Plant Diversity

April 6, 2023 Blog Environment

Plant Diversity

How diverse are we? Let us count the ways. In the diversity survey researchers documented 599 species of vascular plants that includes 117 families and 337 genera. There are 59 species of trees, 40 shrubs and 3 sub-shrubs. There are 13 wood vines, 348 forbs, 109 species of grasses, sedges and rushes, and 27 ferns. But wait, there’s more! There are mosses, liverworts and hornworts and then the fungi (you remember our mushrooms sequence?) with slime, molds and lichen (110 species). Three species are of state concern and two of global concern. There are the numbers but beyond that, there are the populations of wildlife that eat, next, and reproduce on the farm.

Recent posts

April 27 2023 Blog Environment

The Management Recommendations for Improvement

April 25 2023 Blog Environment

Grasslands are gone, too.

Some scientists estimate that native grasslands have declined by as much as 99 percent. By some estimates, this resulted in three billion fewer birds on the landscape than 50 years ago. This has harmed both the eastern meadowlark and the bobwhite which are both found on Coal Creek.

April 20 2023 Blog Environment

Landscapes like people get stressed.

Historically, open savannas and woodlands were largely maintained by periodic fire, which served to remove dense blankets of accumulated leaf litter from the ground and promote the growth of fire-adapted trees, such as shortleaf pine. Due to the loss of periodic fire, it is estimated that at least 90% of shortleaf pine-oak savanna has been lost.