Tag Archives: prairie

Photo of the Week – April 6, 2012

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Here’s something I know almost nothing about:  Slugs.

I found this slug in one of our prairies yesterday morning, and managed to get a few decent photos of it.  Slugs are largely considered to be pests in gardens, but I’ve never heard any discussion of the ecological role(s) they might play in grasslands.

A slug on a pussytoes flower in the Platte River Prairies - Nebraska. What was it doing up there on the flower?

Sure, I know that slugs are gastropods that resemble snails without shells.  They have rasping mouthparts, eyes on tentacles, and leave trails of slime as they travel.  But what do they actually DO in prairies?  How important are they in the ecosystem functioning of a grassland?  My understanding is that most slugs I see are probably introduced species, but are they causing any negative impacts in prairies?

The best information I could find online was this field guide to the slugs of Kentucky.  I thought it was great, but certain members of my family found it wildly amusing that someone had made a field guide for slugs.  Those same family members seem largely uninterested in learning more about slugs, but I think they (slugs) are intriguing creatures, and would love to have someone feed me information on their ecological roles.

Anyone?

Nebraska Wildflower Field Guide

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About 20 years ago, Jon Farrar, one of Nebraska’s preeminent naturalists and photographers published a fantastic field guide to the wildflowers of Nebraska and the Great Plains.  Unfortunately, the book sold out within a year and a half and has been nearly impossible to find since then.  Finally, after all this time, it has been reprinted, and the new edition is even better than the first.

I was asked to write a review of the new edition for Prairie Fire Newspaper, and was more than happy to oblige (and not just because I got a free signed copy of the book!).  The review was published in the April 2012 issue of Prairie Fire, and you can read it here.

To see more of Prairie Fire Newspaper, please go to their website at www.prairiefirenewspaper.com.  You can also read more about Jon’s book at the University of Iowa Press website.

If you had Farrar's wildflower field guide, you'd know that this is showy milkweed - not common milkweed - because the flowers are more prominent and have longer "hoods". Not only does the book explain what hoods are, it has excellent photos of both species that make the differences very easy to see.