Hi everyone, and welcome back to Curious By Nature!
My name is Anabel and I’m sitting in our new, permanent exhibit - The Hawver and Lacy
Families Nature’s PlaySpace.
This play area is filled with lots of fun interactives, but did you know that each section
in this exhibit is actually based on an ecosystem that you can find in Illinois?
Today we’re going to take a closer look at prairies, savannas, dunes, lakes, rivers,
and wetlands to learn more about what makes them so unique!
Let’s get started!
First off, we’re going to start in the prairie.
In the exhibit, our prairie is pretty recognizable thanks to our larger-than life prairie chicken
nest!
A prairie is a type of flat grassland that has few trees but lots of grasses, sedges,
and wildflowers.
Prairies tend to experience little rainfall and actually depend on fire to replenish the
soil and kill off invading trees and shrubs!
Even the prairie located right here on the Nature Museum grounds needs to experience
a controlled burn in order to help maintain soil and plant health.
These plants actually survive fire because of their deep root systems!
The root systems of prairie plants can grow up to 20ft below the surface and can live
for decades!
You can find lots of animals in a prairie!
Prairie animals may include ground squirrels, snakes, birds, butterflies, prairie chickens,
and prairie dogs.
Did you know that Illinois is known as the Prairie State?
In 1820, Illinois had 22 million acres of prairie land spread across the state, but
by 1900, most of those prairies were gone when they were converted to farmland.
There are few prairies left in the state, but conservationists are working to protect
and preserve these important ecosystems.
One prairie that you can visit year-round is the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
in Wilmington, Illinois!
Next up is the savanna.
You may not be familiar with the term “savanna” but chances are good that you’ve experienced
one before!
Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees.
Savannas are a unique ecosystem that represents a transition between woodland and prairie.
On a savanna, you'll have an open country dotted with trees.
Too many trees too close together, you're back in the woodland, and too many trees too
far apart you're back in the prairie.
In our exhibit, you can actually see this shift between the prairie and savanna as we
move from a flat grassy area, to an area marked by our oak treehouse slide!
Like prairies, savannas are prone to fires, so the trees that live in savannas must be
adapted to frequent fires.
Oak, hickory, walnut, and elm trees have all adapted to survive in savannas!
Lots of animals call the savanna home, like woodpeckers, tree squirrels, rabbits, deer,
grasshoppers, and cicadas.
We actually have a couple of savannas located on our museum grounds – the bur oak savanna
and the black oak savanna!
A cool detail about our black oak savanna is that it’s actually a sand savanna!
At one time, this area was a sand dune on Lake Michigan’s shore.
Speaking of sand, let’s take a closer look at the dunes!
Before Chicago was the Windy City, it was Windy Beaches–a fragile, constantly changing
landscape of ever-shifting sand dunes.
The wind formed dunes along most of the lakefront, blowing sand until some caught in shrubbery
and more piled on.
The wind also reshaped these dunes by blowing away the sand that was exposed to the breeze
and letting it settle in the spots that were sheltered from the elements.
The dunes along Lake Michigan are not a single habitat.
Instead, the dunes are many small habitats.
In the exhibit, our dune steps include long, tall grasses, and that reflects what you might
see in a real life dune!
Lakeshore rush, beach grass, and marram grass are examples of plants that grow and build
dunes.
Shorebirds are also a common sight on dunes, including the piping plover.
They often make their nests close to small patches of dune grass, which protect them
from strong winds.
Worms, snails, water bugs, and small shellfish can also be found in the and near the dunes.
Next, let’s zoom out and look at the lake as a whole!
Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great Lakes and is our primary water source
for the Chicagoland region.
The Great Lakes form the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem with a basin that encompasses
eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, and it’s the largest section in our exhibit!
More than 3,500 species of plants and animals, along with 40 million people, depend on the
resources of this region.
In the exhibit, you can ride on a springy-base fish, and that represents just one of the
fish that you might find in the lake.
Smallmouth bass, salmon, walleye are all prevalent in the lake, but you can also encounter freshwater
sponges, sturgeon, and mud puppies!
The lake is also home to a wide range of migratory birds, water birds, and predatory birds!
Just as our exhibit lake leads into the river, the real-life Lake Michigan feeds into the
other major water feature in the city – the Chicago River!
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, that follows a well-defined,
permanent path and flows towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river.
The Chicago River has gone through many changes since the late 1800’s.
The river connects us to the world and to a variety of species!
There are so many species that live on or near the river, including some that may surprise
you!
You can find fish (like the common carp and largemouth bass), reptiles and amphibians
(like turtles and salamanders), mammals (like bats and raccoons), insects (like damselflies
and dragonflies), birds (like cormorants and herons), and a long list of plants in and
around the Chicago River!
Our last stop is the wetland.
A wetland is an area where water doesn’t drain away, but the water level can vary throughout
the year.
Wetlands improve water quality, provide flood protection, and prevent shoreline erosion.
They also provide habitats for many diverse plants and animals.
Beaver dams are an important element of wetlands because they turn streams into ponds and help
keep water in the area.
Basically, beavers keep the wetlands wet!
Although much of Chicago used to be wetlands, today, the only wetlands left are around Lake
Calumet.
Wetlands are important for water filtration.
They are the lungs of an ecosystem and help keep the water clean.
There are different types of wetlands, too!
Marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens are all terms that you may have heard of in and around Illinois
and
they’re all types of wetlands!
Although the star of our exhibit’s wetland section is the beaver, beavers aren’t the
only animals you can find in wetlands!
You can also find frogs, turtles, birds, and so much more!
We hope you learned a little more about just a few of the ecosystems that you can find
in Illinois and the Midwest!
If you have any questions about any of the ecosystems we talked about today, be sure
to drop them in the comments.
And if you enjoyed this video, be sure to like and subscribe so you don’t miss a future
episode.
We hope you’ll join us at the Nature Museum to experience the fun of Nature’s PlaySpace
for yourself!
Be sure to visit our website to start planning your visit!
We’ll see you next time on Curious By Nature!