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Ecosystem Before the arrival of Cheatgrass

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Ecosystem Before the arrival of Cheatgrass

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Before the introduction of cheatgrass, the land was inhabited mostly by sage and the animals that relied on the bush to survive, such as sage sparrows and sage grouse. Various birds of prey such as the golden eagle will feast upon the sage grouse and smaller pronghorn. The vulture will feast on the dead corpses of various rodents and large animals.

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Image of cheatgrass

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Food web for original ecosystem

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How cheatgrass will affect the ecosystem

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How cheatgrass will affect the ecosystem

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Cheatgrass dries up early in the summer, becoming a likely hazard for a fire to occur. It also grows early, taking other nutrients from other plants in the area. Because of these effects, the sage grass will drop in population and surface area. Animals that live in the sage, such as sage grouse will drop in population because they lost their cover and habitat from predators. The population of tertiary consumers, such as the golden eagle, will likely rise because of the easier to spot animals that once lived in the sage. The decline in sage will also lower the populations of deer and pronghorn that rely on the sage in winter. Because they will die, the vulture population will increase. Overall, the introduction of cheatgrass causes a lot of habitat destruction and population changes in the ecosystems with sage.

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Because cheatgrass takes up space from

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- https://www.usu.edu/weeds/plant_species/weedspecies/cheatgrass.html
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https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sage_Thrasher/id
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https://www.sagegrouseinitiative.com/sagebrush-community/the-wildlife/
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Predation: Golden eagle feasts on sage grouse
Competition: Sage grouse competes for sage with the pronghorn
Parasitism: Sage grouse live in sage brush and feed and nest using it's resources.

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Cheatgrass entered the Western United States through contamination of agricultural materials by boat from the Mediterranean region of Europe.

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the golden eagle controls the population of primary consumers that will otherwise cause the population of primary consumers to increase until almost all of the sage is gone. This would cause a population decrease across the board until the sage replenishes.