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Warea Amplexifolia
''Warea amplexifolia'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names wideleaf pinelandcress, wide-leaf warea, and clasping warea. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to a few counties in the central part of the peninsula. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States. This annual herb grows up to 70 or 80 centimeters in height. The leaves vary in shape, but they are always clasping: their bases encircle the stem, forming a ring around it. They sometimes have two lobes pointing in the opposite direction of the tip of the leaf blade. The leaves are up to 4 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a raceme of white, pink, or purplish flowers. The petals are somewhat spoon-shaped, with a fan-shaped blade narrowing into a very thin claw, the stalk that attaches to the flower. At the center are six long stamens which, at up to 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Nuttall
Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an England, English botany, botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle, North Yorkshire, Settle in the West Riding of Yorkshire and spent some years as an apprentice printer in England. Soon after going to the United States he met professor Benjamin Smith Barton in Philadelphia. Barton encouraged his strong interest in natural history. Early explorations in the United States In 1810 he travelled to the Great Lakes and in 1811 travelled on the Astor Expedition led by William Price Hunt on behalf of John Jacob Astor up the Missouri River. Nuttall was accompanied by the English botanist John Bradbury (naturalist), John Bradbury, who was collecting plants on behalf of Liverpool botanical gardens. Nuttall and Bradbury left the party at the trading post with the Arikara Indians in South Dakota, and continued farther upriver with Rams ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osceola County, Florida
Osceola County (, ) is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 388,656. Its county seat is Kissimmee. Osceola County is included in the Orlando–Kissimmee– Sanford, Fla. Metropolitan Statistical Area. Being 54.3% Hispanic, Osceola is one of three Hispanic-majority counties in Florida, owing to its large Puerto Rican American population. It also is the 12th-largest majority-Hispanic county in the nation. Etymology Osceola County is named for the Indian leader Osceola, whose name means "Black Drink Cry si Yaholo. History Osceola County was created in 1887. On July 21, 1821, Florida was divided into two counties, named Escambia County to the west and St. John's County to the east. In 1824, the southern part of St. John's County became Mosquito County, with Enterprise as the county seat. In 1844, Brevard County was carved out from Mosquito County. When Florida became a state in 1845, Mosquito County ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Litter
Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent nutrients are added to the top layer of soil, commonly known as the litter layer or O horizon ("O" for "organic"). Litter is an important factor in ecosystem dynamics, as it is indicative of ecological productivity and may be useful in predicting regional nutrient cycling and soil fertility. Characteristics and variability Litterfall is characterized as fresh, undecomposed, and easily recognizable (by species and type) plant debris. This can be anything from leaves, cones, needles, twigs, bark, seeds/nuts, logs, or reproductive organs (e.g. the stamen of flowering plants). Items larger than 2 cm diameter are referred to as coarse litter, while anything smaller is referred to as fine litter or litter. The type of litterfall is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat Destruction
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby reducing biodiversity and species abundance. Habitat destruction is the leading cause of biodiversity loss. Fragmentation and loss of habitat have become one of the most important topics of research in ecology as they are major threats to the survival of endangered species. Activities such as harvesting natural resources, industrial production and urbanization are human contributions to habitat destruction. Pressure from agriculture is the principal human cause. Some others include mining, logging, trawling, and urban sprawl. Habitat destruction is currently considered the primary cause of species extinction worldwide. Environmental factors can contribute to habitat destruction more indirectly. Geological processes, climate change, introdu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhynchelytrum Repens
''Melinis repens'' is a species of grass known by the common names rose Natal grass, Natal red top, or simply Natal grass. It is native to southern Africa and an introduced species, often considered a noxious weed, on other continents such as North America and Australia. It is an annual or perennial grass, growing up to a meter tall. Its growth rate is dependent on temperature. The inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ... is an open array of branches bearing spikelets densely coated in silky white or pink hairs. External linksGrass Manual Treatment — ''invasive plant specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Introduced Species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there by human activity, directly or indirectly, and either deliberately or accidentally. Non-native species can have various effects on the local ecosystem. Introduced species that become established and spread beyond the place of introduction are considered naturalized. The process of human-caused introduction is distinguished from biological colonization, in which species spread to new areas through "natural" (non-human) means such as storms and rafting. The Latin expression neobiota captures the characteristic that these species are ''new'' biota to their environment in terms of established biological network (e.g. food web) relationships. Neobiota can further be divided into neozoa (also: neozoons, sing. neozoon, i.e. animals) and neophyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Regime
A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes the spatial and temporal patterns and ecosystem impacts of fire on the landscape, and provides an integrative approach to identifying the impacts of fire at an ecosystem or landscape level.Morgan, Penelope; Hardy; Swetnam; Rollins; Long (1999)"Mapping fire regimes across time and space: Understanding coarse and fine-scale fire patterns"(PDF). ''International Journal of Wildland Fire''. 10: 329–342 – via Google Scholar. If fires are too frequent, plants may be killed before they have matured, or before they have set sufficient seed to ensure population recovery. If fires are too infrequent, plants may mature, senesce, and die without ever releasing their seed. Fire regimes can change with the spatial and temporal variations in topography, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildfire Suppression
Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated areas. Working in conjunction with specially designed aerial firefighting aircraft, these wildfire-trained crews suppress flames, construct fire lines, and extinguish flames and areas of heat to protect resources and natural wilderness. Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland–urban interface, where populated areas border with wild land areas. In the United States and other countries, aggressive wildfire suppression aimed at minimizing fire has contributed to accumulation of fuel loads, increasing the risk of large, catastrophic fires. History Australia Wildland fire, known in Australia as bush fire, has played a major role in Australia due to arid conditions. Notable fire services tasked with wildfire suppres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristida Beyrichiana
''Aristida'' is a very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. ''Aristida'' is distinguished by having three awns (bristles) on each lemma of each floret. The genus includes about 300 species found worldwide, often in arid warm regions. This genus is among those colloquially called three-awns wiregrasses, speargrasses and needlegrasses. The name ''Aristida'' is derived from the Latin " arista", meaning "awn". They are characteristic of semiarid grassland. The Wiregrass Region of North America is named for '' A. stricta''. Other locales where this genus is an important component of the ecosystem include the Carolina Bays, the sandhills of the Carolinas, and elsewhere, Mulga scrub in Australia, and the xeric grasslands around Lake Turkana in Africa. Local increases in the abundance of wiregrasses is a good indicator of overgrazing, as livestock avoid them. Description ''Aristida'' stems are ascending to erect, with both basal and cauline leaves. The leaves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Griffin State Park
Lake Griffin State Park is a Florida State Park located two miles (3 km) north of Leesburg, in Fruitland Park and south of Ocala on U.S. Highway 441. It is home to one of the state's largest live oak trees. The park is unique in connecting to Lake Griffin, the Ocklawaha River and thence to the Harris Chain of Lakes, and is made up of 577.63 acres (2.33758 km2) of swampland and hardwood upland. Activities include boating and canoeing, kayaking, hiking, fishing, camping, and wildlife viewing. Among the wildlife of the park are osprey, bald eagle, blue heron, anhinga, ibis, American alligator The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the g ..., and river otter. Amenities include a full-facility campground, a half-mile nature trail, a boat ramp that provides access to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire(bushfires in Australia, in Australia), desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, prairie fire, vegetation fire, or veld fire. Fire ecology, Some natural forest ecosystems depend on wildfire. Wildfires are distinct from beneficial human usage of wildland fire, called controlled burn, controlled burning, although controlled burns can turn into wildfires. Fossil charcoal indicates that wildfires began soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants approximately 419 million years ago during the Silurian period. Earth's carbon-rich vegetation, seasonally dry climates, atmospheric oxygen, and widespread lightning and volcanic ignitions create favorable conditions for fires. The occurre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandhill
A sandhill is a type of ecological community or xeric wildfire-maintained ecosystem. It is not the same as a sand dune. It features very short fire return intervals, one to five years. Without fire, sandhills undergo ecological succession and become more oak dominated. Entisols are the typical sandhill soil, deep well-drained and nutrient poor. In Florida, sandhills receive cm of rainfall per year, just like the more hydric ecosystems surrounding them. Sandhills are xeric because they have poor water holding capacity. Dominant vegetation includes longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris''), American turkey oak (''Quercus laevis''), and wiregrass (''Aristida stricta''). A number of rare animals are typical of this habitat including the gopher tortoise (''Gopherus polyphemus''), red-cockaded woodpecker (''Picoides borealis''), Sherman's fox squirrel ('' Sciurus niger shermani''), and striped newt (''Notophthalmus perstriatus''). Invasive species that are a problem on sandhills include Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
