Vardi Nature Reserve
Vardi Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Rapla County in central Estonia. Vardi nature reserve encompasses one of the few remaining alvar forests in Estonia, an unusual landscape type today as cut-down forests normally never recover. The soil in Vardi layer reaches only a maximum of , creating a sensitive biotope dominated by pine, juniper, rowan, honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both conti ... and a few other species. } References {{Estonia-geo-stub Nature reserves in Estonia Märjamaa Parish Geography of Rapla County ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,200 other islands and islets on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of . The capital city Tallinn and Tartu are the two largest urban areas of the country. The Estonian language is the autochthonous and the official language of Estonia; it is the first language of the majority of its population, as well as the world's second most spoken Finnic language. The land of what is now modern Estonia has been inhabited by '' Homo sapiens'' since at least 9,000 BC. The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last " pagan" civilisations in Europe to adopt Ch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rapla
Rapla (German: ''Rappel'') is a town in central Estonia, the capital of Rapla County and the centre of Rapla Parish. The oldest records date back to 1241 in the Danish Census Book, when it was said that it was a small village with 8 acres of cultivated fields. By the end of the 13th century, the village centre was firmly established. At around the same time, a Cistercian monastery was built. Rapla's ambitious period of fast growth began only in the late 19th century. In 1866, a pharmacy was built, in 1868 a school, and in 1888 a hospital. In 1898, a Brick factory was opened, and in 1900, a railway line was built between Rapla and Viljandi. The old stone church was demolished in the late 19th century and a new one was built in a Romanesque style, one of the purest examples of this style in all of Estonia. In 1913, Rapla consisted of around 20 stone and 60 wooden houses. During this time period, a number of social societies were established, such as the Volunteer Fire Company, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rapla County
Rapla County ( et, Rapla maakond or ''Raplamaa'') is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in the western part of the country and borders Järva County to the east, Pärnu County to the south, Lääne County to the west, and Harju County to the north. In January 2021 Rapla County had a population of 33,116 – constituting 2.5% of the total population of Estonia. History The first written records of Rapla date back to the 1241 Danish census (''Liber Census Daniae''). County government The County Government (Estonian: ''Maavalitsus'') is led by a governor (Estonian: ''maavanem''), who is appointed by the Government of Estonia for a term of five years. Since 2009, the Governor position is held by Tiit Leier. Municipalities The county is subdivided into municipalities. There are 4 rural municipalities (Estonian: ''vallad'' – parishes) in Rapla County: Geography Natural resources found in Rapla county include limestone, dolomite, peat, and clay ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alvar
An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie-like plants. Most alvars occur either in northern Europe or around the Great Lakes in North America. This stressed habitat supports a community of rare plants and animals, including species more commonly found on prairie grasslands. Lichen and mosses are common species. Trees and bushes are absent or severely stunted. The primary cause of alvars is the shallow exposed bedrock. Flooding and drought, as noted, add to the stress of the site and prevent many species from growing. Disturbance may also play a role. In Europe, grazing is frequent, while in North America, there is some evidence that fire may also prevent encroachment by forest. The habitat also has strong competition gradients, with better competitors occupying the deepe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biotope
A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term "habitat", which is more commonly used in English-speaking countries. However, in some countries these two terms are distinguished: the subject of a habitat is a population, the subject of a biotope is a ''biocoenosis'' or "biological community". It is an English loanword derived from the German ''Biotop'', which in turn came from the Greek ''bios'' (meaning 'life') and ''topos'' ('place'). (The related word ''geotope'' has made its way into the English language by the same route, from the German '' Geotop''.) Ecology The concept of a biotope was first advocated by Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), a German zoologist famous for the recapitulation theory. In his book ''General Morphology'' (1866), which defines the term "ecology", he stresses the importance of the concept of habitat as a prerequisite for an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts 187 species names of pines as current, together with more synonyms. The American Conifer Society (ACS) and the Royal Horticultural Society accept 121 species. Pines are commonly found in the Northern Hemisphere. ''Pine'' may also refer to the lumber derived from pine trees; it is one of the more extensively used types of lumber. The pine family is the largest conifer family and there are currently 818 named cultivars (or trinomials) recognized by the ACS. Description Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing tall, with the majority of species reaching tall. The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyon, and the tallest is an tall ponderosa pine located in southern Oregon's Rogue Riv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa, throughout parts of West Asia, western, Central Asia, central and South Asia, southern Asia, east to eastern Tibet in the Old World, and in the mountains of Central America. The highest-known juniper forest occurs at an altitude of in southeastern Tibet and the northern Himalayas, creating one of the highest tree lines on earth. Description Junipers vary in size and shape from tall trees, tall, to columnar or low-spreading shrubs with long, trailing branches. They are evergreen with needle-like and/or scale-like leaves. They can be either monoecious or dioecious. The female Conifer cone, seed cones are very distinctive, with fleshy, fruit-like coalescing scales which fuse together to form Juniper berry, a&n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rowan
The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' (''s.l.'') are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan ( mountain-ash) and service tree. The exact number of species is disputed depe ...'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya, southern Tibet and parts of western China, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins . The name ''rowan'' was originally applied to the species ''Sorbus aucuparia'' and is also used for other species in ''Sorbus'' subgenus ''Sorbus''. Formerly, when a wider variety of fruits were commonly eaten in Europe and North America, ''Sorbus'' was a domestically used fruit throughout these regions. It is still used in some countries, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Honeysuckle
Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both continents. Widely known species include ''Lonicera periclymenum'' (common honeysuckle or woodbine), ''Lonicera japonica'' (Japanese honeysuckle, white honeysuckle, or Chinese honeysuckle) and ''Lonicera sempervirens'' (coral honeysuckle, trumpet honeysuckle, or woodbine honeysuckle). ''L. japonica'' is an aggressive, highly invasive species considered a significant pest on the continents of North America, Europe, South America, Australia, and Africa. Some species are highly fragrant and colorful, so are cultivated as ornamental garden plants. In North America, hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers, especially ''L. sempervirens'' and ''L. ciliosa'' (orange honeysuckle). Honeysuckle derives its name from the edible sweet nectar obtainable fro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nature Reserves In Estonia
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word ''nature'' is borrowed from the Old French ''nature'' and is derived from the Latin word ''natura'', or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". In ancient philosophy, ''natura'' is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word ''physis'' (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Märjamaa Parish
Märjamaa Parish ( et, Märjamaa vald) is an Estonian municipality located in Rapla County. It had a population of 7,015 (as of November 2012) and an area of 1,164 km2 (336.54 mi2). Märjamaa Parish was the biggest municipality in Estonia by area. In 2017 it was merged with Vigala Parish and three villages from Raikküla Parish to form a new parish (also named Märjamaa Parish). Settlements ;Borough: Märjamaa ;Villages: Alaküla - Altküla - Aravere - Aruküla - Haimre - Hiietse - Inda - Jaaniveski - Jõeääre - Käbiküla - Kaguvere - Kangru - Käriselja - Kasti - Keskküla - Kiilaspere - Kilgi - Kirna - Kohatu - Kohtru - Koluta - Konuvere - Kõrtsuotsa - Kõrvetaguse - Kunsu - Laukna - Leevre - Lestima - Lokuta - Loodna - Luiste - Lümandu - Maidla - Mäliste - Männiku - Metsaääre - Metsküla - Mõisamaa - Moka - Mõraste - Nääri - Naistevalla - Napanurga - Nõmmeotsa - Nurme - Nurtu-Nõlva - Ohukotsu - Ojaäärse ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |