Why do bison live in grasslands

Without interaction from grazers or fire, this excess growth soon chokes the soil and prevents healthy plant growth. Bison moving across pastures not only remove that choking cover, the animals convert the cellulose in the plant into protein.

As the bison graze, their manure and urine supply important nutrients for the plant cover, and their hoofs stir the soil, helping to bury seeds and to create small pockets in the earth to capture precious moisture.

Even many prairies potholes small ponds today began as buffalo wallows. Other grasslands species rode along on the coattails of bison in establishing a strong place in the grassland ecosystem. Nearly species of grasslands birds, for example, evolved in some part to adapt to the nature of the environment created by the hoof print of bison upon the land. She was encountered by two hunters and presented to their chief a pipe that had carved into it a bison calf.

It reminded the people of their connection to all living things. We studied many signs of the bison's presence in the prairie discarded fur, deep wallows, "buffalo chips", and many, many tracks. On most days, we also got to directly observe the animals themselves -- sometimes more closely than we would have preferred.

On one day, as we hiked through the Badlands National Park, a herd of 40 bulls appeared before us. Noticing that their tails were standing on end, we realized that these Bison were not as happy to see us as we were to see them. The whole herd then actually started to move toward us as a fast walk.

Having to act quickly, Dr. Noonan backed our group up to a gully area where we were able to out-maneuver the bison and disappear from their line of sight. Luckily, we all escaped untouched by 80 tons of Bison! Thinking that we were free from danger, we continued our hike through the park.

Then another pair of bison began to follow us. We felt like we were being stalked! If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man". Approximately 60 million Bison roamed North America when Europeans discovered it.

When settlers moved west, the bison were pushed to near extinction. During the s, the railroad brought hunters who killed the Bison for sport. Bison were also killed for their hides and meat. Increased farming in the west brought domestic animals and diseases against which the Bison had no defense. By , fewer than 1, Bison remained in the United States and Canada. Luckily, during the destruction of the wild bison herds, some people protected small herds of captive animals on private land.

These animals were subsequently used to repopulate some North American parks with these magnificent animals. The first bill to save the Bison was introduced in Congress in Two small wild populations remained, in Yellowstone National Park and northern Alberta, Canada; and a few individuals survived in zoos and on private ranches. Remarkably, a movement developed to save the bison and ultimately became a conservation success story.

With the establishment of additional populations on public and private lands across the Great Plains, the species was saved from immediate extinction. By it numbered about 12, Native Americans wanted bison back on their ancestral lands. Conservationists wanted to restore parts of the Plains ecosystems. And ranchers started to view bison as an alternative to cattle production.

More ranches began raising bison, and Native American tribes started their own herds. Federal, state, tribal and private organizations established new conservation areas focusing in part on bison restoration, a process that continues today in locations such as the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas and the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. By the early s, the total North American population had expanded to , , with about 90 percent being raised as livestock — but often in relatively natural conditions — and the rest in public parks and preserves.

For scientists, this process has been an opportunity to learn how bison interact with their habitat. Bison feed almost exclusively on grasses , which, because they grow rapidly, tend to out-compete other plants. Because they tend to graze intensively on recently burned zones and leave other areas relatively untouched, bison create a diverse mosaic of habitats. They also like to move, spreading their impacts over large areas.

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