees around it

3. Many animals hunt ruffed grouse, including birds of prey such as goshawk, great horned owl, and various mammals such as fox, fisher and bobcat. Humans also hunt and eat ruffed grouse.

4. Niche Continued The Ruffed Grouse is a ground nesting bird. The female lays one egg per day, until her clutch is complete. The average clutch is about 11 eggs. The female sits on the eggs, in the nest, until the eggs hatch, after 23 to 26 days. Fledging occurs after 8 to 10 weeks

5. Niche Continued They are omnivores, although they feed mostly on plant material. It is also hunted by humans. This bird is a very popular game animal for humans.

6. Niche Continued The Ruffed grouse has a camouflaged feather pattern. It is brown and has many different shades. This helps it blend into its surroundings on the forest floor.

7. Niche Continued Ruffed grouse are loners. Unlike most other game bird species, which form coveys or flocks, ruffed grouse spend most of their adult life alone, except during the mating season.

8. Food Chain Of The Ruffed Grouse Producer Primary Secondary Decomposer consumer consumer Autotroph Omnivore Carnivore Bacteria

9. Food Web Herbivore Producer Decomposer Carnivore Producer Carnivore Herbivore

10. Stream Quality Data And Analyisis The stream is a very healthy stream. It has many class one and two organisms and no class three organisms. The number of organisms and the type of organisms determines stream quality. Class one organisms in a stream mean that it is healthy because they can’t tolerate pollution.

11. Water Testing Data and Analysis The elements in the stream can also determine the health of it. A healthy stream should have high dissolved oxygen, low nitrates and phosphates, and a neutral pH level of 7. Other factors that affect the stream are the temp. and the turbidity. The turbidity affects the stream by making the stream murky so that predators can’t se prey, prey can’t see predators, and it clogs fishes lungs. Temp. would determine d/o which would affect the stream but my organism really wouldn’t be affected.

12. Positive Negative Factors My organism really wouldn’t be affected if it kived by the stream. The water would be a good drinking source and the plants that lived around it would be great for food. If my organism lived by the marsh though it would be affected but not that much. The Dissolved oxygen level would be very low so the plants and organisms that would live in and around the stream would be different an may not be as healthy for it as the things by the stream. The area by the coal mine would greatly affect my organism. The nitrates are very high which isn’t healthy because they would leak into my organisms food source which would affect it.

13. Conclusion My organisms ecosystem is very interesting. It is amazing that one little thing that may affect a bug will eventually end up affecting a tertiary consumer. I would love to learn more about the abandoned mine drainage that is leaking into the streams. It needs to be stopped before it seriously damages the world.

14. Works Cited http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffed_Grouse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffed_Grouse