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6.6 Unit Challenge Resource: Dune Species Fact Sheets
Organism: Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)
Piping plover are small birds that are often found living near lakeshores and dunes around the Great Lakes. Piping plover build their nests where the grass meets the sand on dunes and beaches. They tend to live on the parts of the dune that are mostly sand with a few plants and some stones. They tend to hunt for food along the shoreline of lakes and ponds where they eat insects, worms, fly larvae, and beetles. Most of the food they catch is from the surface of water because their beaks are so short. Piping plover are eaten by foxes, dogs, cats, raccoons, and skunks, and their eggs are eaten by raccoons, skunks, and foxes, gulls, great horned owls, american crow, common raven and mink. Piping plover compete with gulls for nesting space on dunes. Piping plover habitat is often destroyed when humans build on dunes and beaches. Their populations are limited by finding habitat to build nests. Unfortunately, piping plover populations have become very small, therefore they have been listed as “endangered” by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Fun facts/questions to answer after reading about Piping Plover
1) What are ways piping plover protect their nests?2) How old was the oldest piping plover?.3) What heavy do piping plover get?
Copyright, Michigan Technological University 2017, all rights reserved.
6.6 Unit Challenge Resource: Dune Species Fact Sheets
Organism: Pitcher’s Thistle (Cirsium pitcheri)
Pitcher’s Thistle is a species of plant that only grows on dunes and beaches along the shores of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Lake Huron. They usually grow on open sand near the shore of lakes, but can grow anywhere on a dune that is not covered in trees. The pitcher’s thistle is a threatened species, which means their populations are low because humans have been developing (building on) their habitat. Pitcher’s thistle are photosynthetic plants, which means they are able to convert sunlight into energy to grow. Pitcher’s thistle are eaten by American goldfinch birds, and weevils, which are a type of insect. The goldfinch eat the seeds of the thistle, and the weevils lay their eggs on the thistle, and their hatched larvae eat the seeds. Because the thistle live in open sand where few other plants can grow, they do not really have any competitors. However, in open sand habitat the sands blow around possibly burying or uprooting the thistle plants.
Fun facts/questions to answer after reading about Pitcher’s Thistle
1) How many years does it take for a pitcher’s thistle to flower?2) What two colors can pitcher's thistle flowers be? 3) How long can the taproot grow on pitcher’s thistle?
Copyright, Michigan Technological University 2017, all rights reserved.
6.6 Unit Challenge Resource: Dune Species Fact Sheets
Organism: Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Red fox are a species of animal that live near dunes as well as other habitats including forests, grasslands, and mountains. Red fox generally prefer a mix of vegetation types, such as what is found along the edges of ecosystems. Red foxes are omnivores, which means they eat more than just meat. Typical food includes rodents like mice, cottontail rabbits, insects, fruit, and dead animals. Adult red foxes have few natural predators, but their young, called pups, can be eaten by coyotes, eagles, bears, mountain lions, and wolves. Red fox compete with a number of other animals for food and habitat including gray foxes, kit foxes, and weasels. Red foxes also compete with coyote for habitat. Unfortunately for the foxes, coyotes are usually the species that gets to use the best habitat while red foxes are forced to use lower quality habitat.
Fun facts/questions for students to answer after reading about Red Fox
1) What are three ways red fox communicate? 2) What is the typical territory size for red fox? 3) What is the average lifespan of a red fox?
Copyright, Michigan Technological University 2017, all rights reserved.
6.6 Unit Challenge Resource: Dune Species Fact Sheets
Organism: Marram (beach) Grass (Ammophila breviligulata)
Marram grass is a type of grass that grows on beaches and dunes. This grass tends to grow in areas with very sandy soil and lots of sun, which is part of the reason they grow on dunes. Marram grass is an important plant because it stabilizes the sand of dunes and beaches, which prevents the sand from blowing away when it is very windy. Marram grass act like a “pioneer” plant, which means once they start growing other plants are able to start growing around them. Marram grass are photosynthetic, which means they get their energy to grow from sunlight. Marram grass are eaten by a number of insects including, beach grass scale, gall midges, false Japanese beetle, twirler moths, and crackling forest grasshopper. Marram grass have a mutualistic relationship with fungi, which means both organisms benefit when they interact. The fungi decomposes dead stuff (organic matter) which allows the marram grass to get important nutrients it needs. The marram grass in return gives food to the fungi. As a result, both organisms benefit.
Fun facts/questions for students to answer after reading about M arram Grass .
1) How tall can marram grass grow?2) Where does reproduction primarily occur for marram grass? 3) What is one of the ways to protect marram grass from being trampled:
Copyright, Michigan Technological University 2017, all rights reserved.
6.6 Unit Challenge Resource: Dune Species Fact Sheets
Organism: Clustered Orobanche (Orobanche fasciculata)
Clustered orobanche are plants that live on dry prairie and dune ecosystems. They usually prefer to grow in dry, mostly bare areas. Clustered orobanche are an interesting plant because they are parasitic, which means they take energy from other organisms. In the case of the clustered orobanche, they grow from the roots of other plants. Because it is parasitic and steals food and nutrients from its host plant (the plant it is attached to), it does not use sunlight for energy and therefore does not have leaves. Orobanche usually have one type of host plant, called beach wormwood. Clustered orobanche compete with insects that eat beach wormwood including lygus bugs, snakeweed grasshopper, painted lady butterfly, and wormseed flower moth. They are limited by dune habitats that have beach wormwood since this is their known host plant.
Fun facts/questions for students to answer after reading about Clustered Orobanche
1) What does orobanche completely lack due to being parasitic? 2) What are the best months to observe clustered orobanche?3) How are orobanche seeds spread?
Copyright, Michigan Technological University 2017, all rights reserved.
6.6 Unit Challenge Resource: Dune Species Fact Sheets
Image Sources (Last Updated 07/10/2017)1) Photo by Mdf, distributed under CC BY-SA 3.0 license: Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piping_plover#/media/File:Charadrius-melodus-004_edit.jpg
2) Photo by Envioronmental Portection Agency (EPA): Pitcher’s Thistle (Cirsium pitcheri): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pitchers_thistle_epa.jpg
3) Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Vulpes_vulpes_standing_in_snow.jpg
4) Photo by Halley, distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license: Marram (beach) Grass (Ammophila breviligulata): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammophila_breviligulata#/media/File:Ammophila_breviligulata_Leland_June.jpg
5) Photo by Matt Lavin, distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license: Clustered Orobanche (Orobanche fasciculata): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orobanche_fasciculata_(3715378326).jpg
Copyright, Michigan Technological University 2017, all rights reserved.
