Snowy Owl and Kudzu vine

Snowy owl and its invasive spices
2017 October
For my second AP for population class it was about an invasive species coming into a new land. my example was a Kudzu vine going to move to the environment of the owl. Through out my research I learned a lot about this vine and how it is taking over the US southern states. We also learned about how the habitat can effect the species in many ways. We also learned about some math components that can be factored in to this, such as mean median mode range first quartile  third quartile and box and whisker plots


In North America, snowy owls are found during the breeding season from the western Aleutians in Alaska to northeastern Manitoba, Northern Quebec and Northern Labrador in Canada. In the winter, they can regularly be found in the northern United States. So obviously they are well use to the cold and the snow. Both the male and the female defend the nest from predators, sometimes by distraction displays. Males may mate with two females that may nest about a mile  apart. Some of the owls stay on the breeding grounds while others migrate.




It started out in Asia and spread to the southern states and grew over a lot of tress and didn't let them get sunlight which is obviously an essential to any tree. Last spring break I went to Louisiana, you could see it over everything in the bayou. Kudzu originated in Japan, where the ecosystem kept the vine from becoming a problem and it is thought to have been introduced to China and Korea. There are multiple ways to control this vine such as biologically, chemically and some people have a small heard of sheep to control this. 



So let's say this vine evolved a trait to live in cold weather and travel up into northern US and Canada. The first thing it would effect is every type of tree nesting/ hibernating animal and cause them to have to find a different home. For the snowy owl it will mostly effect is prey such as mice and small varmint. The reason this is is because the snowy owls nest is in the ground not in any tree. But the mouse hibernates in the tree and if this vine kills the tree then the mouse will possibly die as well making it harder to find things to eat for the snowy owl For my 3 different organisms who I think would survive in this habitat is choose prairie dog, black bear, and swift fox. I choose the prairie dog not for its predatory traits which it does have more for it survival traits. Such as it is very good at digging and tunneling through the ground and it is very quick so it can escape its predators. For food it eats bushes which there are some in that climate such as sedum.  For my second organisum I think the black bear would be able to survive. They are already north but not as north as the snowy owl. So my guess is that they have experience with the cold already.Besides that they are very good hunters and quite fast. There food is primarily berries and insects if they wanted to they would eat a fish or mammal. They are opportunistic eaters. Finally I chose the swift fox. The swift fox is a good choice because of its speed. With that it can escape predator or go after prey. Its food is rabbits, prairie dogs, squirrels mice and other varmit.  

Wing spans of snowy owls statistics

The calculation of the nCr and nPr didn't apply to this trait so permutations and combinations were not calculated.    

SIMILARITIES	DIFFERENCES
6ftish wing span	Different color pattern
Strong beak for eating others	Beak coloration
Thick plumage	Different thickness with owl
Tallons	Different nail types

SIMILARITIES	DIFFERENCES
Sharp beak	More orangish that others
Big eyes	All black
Same coloration as the great horned	Hidden ears

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Sipa, Silvia. (2013, October 15). "Snowy Owl, Owl, Bird.” Retrieved from Pixabay - 449986, pixabay.com/p-449986.

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