Riparian Zone of the Riparian Zone of the Mountain LionMountain Lion

Adam TorranceBiology 1 Period 4

Niche of the Mountain Lion Niche of the Mountain Lion (Felis Concolor)(Felis Concolor)

• The Mountain Lion lives in a variety of places throughout the United States. It does not have a set region.

• For food, the Mountain Lion is a carnivore and eats a ton of white tailed deer. They make up approximately 60-80% of the cats diet. No animal except humans really sees the Mountain Lion as prey and we definitely don’t depend on them for food. However when they die decomposers break them down. Therefore helping the cycle of the ecosystem

Niche of the mountain lion (felis concolor)

• At about age three of four the Lion reaches maturity, age two and a half for females. There is no specific breeding season for them but tend to breed in late fall or early winter. The female has usually 3-4 but can have 1-6 in kittens in a den.

• Even the mountain lion can give birth at anytime of the year they usually only give birth every 2-3 years.

         

  

Niche of the mountain lion (felis concolor)• The Mountain Lion is a fairly

large animal it can range to as long as nine feet but is usually around six or seven.

• The Mountain lion is a nocturnal animal and hunts at night usually. Sometimes during the day. Also it feeds on things like deer rabbits foxes and pretty much anything else that it might come across while hunting. It’s very well adapted to hunting, with strong legs for pouncing and running and teeth made to tear and slash.

Niche of the mountain lion (felis concolor)• A Mountain lions territory is

made by the abundance of prey, if there is not a lot of prey around it may be as big as a couple miles and may be smaller if there is more abundance of prey.

• The mountain lion may choose to live anywhere from sea levels to high up in the mountains it really doesn’t matter to them.

• Mountain lions usually live inside a fixed den, but not if it is a female with kittens. In that case they usually live in small crevices and caves. They have been found living in populated areas like drain pipes and ditches.

Niche of the mountain lion (felis concolor)• The Mountain lion hunts its

prey usually from elevated surfaces or chasing it down. It usually eats around 8-10 pounds of food per day. Only sick and weak lions are usually at risk of becoming prey by things other then humans. Strong Lions basically have no natural enemy.

• Mountain Lions can survive in a variety of environments. It is usually a dense one with a good abundance of food and water.

Food Chain of the Mountain Food Chain of the Mountain LionLion

ProducerAutotroph

Primary ConsumerHerbivore

Secondary ConsumerCarnivore

Decomposer

              

Food Web of the Mountain Food Web of the Mountain LionLion

Herbivore

Producer Omnivore

CarnivoreCarnivore

Decomposer

Producer

Carnivore HerbivoreHerbivore

Omnivore

Stream Quality Data & Stream Quality Data & AnalysisAnalysis

0

50

100

150

200

250

No. oforganisms

Class IClass IIClass III

• The Steam that this graph represents is fairly good. The class one organisms are those that can only live in healthy conditions and there are the most of them. The class two organisms can tolerate some pollution and there is not that many of those. The third and final class are organisms that live in usually polluted streams and there is almost none of those.

• Class one organisms, if the greatest shows a healthy stream. Class two means a semi healthy stream and class three is unhealthy organisms.

• The stream conditions effect the mountain lion by the condition of it’s drinking water and possibly some of the organisms it eats like white tailed deer. If the deer die cause of the water the lion will too.

Water Testing Data & Water Testing Data & AnalysisAnalysis

05

10152025303540

Nitrate

Oxygen

pH Phosphates

StreamMarshMine

• For a healthy stream low nitrates and phosphates are ideal. A mid PH level (around 7). And high Dissolved Oxygen level.

• Ideal ranges for these elements are, for Nitrates and Phosphates 0. For Dissolved Oxygen 10 parts per million. For PH 6.5-7.5. Also clear turbidity and a temperature of 70 degrees or below. If these levels are not around what they should be bad things can happen. Organisms will suffocate if there is little dissolved oxygen. If nitrates of Phosphates are high plant overgrowth will occur and take up all the oxygen.

Testing Data continued• They will also increase

turbidity preventing photosynthesis, effecting predator prey relationships, and not allowing organisms to grip rocks. Ultimately destroying the stream. Temperature if not correct can also effect the stream negatively. It can cause organisms to freeze if too low and die also if too high.

05

10152025303540

Nitrate

Oxygen

pH Phosphates

StreamMarshMine

Testing Data continuedb• If the mountain lion lived near

the stream it would have no problem living it could get its water from the stream and eat the animals that also drink from the stream. If it lived by the marsh then the lion would probably have to find an alternate source of water somewhere or die. Also it would have to eat organisms that could either drink from the marsh and live or search for other prey. Finally if it lived by the mine the lion would have to find another way to obtain water and it would have a hard time find food to eat that could survive in that environment.

Positive and Negative FactorsPositive and Negative Factors

•The stream, marsh, and mine waters now would effect my organism little if at all. They all are not that horrible and life is living around them. So the Mountain Lion can survive off the water and other animals surviving off of the water.•Factors that negatively effect the riparian zone are things like pollution. There are many different kinds of pollution, from runoff of farmland fertilizer, things being directly dumped into the zone and waste and decaying animals. Factors that positively effect the riparian zone are mostly things done by humans like the planting of trees, the cleansing of water, and the recycling of products.

ConclusionConclusion

•I learned through this experience that no matter what, the earth is effected by everything that is done by both humans or all other organisms.• I found it interesting that there are different organisms in streams that can tolerate different amounts of pollution. •In the future I may want to further research the topic of the pollution of streams and rivers.

Works Cited Page

• http://www.desertusa.com/may96/du_mlion.html

• http://www.ask.com/pictures?l• http://discoverer.prod.sirs.com/discoweb/

disco/do/article?urn=urn%3Asirs%3AUS%3BARTICLE%3BART%3B0000119426

• Powdermill Stream study data