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Ecosystems

Explore the unique habitat of the endangered Piping Plover in Michigan's Coastal Dunes. Discover how this bird thrives by shifting sandy rocks to build nests and the critical interactions within this diverse ecosystem.

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Ecosystems

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  1. The Coastal Dunes Ecosystems By: Andrew Holland

  2. Piping Plover The Piping Plover lives in the Upper Peninsula and the Northern lower area of Michigan. The Piping Plover is such an endangered species that it has had only 15 breeding pairs found in Michigan in recent years. It’s hard to spot by eye because the color of it’s feathers are the same color as the rocky, sandy beach. They prefer to lie in the fordunes where it is easy to shift the sandy rocks and pebbles to form a nest. As the weather gets colder they prefer to migrate to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast where the weather’s warmer. The young, freshly hatched chicks leave the next only hours after hatching. The chicks are fully fledged between three to four weeks after hatching. - An Organism is any individual living thing by itself without Abiotic factors

  3. Wings Piping Plovers look for food on beaches by moving across the beach in short bursts. Generally, Piping Plovers will look for food around the high tide wrack zone and along the water's edge. They eat insects, marine worms, and crustaceans. The usually look for food together as a Wing. ^A group of Piping Plovers has multiple names including a Wing. - A Population is a group of organisms that live together in the same area

  4. Coastal Dunes - A community is a group of different populations that live together. It includes all biotic factors. The Piping Plover isn’t the only organism that lives in the Coastal Dunes, many other populations of different organisms live there too. This community of animals includes all living things in the Coastal Dunes ecosystem.

  5. Michigan Ecosystem Abiotic Factors - Water (Fresh) - Air - Sediment (Sand) - Temperature (600F on average throughout year) - Sunlight Biotic Factor - Red Fox - Eastern Box Turtle - Piping Plover - Ring-Billed Gull - Dune Lily - Milkweed - Dwarf Lake Iris - Beach Grass Every biotic factor needs at least one abiotic factor to survive. That’s why both are essential for each other. The Piping Plover breathes in O2 and breathes out CO2 that the Dwarf Lake Iris needs to make food for itself, and so on. Everything interacts with each other in ecosystem and that was only a tiny example - An Ecosystem is all of all of the Abiotic and Biotic factors living and interacting together.

  6. Works Cited "Piping Plover." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 May 2014. Web. 05 May 2014. ^ Because Wikipedia is not 100% reliable, I double checked with several other sites.

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