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The proportion of land in each major ecosystem type has changed since pre-settlement times. Despite these changes, the natural areas tracked by Natural Area Preservation still contain a diversity of ecosystems.
Source: Ann Arbor Natural Area Preservation |
For the first few miles we passed through the woods... Soon we reached the so-called oak openings, where the trees stand a few paces apart and where the ground is overgrown with luxurious grass. Passage is obstructed neither by bushes nor by fallen trees. Small knolls alternate with lovely little valleys... No park laid out by human hands could compare with this natural setting.
-Karl Neidhard riding From Ann Arbor to Pleasant Lake - August, 1834
Source: Neidhard, Karl. Karl Neidhard Reise nach Michigan, Michigan History: (March, 1951).
What are ecosystem types?
The Michigan landscape prior to European settlement had many different types of vegetation that developed over time in response to soil type, moisture gradient, topography, and natural processes such as wildfire. Those vegetation types supported different types of mammals, birds, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians and other organisms. This combination of biological and physical features defines an ecosystem. Within each major type of ecosystem, such as wetlands, there are different characteristics that define an area as being, for example, a marsh, bog, fen or swamp. Each of these ecosystems has features that distinguish it from other ecosystems.
How does ecosystem diversity affect the environment?
Each different ecosystem is home to a variety of plants and animals that together contribute to a region’s biological diversity. Because the ability of an ecosystem to support biological diversity depends on the protection of environmental processes such as the hydrologic cycle and nutrient cycling, the number of ecosystem types and their characteristics reflect the state of the environment. Biological diversity also affects the state of the environment for humans who appreciate the experiences that nature provides.
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