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Natural Systems in Minnesota

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Minnesota has diverse plant and animal life!

Images from wikimedia commons, public domain unless otherwise noted

By Derek Bakken from Minneapolis, MN - Bald Eagle, CC BY 2.0,

© leannewallisbiologist, http://eol.org/pages/1174740/overview

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Some plants and animals in MN

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Let’s look at Minnesota’s Biomes!

Olivia J. Mullins

MN has 4 biomes

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A Biome is a large area of land with a certain climate and certain plants and animals

A biome is not the same thing as an ecosystem but biomes often have several ecosystems within them

Olivia J. Mullins

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Deciduous Forest Biome

  • “Deciduous” trees lose their leaves seasonally
  • Warm and humid summers, sunny

Msact at English Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Trees in Deciduous Forest include Sugar Maples Oaks and others

Guide to Video:

  • 1:52 - Maple Tree
  • 3:18 - American Basswood
  • 3:45 - Ash
  • 4:30 - Hornbeam (Ironwood)
  • 7:24 - Oaks
  • 10:31 to end - Leaf Comparison

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Coniferous Forest Biome

  • “Coniferous” trees bear cones
  • Cool and moist environment, cool winters and cool summers
  • Lots of animals! Snowshoe hare, Coyotes, Red Fox and Deer mouse mice to name a few (sound familiar?)

Kyloe Woods, Northumberland, UK; July 2005, CC SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picea_mariana_cones.jpg

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Evergreen trees are one type of coniferous tree

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Tallgrass Aspen Parkland Biome

  • Small in MN, but extends into Canada
  • Transition area from dry windy plains (west) to moist old coniferous forest (east)
  • Has Sandhill Cranes, �Elk Bear and other �animals

By Frankyboy5 at en.wikipedia - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17219658

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Prairie Grassland Biome

  • Flat or rolling grassland
  • Can have sand dunes, tall fields of bluestem, wet meadows or shortgrass prairies
  • Low rainfall, warm in summers

By Alexschott - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5764982

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Explore Minnesota On Your Own!

Learn about the environment of your home state and create an art and science project to show what you’ve learned!