Plant Species Observation Paper

Fire has long been understood to have an impact on the ecosystem of our native woodlands, but it is only recently that we have come to understand its importance in maintaining the ecosystem. This report takes samples of the flora structure and growth in two different areas of Anstey Hill Recreation Park. The first was last burnt in 1995, and the second burnt in 2012. The results of these samples can be compared to data sampled in 2011, when the 2012 burnt area had not been burnt since Ash Wednesday in 1983.

The topography of the island is also of note. The west end of the island features a closed-canopy forest with more hardwood trees. The east end of the island is better characterized as a “boreal forest,” a term used to describe regions that are mostly covered by coniferous forests. It is good to note that the balsam fir is found on both ends of the island, but that samples used in the study from the west end of the island were, on average, older, but shorter, than those samples found on the east side of the island.

As the spread of this region contains coastal borders as well as a “natural region biogeography of gulf coast prairies and marshes”. Where the two defining attributes to the area plays a role in the salinity of the soil which require a plant to be highly salt tolerant. Because of the marshes and coastal waters containments of salt evapotranspiration of the water increases the salinity of the surrounded areas subsequently resulting in the visibility of the Live Oak in the area. Live Oak’s visibility in the area is marked by a stripping pattern indicated on the map can then be inferred that the species has a high salt tolerance because of its successional status persisted over time such as the century tree found at Texas A&M University which has held place for over a hundred

Little Bluestem is one of the most abundant grasses in Kansas, and its roots which grow 5-8 feet long, enable it to resist moderate drought conditions (SITE). Plots 5 and 6 contain co-dominant species; Yellow Indian Grass (20%), Big Bluestem (30%), and Prairie Dropseed (35%) are all dominant. In Plot 7, the dominant species is Prairie Dropseed (40%). The dominant species in Plot 8 is Big Bluestem (25%). In Plot 9 and 10, Little Bluestem becomes dominant again, and Switchgrass is observed to be the co-dominant. Species richness is shown in the Figure 5; there is a higher species richness in Plot 1 through

In addition, The Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and California Native Plant Society, are key contributors to conservation efforts in the California Floristic Province.

The investigation of this claim was done in the examination of the different types of vegetation with in serpentine soils in California. They studied the climatic correlations and geographical correlations to gain a better understanding of what they were dealing with. The main results included that the diversity of plants widespread to serpentine declined from the north to the south and from the coast inland. Meaning that while there may be many different ranges of this soil that does not mean that the plants living on it are diverse. There was also an association with the amount of rainfall. Most of these overall trends where seen to be true to all the plant groups. Overall they were able to conclude that the “patchiness” in the different habitats do not appear to increase diversity. In the end this journal leads me to the interpretation that while there are many of these environments spread out through California, they are all very similar to each other lacking in overall

Iowa was once a great vastness of prairie. Plants that had deep roots and were able to withstand anything that the wild Iowa climate, and they are able to thrive in it. Now, there are very few prairies left and these native plants have been pushed to the near brink of extinction. These native plant face a great other barriers from repopulating our urban landscape because of limitations of heights and types of rules and ordinances that inadvertently preventing yards and other large part of property from being planted into native plants. The entire metro community can benefit from allowing more native plants to become lawns and even larger gardens.

The Chaparral Biome is known by various different names due to the variety of locations it is situated in around the globe. It is often referred to as the California woodland and grasslands because of it’s’ exclusivity on the Californian coasts in North America, and also known as the Mediterranean Biome due to the large areas surrounding parts of the Mediterranean Sea. The chaparrals located in California are situated in the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which span across to the Pacific Ocean, and cover up to peaks at 5,000 feet above sea level. Hence, due to its location the climate is often hot and dry in the summer, and often cold and rainy in the winter. Additionally, these abiotic factors affect the biotic adaptations of the plant species that are found within the Chaparral Biome.

However, the Dwight-Irwin soil has more of a deeper, moister quality. Benfield and Dwight-Irwin soils do allow for more species richness than other lower elevated ecosystems but due to the drier soils, Little Bluestem is still the most dominant plant recorded. The dominance of Little Bluestem extends down to the lowest boundaries of the ecosystem, indicating that the soil conditions do stay relatively consistent, despite the change in soil type. This allows “Little Bluestem” to again be the dominant plant species component. The drier qualities of the upper Benfield soil combine with the slightly moister qualities of the lower Dwight-Irwin soil to give the “Dry Mesic” classification. These soil moisture content qualities, the location of this ecosystem along side slopes, and the consistent dominance of the Little Bluestem plant species allows this ecosystem to be classified as Little Bluestem-Dry

On Thursday October 19, 2017, at approximately 9:45 am, I visited the Wind Wolves Preserve to conduct my observations. The sun was shinning and the weather was beautiful hitting the high 70’s while I was out. It’s important to note that the Wind Wolves Preserve has many of the terrestrial ecosystems. This is one of the many interesting things that I discovered about this special place. I find it interesting that the preserve transitions from one terrestrial ecosystem lower in elevation and as you go higher in elevation you can enter into different types of terrestrial ecosystems. For example, the pamphlet informed me “The rolling grasslands rise from the valley floor and transition into the classic California oak and valley oak savanna with

Coastal sage scrub grows as far north as the San Francisco Bay and as far south as Mexico’s Baja Peninsula (Riverside County, 2002), and there are similar scrub communities

Every culture on this planet is ripe with legend. We have the legend of Nessie, the legend of the abominable snowman, the legend that that the Bermuda Triangle is the gateway to hell. We hear about these legends everyday, however there is a very important one that not many of our society are aware of. It’s called Companion Planting, which is also better known as Three Sisters Planting. Although it’s been mentioned on PBS quite a few times, it’s still something that the American culture is not very knowledgable on.

The project is located at an elevation of ~730 m above mean sea level and within the Basin and Range physiographic province (BR). The BR is composed of high relief mountains or foothills separated by low-lying valleys and salt flats. The salt flats of the Amargosa do not support plant life, but Phreatophytes (deeply rooted plants) occur on their edges and near the adjacent gravel-dominated alluvial fans. Iodine bush (Allenrolfea occidentalis) grows closet to the salt flats, while saltgrass (Distichlis stricta) and arrowweed (Pluchea sericea) occur more distal. The dominant species in the salt flat-proximal areas is honey mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) that occurs as large stands. Sacatone grass (Sporobolus airoides) and desert holly (Atriplex hymenelytra) intergrown with

The Arroyo Seco is located in Los Angeles County, California, it has wonderful variety of native species which including plants and animals. All these species are categorized to producer, lower level consumer, upper level consumer and decomposer, such as: Producers- Arroyo Willow, Alder, Beavertail cactus, Cottonwood and other. Lowel Level Consumers- Cochineal, Mourning Dove, Scrub Jay, wood rat and etcetera. Upper level consumer- Cliff swallow, Black Widow Spider, Cooper’s Hawk and other. Decomposer- Bracket fungus, Pill bug, Toadstool and etcetera. They are the key species and community in The Arroyo Seco’s ecosystem. Accordingly, The Arroyo Seco is in a Chaparral biome which is dominated by evergreen shrubs and majority plant species in

The reserve is surrounded by highly modified landscapes dominated by intensive agricultural and horticultural land use. Common land use for surrounding areas include the growing of cereal crops, grapes and citrus (DOC Gray's Bush. n.d).