Marsh Ecosystem

Hemiptera Milkweed Bug Oncopeltus fasciatus
Genus: Oncopeltus Order Hemiptera
-very large–sized hemipteran (true bug) of the family Lygaeidae. It feeds mainly on grains, particularly those of the milkweed. Like all hemiptera, it feeds through a long mouthpart known as a rostrum
-These bugs can sometimes be found by the hundreds on a single milkweed plant. Adults and all levels of instars can be mixed together. The adults, being flying insects, can be quite a sight when airborne.
-Milkweed bugs have few predators because they concentrate in their bodies bad tasting compounds found in the sap of milkweed plants. The bugs use their bright colors to advertise their bad taste. Inexperienced birds that taste their first milkweed bug are unlikely to try to eat another orange and black insect, such as a Monarch or Viceroy butterfly.



Common Green Darner
Anax junius


This member of the largest family of dragonflies has a light green thorax and a long, thin abdomen. The abdomen of males is a bluish color while females are purplish-gray. They have large brown compound eyes in contact in the middle of the face and a black and blue target-like mark on upper part of head. The wings are yellowish and the base of the hindwing is broader than forewing. All dragonflies hold their wings outstretched when at rest. Nymphs are a greenish brown in color and go through a series of molts to reach adult size. They are aquatic and move through the water by jet propulsion: water is drawn in and expelled out of the rectum. Moving water through the rectum is also how they breathe as that is where the gills are located.
Habitat

-Common around marshy ponds and swamps.
-Diet: nymphs and adults use mandibles to feed on other insects such as mosquitoes and midges. Nymphs are predatory so they will also eat small fish and aquatic worms.
Size
-length is 2 ½ - 3 ¼ inches; wingspan is about 4 ½ inches.
-Found all over the United States and into Canada. Those further north in the United States and Canada may migrate south in winter and the offspring migrate back north in the spring.
-Strong fliers capable of reaching speeds of 55 mph.





GREEN FROG (Rana clamitans) (2.95 to 4.92 in)
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Ranidae
Genus: Rana
Characteristics:
-Green, greenish brown, brownish, yellowish green and olive, with some rare individuals being blue. They are generally brighter in front with small irregular black spots. -Their legs have dark transverse bands. They are yellowish or white below, and males usually have a bright yellow throat.
-The tympanum (eardrum) is large; in males the tympanum is much larger than the eye and females tend to have a tympanum the same size as the eye.
-The dorso-lateral ridge is well defined and extends from the back of the eye posteriorly down the body. The toes are well webbed and the first fingers do not extend beyond the second.
-Green frogs are found in a wide variety of habitats that surround most inland waters.

Special Adaptations:
-Green frogs are preyed upon by a variety of animals. Tadpoles and eggs are eaten by leeches, dragonfly larvae, other aquatic insects, fish, turtles, and herons. Adult frogs are eaten by larger frogs, turtles, snakes, herons, other wading birds, raccoons, otters, mink, and humans.

-Green frogs often look much like mink frogs where the two species occur together. This may be a form of mimicry because mink frogs have a musky skin secretion that makes them foul tasting to many predators. Green frogs do not have a foul taste, so may be taking advantage of their resemblance to mink frogs to avoid being preyed upon Green frogs overwinter in the water usually buried in the substrate. Green frogs produce as many as six different calls.




Opossum: (Didelphis marsupialis)
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Didelphidae

-weighs about seven pounds.
-It’s face is elongate, narrow and coneshaped; black, hairless ears that are leathery in texture and tipped in pink or white. T
-Their tales are naked and scaly, and their feet are shaped like hands. Dense underfur is white with grayish tips, and the guard hairs are dark gray or black, but from a distance, opossums appear grayish in color. Some individuals may have underfur tipped in brown, and these animals will have a brownish cast rather than gray.
-The opossum has black, beady eyes set in the whitish head, and the feet are black with pink or white toes. The inner toe of each hind foot is like a thumb.
-The female opossum has a woolly pouch on her abdomen for carrying and nourishing her newborn young. The skull of the opossum belies its ancient lineage because it contains 50 teeth, the most of any Indiana mammal.

Wool Grass :
Order: Cyperales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Scirpus
Species: S. cyperines

The common name of this species is misleading because it isn't a member of the Grass family (Poaceae). Instead, it is a member of the Sedge family (Cyperaceae), like other Scirpus spp. To make matters even more confusing, these species are collectively referred to as 'Bulrushes,' even though they are not members of the Rush family (Juncaceae). Notwithstanding such problems with nomenclature, Wool Grass is one of the more attractive bulrushes, particularly during the early fall when its spikelets become woolly reddish brown. It can be distinguished from similar species by considering the following features: 1) Wool Grass has leafy culms, as opposed to leafless culms, 2) its spikelets are reddish brown and exceptionally woolly at maturity, 3) its inflorescence is a drooping compound umbel at the apex of the culm, and 4) it has small clusters of 3-12 sessile or nearly sessile spikelets on the terminal branchlets of each umbel, as opposed to individual spikelets.

Special Adaptations: Bulrushes are an important source of food and cover to many vertebrate animals. Many species of ducks and other wetland birds feed on the seedheads of bulrushes; Canada Geese and the Trumpeter Swan also eat the foliage. See the Bird Table for a listing of these species. Because Wool Grass and other bulrushes often form dense colonies of plants, they provide good nesting habitat for various species of wetland birds. Muskrats eat both the foliage and rhizomes of bulrushes, while the Meadow Vole eats the seedheads.


Monarch caterpillar/butterfly: Danaus plexippus
Order: Lepidoptera Family: Danaidae Genus: Danaus
-Predominantly open country, frost intolerant species whose range of breeding habitats is greatly dependent upon the presence of asclepiad flora (milkweeds).
-Follows a pattern of seasonal migration. There are two distinct populations in the North America, those that breed in the East and those that breed in the West. Each autumn millions of these butterflies leave their breeding grounds and fly to overwintering sites. The Eastern population overwinters in the volcanic mountains of eastern Michoacan in central Mexico. The Western breeders spend their winters along the California coast.

-Both male and female monarchs are bright orange with black borders and black veins. The veins on the female are thicker than those of the male. Male monarchs also have a swollen pouch on both of their hind wings.
-Monarchs are poisonous to vertebrates. Their poison comes from the milkweed they feed on. The larva feed on a wide range of milkweeds of the genus Asclepias. From these plants they acquire and store cardiac glycosides, secondary plant compounds that protect them from predation. The adults of the species forage for flower nectar.

-Small caterpillars hatch from eggs laid by female Monarchs. They grow, shedding their skin to get bigger. Eventually each caterpillar stops growing and forms a case around itself called a chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis it changes its body its body in a process called metamorphosis. When it is done it emerges as an adult butterfly.

Silky Dogwood /Cornus amomum
Order:Cornales Family:Cornaceae Genus:Cornus L.



-Also known as Swamp Dogwood, Silky Dogwood is a common medium-sized shrub found along streams and in other wet areas. The leaves are opposite, simple, and have prominent veins. The veins curve inwards as they near the edge of the leaf.
-Clusters of small white flowers appear in late spring or early summer.

Swamp Milkweed /Asclepias incarnata
Order:Gentianales Family:Asclepiadaceae Class: Asclepias L

Characteristics:
-erect, perennial, up to 5' tall forb, milky juice, mostly hairless or sparsely downy; stems with divided branches toward the top
-Flower deep pink to red, 5-parted, 3/8" tall, fragrant, horns much taller than the hoods; inflorescence usually several, erect umbels; blooms July-Aug.
-Fruit pods with many seeds on silky hairs
-Leaf is opposite, lance-like or oblong-linear with pointed tips and mostly pointed bases
Habitat is full sun; wet to moist; shores, marshes, streambanks, prairies; in sandy, loamy soil

Leopard frog /Rana pipien

Order:Anura Family:Ranidae Genus:Rana

-The dorsolateral folds begin directly behind the eyes and extend to the groin along the ventral surface of the frog. Additional spots extend along the side of the frog below the dorsolateral folds. Although the dorsal surface of this frog is very colorful, the belly and undersides of the legs are pale white.
-Northern Leopard Frogs are brown to green frogs with three rows of irregularly arranged black spots located on the dorsal surface. These spots are most usually outlined in a whitish, cream colored border
-A deep, rattling snore interspersed with "chuckling" or the sound of a thumb rubbing against a balloon;






Great Blue Heron: Ardea herodias
Order: Ciconiiformes Family: Ardeidae Genus: Ardea
-Great blue herons always live near sources of water, including rivers, lake edges, marshes, saltwater seacoasts, and swamps. They usually nest in trees or bushes that stand near water. They tend to avoid marine habitats along the east coast and instead live inland.
-Largest herons in North America. They stand approximately 60 cm tall and are 97 to 137 cm long. They weigh 2.1 to 2.5 kg. They have long, rounded wings, long bills that taper to a point at the end, and short tails. They also have very long necks and legs. The bills are a yellowish color and the legs are green.
-Great blue herons have gray upper bodies, and their necks are streaked with white, black and rust-brown. They have grey feathers on the back of their necks with chestnut colored feathers on their thighs. The males have a puffy plume of feathers behind their heads and also tend to be slightly larger than females.
-Great blue herons fish in both the night and the day, with most of their activity occurring around dawn and dusk. Herons use their long legs to wade in shallow water and their sharp "spearlike" bills to catch their food.
-Great blue herons control fish and insect populations in many different habitats. They are also an important source of food for the animals that prey on them.


Scarlet Smartweed /P. coccinea

Order: Caryophyllales Family: Polygonaceae Genus: Persicaria

Characteristics:
- 2–3' tall and sparingly branched. The central stem is more or less erect (for terrestrial plants), swelling somewhat at the nodes where the leaf-sheaths wrap around the stem. These nodes can be brownish and hairy, but are never bristly at the edges. -The alternate leaves are up to 8" long and 3" across, and have short petioles. They are usually lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate. Their margins are smooth, although they may curl up and down or twist about. The surface of the leaves (upper and lower) can be either hairless, or have appressed silvery hairs, depending on the local ecotype. The midvein on the underside of each leaf is quite prominent.
-The flowering stalks are quite hairy and often brownish in appearance. The cylindrical racemes are about 2-3" long and densely crowded with flowers. Each flower is about 1/6" across, consisting of 5 petal-like sepals, 5 stamens, and a divided white stigma. The sepals of these flowers are rosy pink or scarlet, and rather showy.
- The root system produces long rhizomes, which enable this plant to form sizable colonies.

Duckweed /Lemnaceae
Order: Alismatales Family:Araceae Subfamily: Lemnoideae

-The family of duckweeds are the smallest flowering plants. These plants grow floating in still or slow-moving fresh water around the globe, except in the coldest regions. The growth of these high-protein plants can be extremely rapid. Lemna is one of the best known of this group and has been the subject of much research.
-These plants are very simple, lacking an obvious stem or leaves. They consist of a small 'thalloid' or plate-like structure that floats on or just under the water surface, with or without simple rootlets.

Special Adaptations: Researchers are using these plants to study basic plant development, plant biochemistry, photosynthesis, the toxicity of hazardous substances, and much more.