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Disney Wilderness Preserve
The Disney Wilderness Preserve is a 11,500-acre nature reserve near Kissimmee, Florida. It was created through an agreement between The Walt Disney Company, The Nature Conservancy, and the state of Florida. It is located fifteen miles south of Walt Disney World. History Walt Disney World was seeking permits for the expansion of Celebration in the early 1990s. There was considerable environmentalist push-back, as further development would lead to the destruction of wetlands. In a form of mitigation banking, Disney secured the purchase of the 8,500 acre Walker Ranch in 1991. The ranch, located adjacent to Walt Disney World, was active in the 1940s and was extensively logged and grazed. The goal was to restore portions of the pastureland into a native wetland ecosystem to compensate for future expansion at Walt Disney World. The Disney Wilderness Preserve was formed from the Walker Ranch parcel, and was officially established in April 1993. It was thereafter owned and managed by T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longleaf Pine
The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as "yellow pine" or "long leaf yellow pine", although it is properly just one out of a number of species termed yellow pine. It reaches a height of and a diameter of . In the past, before extensive logging, they reportedly grew to with a diameter of . The tree is a cultural symbol of the Southern United States, being the official state tree of Alabama. Contrary to popular belief, this particular species of pine is not officially the state tree of North Carolina. Description The bark is thick, reddish-brown, and scaly. The leaves are dark green and needle-like, and occur in bundles of mainly three, sometimes two or four, especially in seedlings. They often are twisted and in length. A local race of ''P. palustris'' in a cove near Rockin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drainage Basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the '' drainage divide'', made up of a succession of elevated features, such as ridges and hills. A basin may consist of smaller basins that merge at river confluences, forming a hierarchical pattern. Other terms for a drainage basin are catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin, water basin, and impluvium. In North America, they are commonly called a watershed, though in other English-speaking places, "watershed" is used only in its original sense, that of a drainage divide. In a closed drainage basin, or endorheic basin, the water converges to a single point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake, a dry lake, or a point where surface water is lost underground. Drainage basins are similar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University System of Florida. With 70,406 students as of the Fall 2021 semester, UCF has the second-largest student body of any public university in the United States. UCF was founded in 1963 and opened in 1968 as Florida Technological University, with the mission to provide personnel to support the growing U.S. space program at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida's Space Coast. As its academic scope expanded beyond engineering and technology, Florida Tech was renamed the University of Central Florida in 1978. UCF's space roots continue, as it leads the NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium. Initial enrollment was 1,948 students; enrollment in 2022 exceeds 70,000 students from 157 countries, all 50 states and W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longleaf Pine
The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as "yellow pine" or "long leaf yellow pine", although it is properly just one out of a number of species termed yellow pine. It reaches a height of and a diameter of . In the past, before extensive logging, they reportedly grew to with a diameter of . The tree is a cultural symbol of the Southern United States, being the official state tree of Alabama. Contrary to popular belief, this particular species of pine is not officially the state tree of North Carolina. Description The bark is thick, reddish-brown, and scaly. The leaves are dark green and needle-like, and occur in bundles of mainly three, sometimes two or four, especially in seedlings. They often are twisted and in length. A local race of ''P. palustris'' in a cove near Rockin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
The red-cockaded woodpecker (''Leuconotopicus borealis'') is a woodpecker endemic to the southeastern United States. Description The red-cockaded woodpecker is small to mid-sized species, being intermediate in size between North America's two most widespread woodpeckers (the downy and hairy woodpeckers). This species measures in length, spans across the wings and weighs . Among the standard measurements, the wing chord is , the tail is , the bill is and the tarsus is . Its back is barred with black and white horizontal stripes. The red-cockaded woodpecker's most distinguishing feature is a black cap and nape that encircle large white cheek patches. Rarely visible, except perhaps during the breeding season and periods of territorial defense, the male has a small red streak on each side of its black cap called a ''cockade'', hence its name. The species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN and as Endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Behavior The red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florida Panther
The Florida panther is a North American cougar (''P. c. couguar'') population in South Florida. It lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks, and mixed freshwater swamp forests. It is known under a number of common names including Costa Rican puma, Florida cougar, and Florida puma. Males can weigh up to and live within a range that includes the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Picayune Strand State Forest, rural communities of Collier County, Florida, Hendry County, Florida, Lee County, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Monroe County, Florida. It is the only confirmed cougar population in the Eastern United States, and currently occupies 5% of its historic range. In the 1970s, an estimated 20 Florida panthers remained in the wild, but their numbers had increased to an estimated 230 by 2017. In 1982, the Florida panther was chosen as the Florida state animal. Description Florida panthers are sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florida Black Bear
The Florida black bear (''Ursus americanus floridanus'') is a subspecies of the American black bear that has historically ranged throughout most of Florida and the southern portions of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The large black-furred bears live mainly in forested areas and have seen recent habitat reduction throughout the state due to increased human development, as well as habitat modifications within bear habitat. Description Physical Florida black bears are typically large-bodied with shiny black fur, a short tail and many have brown fur on their muzzles. Pelage color is consistently black in Florida, but summer molting of the guard hairs may cause them to look brown. A white chest patch, called a blaze, is found in about 30% of the population. It is Florida's second largest terrestrial mammal (behind the American bison that are still found in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park), with an average male weight of ; the largest known male weighed an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world. There are completely independent Audubon Societies in the United States, which were founded several years earlier such as the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Connecticut Audubon Society. The society has nearly 500 local chapters, each of which is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization voluntarily affiliated with the National Audubon Society. They often organize birdwatching field trips and conservation-related activities. It also coordinates the Christmas Bird Count held each December in the U.S., a model of citizen science, in partnership with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the Great Backyard Bird Count each February. Together with Cornell, Audubon created eBird, an online database for bird observat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cypress Dome
A cypress dome is a type of freshwater forested wetland, or a swamp, found in the southeastern part of the United States. They are dominated by the ''Taxodium spp''., either the bald cypress (''Taxodium distichum''), or pond cypress (''Taxodium ascendens''). The name comes from the dome-like shape of treetops, formed by smaller trees growing on the edge where the water is shallow while taller trees grow at the center in deeper water. They usually appear as circular, but if the center is too deep, they form a “doughnut” shape when viewed from above. Cypress domes are characteristically small compared to other swamps, however they can occur at a range of sizes, dependent on the depth. Cypress domes form when pond cypress grow in shallow standing water. The ground level in the center of the dome may be several inches to a few feet lower than at the edge of the dome, but tree growth is more vigorous at the center of the dome. Thus, the treetops are higher at the center than at the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florida Scrub
Florida sand pine scrub is an endangered subtropical forest ecoregion found throughout Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by an evergreen xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrubs and dwarf oaks. Because the low-nutrient sandy soils do not retain moisture, the ecosystem is effectively an arid one. Wildfires infrequently occur in the Florida scrub. Most of the annual rainfall (about ) falls in summer. It is endangered by residential, commercial and agricultural development, with the largest remaining block in and around the Ocala National Forest. Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge also holds a high proportion of remaining scrub habitat, while the Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid contains about of scrub habitat and sponsors biological research on it. Plant communities There is a high level of endemism in the flora and fauna, including an estimated 40 species of plants, 4 vertebrates and at least ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flatwoods
Flatwoods, pineywoods, pine savannas and longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem are terms that refer to an ecological community in the southeastern coastal plain of North America. Flatwoods are an ecosystem maintained by wildfire or prescribed fire and are dominated by longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris''), and slash pine (''Pinus elliotii'') in the tree canopy and saw palmetto (''Serenoa repens''), gallberry (''Ilex glabra'') and other flammable evergreen shrubs in the understory, along with a high diversity of herb species.Platt, W.J. 1999. Southeastern pine savannas. In: Anderson, R.C., Fralish, J.S. & Baskin, J. (eds.) The savanna, barren, and rock outcrop communities of North America, pp. 23- 51. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.Peet, R.K. & Allard, D.J. 1993. Longleaf pine vegetation of the southern Atlantic and eastern Gulf Coast regions: a preliminary classification. In: Hermann, S.M. (ed.) The longleaf pine ecosystem: ecology, restoration and management, pp. 45-81. It wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prescribed Burn
A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. A controlled burn may also refer to the intentional burning of slash and fuels through burn piles. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. Hazard reduction or controlled burning is conducted during the cooler months to reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of serious hotter fires. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, and reveals soil mineral layers which increases seedling vitality, thus renewing the forest. Some cones, such as those of lodgepole pine and sequoia, are pyriscent, as well as many chaparral shrubs, meaning they require heat from fire to open cones to disperse seeds. In industrialized countries, controlled burning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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