Scrubby Flatwood Background

The tall grasses in this valley are the home of many insects, birds, and small mammals.

By comparing the topography, soil moisture levels, relative humidity, and wind speed of the upland Savanna and Bottomland forest we will be able to compare and contrast between these two vegetation zones. The data collected in the investigation will be used to test the hypothesis that the bottomland forest has a higher degree of shrub layer cover than the savanna. The higher level of shrubs in the bottomland forest might be attributed to the space available for shrub layer species. In addition, the data collected will confirm that the bottomland forest has a higher tree density than the

Anstey Hill Recreation Park proves an interesting area to study the effects of bushfire on native ecosystems as a path winding up the hill provides a fire break. This break is what allows the two differing burn areas to be studied. The 2012 fire was a prescribed burn as the area had previously been unburnt since Ash Wednesday in 1983. Prescribed burns are conducted to reduce the fire danger associated with the fuel that builds up over time in the

1 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has stepped in to provide restorative practices upon 500,000 acres of heavily degraded public grasslands. This land is suffering from severe soil erosion as well as degradation due to overgrazing. The suppression of natural fires has caused shrubs and invasive weeds to encroach upon the grasslands. A full scale assessment will take place on this land before restoration efforts begin. The first thing that would need to be assessed is the soil, for it is eroding and holding little nutrient value. Samples would be taken of this soil from various parts of the grasslands including the eroded gullies. Each soil sample would be taken from at least 1 foot below the surface, to test for carbon richness below the topsoil. These would then be tested for texture, density, water retention, and chemical composition. Typically, powerful, healthy soil will contain amounts of both Nitrogen and Phosphorous, which are essential nutrients in sustainable plant growth. These samples would also be tested for any build-up of salts, something known as soil salinization. Unhealthy, salinized soil is created over years of over-hydrating and deep plowing. Excess water will suffocate root systems of once-healthy crops, and salinized soils will reduce crop output up to 20% (Withgott &Brennan, 2011). The next assessment would be in the shrubs and invasive weed species on the land. Knowing the volume and location of these plants gives way to a better understanding of

The Appalachians span over a distance of 1,600 miles, ranging across 14 states, from Newfoundland in the North, to Alabama in the South. The Appalachians are the oldest chain of mountains on the North American continent. With forest, comes forest fires, some natural and some prescribed by humans. In order to reduce the calamitous damage caused by natural wildfires, the technique of prescribed fires is used. This is done by diminishing the amounts of trees, shrubs, and brush in the intended area. By doing this, new native plant growth is encouraged and it helps maintain some plant and animal species that depend on the periodic fires. With this man made force comes numerous effects on vegetation, wildlife, and the human impact.

The Burnt Area of Mount Pilot contains mixed stands of competing, seedlings with slower growing Callitris seedlings and re-sprouting Eucalyptus trees. There is few Callitris endlicheri, as the species is fire sensitive and often destroyed by fire, particularly when in quick succession. Prior to the 2003 fire the site was dominated by Callitris species of tree. The seedlings that emerged were mostly Eucalyptus, with less dense Callitris seedlings proving that the growth of Callitris is not consistent with long term site suitability. Surprisingly, more Eucalyptus seedlings died in the first six years of regeneration that Callitris seedlings; competition in co-existence does not determine survivability. The major trend is that the growth of Eucalyptus seedlings is faster than that of Callitris seedlings. The density of Eucalyptus seedlings is shown to effect Callitris seedlings growth which thrives where Eucalyptus seedlings are sparser. Callitris may take 7-15 years to produce sufficient seeds (Cohn, Lunt, Ross, & Bradstock, 2011; I. Lunt, Jones, N., & Petrow, M.,, 2003; I. Lunt, Price, J.,, 2016; Ian D Lunt, Zimmer, & Cheal, 2011; Zimmer, 2012).

This was attributed to the ranges of vegetation type with elevation and slope, with mixed conifer tree species growing at higher elevations with increased tree cover. Similar patterns can be identified with the Rim Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest. The Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) or Calocedrus decurrens (incense cedar) tree species tend to favor higher elevations, slopes between 0 - 45 degrees, and aspects between 0 - 33 degrees from North (Myers).

The fire began as the result of an out-of-control campfire, and because of high wind and drought conditions which resulted in low fuel-moisture spread relatively quickly for an upland fire in the southeastern United States, although not to the scale of western wildfires. Even though the 2000 Linville Gorge fire was mainly a surface fire, the fire burned 4,000 hectares of wilderness area, and forced local management agencies to start paying more attention to upland ecosystems that were not previously thought to be fire-dependent. Considering the magnitude of the fire, it was fortunate that no human lives or homes were lost in the inferno. Vegetative studies show that Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia), an evergreen shrub, reproduced much faster than other understory species (Dumas, Neufeld, & Fisk, 2007). This is attributed to its ability to resprout following a fire. The Linville Gorge Fire has been significant in shaping Southeastern fire mitigation in that it gave foresters an opportunity to study oak-pine forests that had not seen fire for over 50

The Chaparral and Coastal Sage Scrub have a variety of different plant species, from Torrey Pine to Cacti. They each contain some helpful adaptations that have resulted from directional selection over

The three-needled Rocky Mountain ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum) is the prevalent form of pine throughout the Colorado Plateau. Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) is commonly associated with the ponderosa pine at lower elevations as well as the New Mexico locust (Robina neomexicana). At higher elevations it shares habitat with southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis), Rocky Mountain white fir (Abies concolor var. concolor), Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca), and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). Understory plants which are commonly found in these forests include grasses such as mountain muhly and Arizona fescue, forbs such as lupine, as well as apache plume, buckbrush, currant, and cliffrose.

It comprised of 231 hectares of mixed woodlands, tall-and mixed-grass prairie, and developed land bordering Oak Lake in Brookings County, South Dakota (Bedford, Burkard, Crider, Barnett, & Troelstrup Jr, 2013). Sited in the Prairie Pothole region at an elevation of 556m, Oak Lake Field Station experiences a mid-continental climate with a mean annual precipitation of 583 mm and a mean annual temperature of 5.9 ◦C. The Oak Lake field composed of approximately 66% rangeland and pasture, 12% cropland, 13% forest, 8% wetlands, and 1% roads and developed areas. In order to maintain historically natural landscape, the field station uses prescribed burning to maintain vegetation and promote native plant diversity. Grassland within the Field Station have been burned 17 times between 1995 and 2011. The main soil types are mollisols (Westin, 1959). Sites of this study consist of the areas of native tallgrass and mixed prairie never been plowed and but infested and dominated by smooth brome or Kentucky

Pine Rocklands grow on the coastal Miami Rock Ridge, a limestone rock outcropping that extends south and west from North Miami Beach to Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park. Over 225 types of native plants occur here and more than 20% of the plant species are found here and nowhere else in the world. Five of these plant species are federally listed as threatened or endangered ( http://www.miamidade.gov/environment/pine-rocklands.asp). Florida’s Pine Rocklands are characterized by outcroppings with a low understory of tropical and temperate shrubs, palms, vines, grasses and herbaceous wildflowers — as well as a single species of over story tree, the slash pine. With very little soil substrate and a dependence on fire, these ecosystems are

The vibrancy of the contrasting hues envelop the vision of numerous humans and guide the perception of one’s own surroundings. However, in the two-dimensional world of Flatland, there is no such existence of the concept of colors. The Colorless Act is where colors have been outlawed for reasons deemed justifiable by the Circle officials in the governing department of Flatland. These mere reasons to outlaw include, colors being a risk to society, causing chaos, manipulation, and negatively altering the state of mind among the shapes. The objections, nonetheless, have no substantial or sufficient evidence to be used as support. How can colors be regarded as a potential risk if it has never been integrated into the Flatland society? This unlawful act could similarly be connected to the injustices of the Jim Crow Laws, placed upon people of color that lead to the rise of the civil rights movement during the 1960s.

The Pinus palustris, or more commonly referred to as longleaf pine trees, were once the dominant tree type in the Southeastern United States and has been further exterminated at about 97% of its original range (Frost 1995). When you think of fire, you typically will think of destruction, but with the right fire regime in certain ecosystems it can actually help the area become more successful. Due to the degradation of the longleaf pine forests, prescribed burning has become a necessary factor to keep the forests successful (Lavoie et al., 2014). The biodiversity of the longleaf pin ecosystem depends on a lot of rainfall, porous, sandy soils, and a cycle of fires (Greenberg, 2002). Longleaf pine trees have a tolerance of and ability to regenerate in a high frequency fire regime (Loudermilk et al., 2011). Once longleaf pines grow above the height most fires tend to be, they have a high survival chance where as if they were in the shrub state, then they would be burned from being exposed and lack of structure maturity. Most longleaf pines will grow in an area where there are also hardwoods growing

Wire is consider a dominant ground cover plant in high pine grasslands. Beyrich Wiregrass is an indicator species. One fact about the beyrich wiregrass is that if you spot one then nine times out ten you’re standing in a relatively mature high pine grassland. Another fact is that wiregrass stores majority of its water in their roots. This beneficial to the wiregrass reason why that is after a fires a wiregrass has water already in their roots which means the plant can successful grow back and mainly keeps the plant alive during fires. Wiregrass are consider the dominant in high pine grasslands reason why is the strength in numbers. The wiregrass covers majority of the grounds of grasslands. Other plant can’t compete its many different species