PRARIES & DINOSAUR SPECIES DIVERSITY

["Matthew Troutman" <m_troutman@hotmail.com>]

Since I hang around a prarie occasionally I think that Bois' points need 
to be critiqued.  

<<Grass is resistant to overgrazing.>>

Not just grass in prarie environments, but saiges, various ground herbs, 
some trees and flowers.  Another point that must be made is that praries 
can recover fast.  A friend who has been working at the one particular 
prarie has cleared secondary forest growth that encroached on the 
prarie.  He spread some various prarie seeds and and waited for stuff to 
grow.  What did he find?  Well, other than the stuf he planted he found 
things that he did not plant.  He ruled out that the seeds were carried 
there and concluded that they were living dormant below the ground.  

Praries are very unique biomes, and they host a variety of plant, 
lichen, fungus, and animals.  What makes them diverse species-wise is 
the variety of niches that they can supply for species.  However, 
compared to rainforests in diversity, they are not that diverse.  Though 
I find George's prarie and savannah analogy flawed, I do agree with his 
statement that dinosaurs had more species than Dodson's estimate.

Matt Troutman

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com