The Osage Plains are a physiographic section of the larger Central Lowland province, which in turn is part of the larger Interior Plains physiographic division. The area is sometimes called the Lower Plains , North Central Plains ,or Rolling Plains . The Osage Plains, covering west-central Missouri , the southeastern third of Kansas , most of central Oklahoma , and extending into north-central Texas , is the southernmost of three tallgrass prairie physiographic areas. It grades into savanna and woodland to the east and south, and into shorter, mixed-grass prairie to the west. The Osage Plains consist of three subregions. The Osage Plains proper occupy the northeast segment. Although sharply demarcated from the Ozark uplift , the plains are nonetheless a transitional area across which the boundary between prairie and woodland has shifted over time. In the central portion of the physiographic area lies the second subregion, the Flint Hills , commonly called " the Osage " in Oklahoma. This large remnant core of native tallgrass prairie is a rocky rolling terrain that runs from north to south across Kansas and extends into Oklahoma. To the west and south of these hills are the Blackland Prairies and Cross Timbers . This vegetatively complex region of intermixed prairie and scrubby juniper - mesquite woodland extends into north-central Texas . Bluestem prairies and oak-dominated savannas and woodlands characterize the natural vegetation in the Cross Timbers. Much of the area has been converted to agriculture, although expanses of oak forest and woodland are still scattered throughout the eastern portion of the subregion.
33-569: Birds in the Osage Plains include the threatened greater prairie-chicken , Henslow's sparrow , dickcissel , loggerhead shrike , field sparrow , scissor-tailed flycatcher , Bell's vireo , painted bunting , and Harris's sparrow . Wildfire suppression , overgrazing , and the spread of exotic plants are the factors most negatively affecting priority bird habitat. The area now is managed almost exclusively for beef production with annual burns and intensive grazing practices that provide little of
66-674: A boomer , is a large bird in the grouse family . This North American species was once abundant, but has become extremely rare and extirpated over much of its range due to habitat loss . Conservation measures are underway to ensure the sustainability of existing small populations. One of the most famous aspects of these creatures is the mating ritual called booming. Adults of both sexes are medium to large chicken-like birds, stocky with round wings. They have short tails which are typically rounded. Adult males have orange comb-like feathers over their eyes and dark, elongated head feathers that can be raised or lain along neck. They also possess
99-401: A mating pool . In some birds, it includes behaviors such as nest -building and feeding offspring. The human practice of mating and artificially inseminating domesticated animals is part of animal husbandry . In some terrestrial arthropods , including insects representing basal (primitive) phylogenetic clades, the male deposits spermatozoa on the substrate, sometimes stored within
132-547: A circular, un-feathered neck patch which can be inflated while displaying; this, like their comb feathers, is also orange. As with many other bird species, the adult females have shorter head feathers and also lack the male's yellow comb and orange neck patch. Adults are about 43 cm (17 in) long, and weigh between 700–1,200 g (25–42 oz). The greater prairie-chicken has a wingspan range of 69.5–72.5 cm (27.4–28.5 in). There are three subspecies; The greater prairie-chicken prefers undisturbed prairie and
165-473: A core set of genes that function in meiosis and that are widely present among sexual eukaryotes. These results suggested that G. intestinalis is capable of meiosis and thus mating and sexual reproduction. Furthermore, direct evidence for meiotic recombination, indicative of mating and sexual reproduction, was also found in G. intestinalis . Other protists for which evidence of mating and sexual reproduction has recently been described are parasitic protozoa of
198-750: A radio telemetry study conducted by Kansas State University that "most prairie-chicken hens avoided nesting or rearing their broods within a quarter-mile of power lines and within a third-mile of improved roads." (Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks) It was also found that the prairie-chickens avoided communication towers and rural farms. Studies have found mesopredators such as striped skunks , raccoons , and opossums significantly increase egg mortality; experimental removal of these predators increased nesting success from 33% to 82%. Loss of apex predators such as bears, wolves, and mountain lions results in increased populations of these mesopredators, and therefore reduces populations of prairie-chickens, an example of
231-522: A special structure. Courtship involves inducing the female to take up the sperm package into her genital opening without actual copulation. Courtship is often facilitated through forming groups, called leks , in flies and many other insects. For example, male Tokunagayusurika akamusi forms swarms dancing in the air to attract females. In groups such as dragonflies and many spiders, males extrude sperm into secondary copulatory structures removed from their genital opening, which are then used to inseminate
264-683: A top-down trophic cascade . Non-native common pheasants also reduce prairie-chicken reproduction through nest parasitism . The small size of some isolated prairie-chicken populations in the Eastern portion of the range resulted in a population bottleneck , which reduced the genetic diversity and ultimately survival of offspring. In Illinois, wildlife management included the "genetic rescue" of small and potentially inbred populations by introducing birds from other areas. Greater prairie-chickens do not migrate . They are territorial birds and often defend their booming grounds . These booming grounds are
297-651: Is between two individuals of opposite sexes. However, for some hermaphroditic species, copulation is not required because the parent organism is capable of self-fertilization ( autogamy ); for example, banana slugs . The term mating is also applied to related processes in bacteria, archaea and viruses. Mating in these cases involves the pairing of individuals, accompanied by the pairing of their homologous chromosomes and then exchange of genomic information leading to formation of recombinant progeny (see mating systems ). For animals, mating strategies include random mating , disassortative mating , assortative mating , or
330-416: Is mostly achieved without physical contact between mating individuals (see pollination ), and in some cases, e.g., in fungi no distinguishable male or female organs exist (see isogamy ); however, mating types in some fungal species are somewhat analogous to sexual dimorphism in animals, and determine whether or not two individual isolates can mate. Yeasts are eukaryotic microorganisms classified in
363-590: Is now on the verge of extinction, with the wild bird population at around 200 in Illinois in 2019. It now only lives on small parcels of managed prairie land. Throughout North America, it is thought that their current population has declined severely, to approximately 500,000 individuals. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the greater prairie-chicken as extirpated in its Canadian range ( Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba , Ontario ). It
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#1732766276463396-514: The Missouri Department of Conservation has started a program to import prairie-chickens from Kansas and Nebraska in the hopes that they will be able to repopulate the state and increase that number to 3,000. Central Wisconsin is home to approximately 600 individuals, down from 55,000 when hunting was prohibited in 1954. Though this area was predominately spruce and tamarack marsh before European settlement, early pioneers drained
429-415: The diploid . Protists are a large group of diverse eukaryotic microorganisms , mainly unicellular animals and plants, that do not form tissues . The earliest eukaryotes were likely protists. Mating and sexual reproduction are widespread among extant eukaryotes including protists such as Paramecium and Chlamydomonas . In many eukaryotic species, mating is promoted by sex pheromones including
462-402: The kingdom Fungi , with 1,500 species currently described. In general, under high stress conditions like nutrient starvation, haploid cells will die; under the same conditions, however, diploid cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae can undergo sporulation, entering sexual reproduction ( meiosis ) and produce a variety of haploid spores , which can go on to mate (conjugate) and reform
495-450: The penis into the female's vagina (in mammals ). In domesticated animals, there are various type of mating methods being employed to mate animals like pen mating (when female is moved to the desired male into a pen) or paddock mating (where one male is let loose in the paddock with several females). Like in animals, mating in other Eukaryotes, such as plants and fungi , denotes sexual conjugation . However, in vascular plants this
528-571: The Central Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival, started in 2006 by Golden Sands Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc. Habitat loss is the greatest historical threat to prairie-chicken populations. More than 95% of all tallgrass prairie in the United States has been converted to cropland. The conversion of native prairie to cropland is very detrimental to these birds. It was found in
561-444: The area in which they perform their displays in hopes of attracting females. Their displays consist of inflating air sacs located on the side of their neck and snapping their tails. These booming grounds usually have very short or no vegetation. The male prairie-chickens stay on this ground displaying for almost two months. The breeding season usually begins in the United States starting in late March and throughout April. During this time
594-408: The eukaryotic family tree. However, several of these protists are now known to be capable of, or to recently have had, the capability for meiosis and hence mating. To cite one example, the common intestinal parasite Giardia intestinalis was once considered to be a descendant of a protist lineage that predated the emergence of meiosis and sex. However, G. intestinalis was recently found to have
627-642: The female (in dragonflies, it is a set of modified sternites on the second abdominal segment; in spiders, it is the male pedipalps ). In advanced groups of insects, the male uses its aedeagus , a structure formed from the terminal segments of the abdomen, to deposit sperm directly (though sometimes in a capsule called a " spermatophore ") into the female's reproductive tract. Other animals reproduce sexually with external fertilization, including many basal vertebrates . Vertebrates reproduce with internal fertilization through cloacal copulation (in reptiles, some fish, and most birds) or ejaculation of semen through
660-587: The females move about one mile from the booming grounds and begin to build their nests . Hens lay between 5 and 17 eggs per clutch and the eggs take between 23 and 24 days to hatch. There are between five and 10 young per brood. The young are raised by the female and fledge in one to four weeks, are completely independent by the tenth to twelfth week, and reach sexual maturity by age one (Ammann, 1957). A study of female greater prairie-chickens in Kansas found that their survival rates were 1.6 to 2.0 times higher during
693-420: The great river. The whole banks or sandbars on either river were a mass of quail or partridges. I have never in my life seen such a grand sight. They had come from the prairies to the river, but unable to fly across either stream there they were by the millions running up and down each river until they had made paths and roads. We killed a great many with sticks and clubs and took them to the boat. We met Dick Bird,
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#1732766276463726-552: The habitat structure required to support many priority bird species. Historically, fire, drought, and plains bison were dominant ecological forces and had great influences on the vegetation from local to landscape scales. The Osage Plains and Flint Hills were dominated historically by tallgrass prairie with scattered groves of blackjack oak ( Quercus marilandica ) in the uplands and along drainages. A variety of wetland types, including wet prairie, marshes , and northern floodplain forests occurred along larger rivers. Today, much of
759-513: The land in the Osage Plains is planted to corn and soybeans , or has been converted to non-native grasses for pasture and hay . Large expanses of tallgrass prairie remain in the Flint Hills, where relief is greater than in the Osage Plains subregion and the land less suitable for cropping. The Osage Plains are underlain by soft shales with interbedded sandstones and limestones of late Mississippian to Pennsylvanian ages. Some of
792-462: The males establish booming sites where they display for the females. The one or two most dominant males can obtain 90% of mating opportunities. Due to their now small populations and habitat fragmentation the greater prairie-chickens often undergo inbreeding causing observable inbreeding depression : with fewer offspring and a decreased survival rate within these limited offspring further aiding their population decrease. After mating has taken place,
825-484: The man this point took its name from, and he said we could look for a cold winter, as the quails and prairie chickens were leaving the prairies and trying to get south to escape the cold." The greater prairie-chicken was almost extinct in the 1930s due to hunting pressure and habitat loss. In Illinois alone, in the 1800s, the prairie-chicken numbered in the millions. It was a popular game bird, and like many prairie birds, which have also suffered massive habitat loss, it
858-555: The marshes and attempted to farm the poor soil. As the prairies to the south and west were lost to agriculture and development, and the southern half of Wisconsin was logged, the prairies spread northward into the abandoned farmland. Today, over 30,000 acres are managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as greater prairie-chicken habitat. Birdwatchers travel from around the world to visit Wisconsin in April for
891-429: The non-breeding season compared to the breeding season; this was due to heavy predation during nesting and brood-rearing. One problem facing prairie-chickens is competition with the ring-necked pheasants . Pheasants lay their eggs in prairie-chicken nests. The pheasant eggs hatch first; this causes the prairie-chickens to leave the nest thinking that the young have hatched. In reality, prairie-chicken eggs do not hatch and
924-480: The protist Blepharisma japonicum . Based on a phylogenetic analysis, Dacks and Roger proposed that facultative sex was present in the common ancestor of all eukaryotes. However, to many biologists it seemed unlikely until recently, that mating and sex could be a primordial and fundamental characteristic of eukaryotes. A principal reason for this view was that mating and sex appeared to be lacking in certain pathogenic protists whose ancestors branched off early from
957-546: The rocks prevalent in the Osage Plains are Mississippian limestone, limestone shale, Ordovician dolomite , and Pennsylvanian coal . Also, clay and shale are found within the Pennsylvanian bedrock. The area contained two major mining areas. The biggest was the Tri-State lead and zinc region, consisting of nearly 2,000 sq mi (5,200 km). This was the largest concentration of zinc deposits anywhere in
990-797: The world. Most mining sites have closed, mainly due to health and other environmental issues. More than $ 1 billion worth of lead and zinc were extracted from the area during the active mining days. The other major mining was for bituminous coal . Due to air quality standards, this region's coal is in low demand due to its high sulfur content. 36°N 96°W / 36°N 96°W / 36; -96 [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from Osage Plains . Bureau of Land Management . Greater prairie-chicken T. c. attwateri T. c. pinnatus T. c. cupido † Tetrao cupido Linnaeus, 1758 The greater prairie-chicken or pinnated grouse ( Tympanuchus cupido ), sometimes called
1023-523: The young usually die due to lack of incubation . Mating In biology , mating is the pairing of either opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for the purposes of sexual reproduction . Fertilization is the fusion of two gametes . Copulation is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization . Mating may also lead to external fertilization , as seen in amphibians , fishes and plants. For most species, mating
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1056-682: Was again confirmed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in November 2009. Nonetheless, sightings and encounters continue to occur in the south-central regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with southern Ontario, where sightings are extremely rare. In states such as Iowa and Missouri that once had thriving prairie-chicken populations (estimated to be hundreds of thousands ), total numbers have dropped to about 500. However,
1089-657: Was originally found in tallgrass prairies . It can tolerate agricultural land mixed with prairie, but sparser population density is found in areas that are more agricultural. Its diet consists primarily of seeds and fruit , but during the summer it also eats green plants and insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles. This species was once widespread all across the oak savanna and tall grass prairie ecosystem . A steamboat captain recalled seeing great flocks of prairie chickens at Bird's Point in 1840, writing "Then we gazed in wonderment, but very soon our eyes were drawn to something more attractive which caused us to forget
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