The Great Plains is a diverse landscape and has an unpredictable weather pattern. Many have images of long stretch of flatlands without much life, but the Great plains region holds mountains, wide plateaus, and continental glacier features. The textbook states the Great Plains can be searing hot one day and then freezing temperatures the next. Despite the fact that agriculture, white, and other grains are the main aspect of the landscape, a lot of the economy is in a transition period towards a diverse mix of manufacturing, high technology, and service sector activities. The Great Plains as a whole is changing in terms of climate, population, water reserves, and technologies. This region consists of 12 states (either part of the state or the whole state). The states include Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, and with parts of three Canadian provinces. The Great Plains consists of flat lands, Nebraska Sand Hills, praise potholes, rivers (like the Missouri, Platte, Arkansas, Canadian, and Red rivers), and step topography, aquifers. The Great Plains whether is unpredictable and changes often. There are dramatic changes in temperature and precipitation, creating strong seasonal changes. Even though overall the Great Plains is an agriculture region, there is also primary sector activities like energy production. Oil and natural gas is also popular here. The Great Plains is a very diverse area. As shown in the textbook under the section "Culture, Peoples, and Places" the Great Plains is broken up in to four zones. They consist of the Canadian Great Plains, the Northern U.S. Great Plains, the Central U.S. Great Plains, and the Southern U.S. Great Plains. What this shows is the Great Plains is the diversity of the region, and that not one description covers it all. This is very similar to Yosemite National Park!
Yosemite National park contains waterfalls, granite cliffs, streams, giant sequoia groves, and wilderness. Its elevation range is from 2,127 to 13,114 feet. Within this five major vegetation zones are present: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. There are over 1,400 different plant species. The varied habitats support over 250 species of vertebrates. Habitats in the western boundary have mixed coniferous forests of ponders pine, sugar pine, incense cedar, white fir, Douglas fir, and giant sequoia. This habitat is mild and lower elevation climate with a large mixture of plant species. Due to these factors animals like American black bear, bobcat, cougar, gray fox, mule deer, mountain king snake, brown creeper, spotted owl, and Gilbert's stink are supported here. Higher in elevation tweets like red fir, western white pine, Jeffrey pine, lodgepole pine, and foxtail pine are present. Species here like golden-mantled ground squirrel, chickaree, fisher, hermit thrush, and northern goshawk are present. As the elevation even rises further the trees become desolate. The trees that are present are smaller, but are rare among the spanning granite surface. Trees here are whitebark pine and mountain hemlock. Species like yellow-bellied marmot, white-tailed jackrabbit, and black rosy finch are located here. In the park there are also meadows where many animals come to feed. The great grey owl, willow flycatcher, Yosemite toad, and mountain beaver are dependent on the meadows in Yosemite.
Due to Yosemite's intense elevation there are many different habitats. The Great Plains and Yosemite both are very diverse areas.
info for blog post: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park
Yosemite National park contains waterfalls, granite cliffs, streams, giant sequoia groves, and wilderness. Its elevation range is from 2,127 to 13,114 feet. Within this five major vegetation zones are present: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. There are over 1,400 different plant species. The varied habitats support over 250 species of vertebrates. Habitats in the western boundary have mixed coniferous forests of ponders pine, sugar pine, incense cedar, white fir, Douglas fir, and giant sequoia. This habitat is mild and lower elevation climate with a large mixture of plant species. Due to these factors animals like American black bear, bobcat, cougar, gray fox, mule deer, mountain king snake, brown creeper, spotted owl, and Gilbert's stink are supported here. Higher in elevation tweets like red fir, western white pine, Jeffrey pine, lodgepole pine, and foxtail pine are present. Species here like golden-mantled ground squirrel, chickaree, fisher, hermit thrush, and northern goshawk are present. As the elevation even rises further the trees become desolate. The trees that are present are smaller, but are rare among the spanning granite surface. Trees here are whitebark pine and mountain hemlock. Species like yellow-bellied marmot, white-tailed jackrabbit, and black rosy finch are located here. In the park there are also meadows where many animals come to feed. The great grey owl, willow flycatcher, Yosemite toad, and mountain beaver are dependent on the meadows in Yosemite.
Due to Yosemite's intense elevation there are many different habitats. The Great Plains and Yosemite both are very diverse areas.
info for blog post: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park
Here is a video discussing the very popular Giant Sequoia's in Yosemite!