Mongolian Steppe Biome (with disaster)

 Travel Journal

 Retrieved from http://www.destination360.com/asia/mongolia/map Taken by Destination360 photographer: George Stanley

Average elevation throughout the ecoregion is 1,000 to 1,300 m within the Mongolian Steppe. With this elevation, annual precipitation, concentrated during a weak summer monsoon, decreases from an average of 400 to 450 mm in the east to 150 to 200 mm in the west. Soil type is gritty/sandy with little moisture unless it is monsoon season. Average January temperatures in this part of the ecoregion may be less than –20oC despite a comparatively low latitude.

Retrieved from http://www.intrepidtravel.com/mongolia and taken from travel company Intrepid Travel.

Much of the ecoregion consists of nearly flat or rolling grasslands. The southwestern uplands of the Da Hinggan Mountains are also included. Their western slopes are gently inclined toward Mongolia while the eastern slopes drop steeply to the Northeast China Plain(http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/pa0813).

While walking along a secluded path in the Mongolian Steppe, I decided to record the different producers that I encountered. The most common types of producers were the feather grasses like the Festuca Ovina, and the Cleistogenes Squarrosa. Another common form of producer was the bush like the Meadowsweet and the Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea. Less common are the trees and wild flowers like the Melica Scabrosa, Lillium Tenuifolium, Mongolian oak, and Siberian crabapple. Here are some pictures that I took along the way (not really):

Mongolian Crabapple Retrieved from  http://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/malus-hybrids/  Photo by Ryan Somma, CC BY - 2.0

Taken from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melica_nutans_nuokkuhelmikk%C3%A4.jpg
picture by Alinja, 19:00, 28 December 2007

While taking pictures, I also noticed the abundant wildlife that consisted of mainly grazers, and a few predators. The most common consumers are the Argali sheep, Siberian Roe deer, and the Mongolian antelope. Insects include the Mongolian grasshopper, and the Siberian Ant (Harpagoxenus Zaisanicus).  Rodents-like animals like the Grey Marmot, Least Weasel, and the Steppe Polcat, are the main consumers of bugs, but will also eat vegetation.  The most common predators that feed on these consumers are the Red fox, Mongolian Vulture, and the Grey Wolf. The decomposers of the Mongolian Steppe are sometimes hard to find but they include Earth Worms and Yellow Lichen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian-Manchurian_grassland). More pictures:

 Argali sheep survey the landscape in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve. Taken From http://earthwatch.org/expeditions/wildlife-of-the-mongolian-steppe  By © Emma Fowler

 

Steppe Polecat taken from http://www.treknature.com/gallery/photo125710.htm by Tom Conzemius

 

Human influence has recently declined In Mongolia, economic trends of livestock privatization and the collapse of the urban economy have caused people to return to rural lifestyles, contrary to the global trend toward urbanization. As a result, the number of herdsmen in Mongolia is reported to have tripled in the past decade to more than 450,000 while the number of livestock has increased by 30 percent (http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/pa0813). However, due to the increase in herding, the Mongolian grasslands are at a higher risk of over-grazing which would be detrimental to the local wildlife ecosystem.

 

Food Web:

 

Festuca Ovina> Argali Sheep>Grey Wolf> Earth Worms>Yellow Lichen

 

Adaptations:

• Microorganisms: Yellow Lichens have special adaptations which permit them to withstand extremes of moisture and temperature. When moisture is available, it is taken up by the fungus leading to a mechanical change which allows more light to get through, triggering algal photosynthesis; new food and new tissue are then made. When the atmosphere is dry, however, the lichen is dormant and does not grow (http://www.concord.org/~btinker/gaiamatters/investigations/lichens/whatlichens.html).

 

• Plants: Feather Grass can survive in both cold and dry weather conditions as grassland biome has mostly hot summers and rainfalls; also many a time, with falling snow. The plants reserve the moisture during rainfall and snow which helps them in growing season. The plants adapt to this condition and they grow and survive accordingly. For example, the grasses of temperate grasslands are upright and narrow which helps to reduce the heat gain during summers. In grassland biome, fire that erupts from lightening plays an important role as it helps many plants by germinating seeds and also enriches the soil by providing it freshly burnt vegetation. A tough rooting system of these plants prevents the roots from being pulled off by animals when grazing (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/grassland-plants.html).

 

• Animals: The Mongolian Antelope once inhabited vast areas of Eastern Europe and even prehistoric North America, but is now nearly extinct; it can only be found in Kazakhstan and parts of Mongolia. Its elaborate nose serves the dual function of warming up air in the winter and filtering out dust in the summer. Its horns are highly valued in Chinese folk medicine.

Taken From http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0501-hance_saiga_tourism.html by: Igor Shpilenok. 

Symbiotic Relationships:

• Yellow Lichen relies on trees like the Oak, and the bacteria.
• Grasshoppers rely on the feather grass, and other vegetation.
• Grey Marmot rely on grasshoppers as a source of food.

OH NO! A VOLCANIC ERUPTION!!!

 



 

credit: Getty Images/Tom Pfeiffer/VolcanoDiscovery)

 



A volcano called Mount Quick has erupted and greatly affected the vast grasslands of  the Mongolian steppe. Thick streams of lava roll down the volcanos slopes leaving burnt vegetation in its wake. After the eruption has ceased, the lava turns into dried molten  rock that covers the entirety of the grasslands. Although the lava is relatively slow, few animals are unaffected by the devastation it caused.

 

The environment now contains large amounts of ash that dirties the air and water. The ash also coats the ground, making it difficult for things to regrow. The feather grasses are the plants that have been seemingly wiped out by the molten lava. Once lively grasslands, are now converted into vast deserts of rock and dirt. The trees have also been burnt to a crisp, no longer producing fruit for consumers to eat. Flowers along  with the grasses are wiped out and can no longer grow due to the new rocky terrain and the decreased available sunlight. The