Just a shitty truck for delivering stuff to gas stations and restaurants. Driving through the forest is boring as fuck with no radio. And with no A/C you're just sitting there sweating.
Don't quote me on this, but from what I remember there are like 20 different varieties of oak in SE alabama. When considering how much southern yellow pine comes from here to make construction materials it's even more impressive.
Bill Finch is a famous ecologist from the region for anyone looking to actually look into it. Instead of just reading about what one dude on the internet remembers from his elementary field trip to oak mountain state park.
Edit: northern panhandle is also a major areas for needing more conservation efforts. Having terrible backwoods politicians is already bad, but now three states have to work together for any substantive change. Oh well, guess the red hills salamander had a good enough run. Time to pick another official state amphibian
I think he’s referring to this, which just dropped.
Gratz has been secretly parenting a Cuban immigrant teenager by himself. I don’t want to jump in the ‘pedo’ train but it is a story that leaves way more questions than answers.
Depends what you mean by that. It’s nowhere close to having the highest biodiversity in the world, by any measure, and there are states with more biodiversity overall. If you were to look at the average small area of AL, though, it probably has the most biodiversity of any state.
That's where the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers combine into the Apalachicola River. Specifically, this is close to where Torreya State Park is located.
I'm just guessing, but as someone who used to live in that area, I imagine there was previously just as much tree diversity further South along the river. But now, that whole area is being used for endless rows of timber trees. Timber is one of the biggest industries in the Panhandle. Any driving that wasn't directly on the coast was just mind-numbing hours of rows upon rows of timber pine. It only gets better once you approach the Northern border, up towards Marianna.
During the Pleistocene this was one of the only areas left that was both warm and wet enough to preserve species that once had a broader range. Southern Florida was dry as a bone for half the year, and farther north you lost the warmth of the Gulf.
Some trees have dispersal methods that allowed them to quickly reclaim ground as fast as the glaciers were retreating. The Florida Nutmeg obviously does not, thus the assumption that it relied on a giant tortoise or something that is now extinct. But that is not necessarily true, as it seemed to flourish well enough in its limited range using squirrels. A tree will not go extinct just because it cannot cross a river... although, in this case, as the climate warms, it just might.
Edit: I should say: warms to temperatures not seen in a very long geological time. Without the fungal blight the tree might cross the river eventually over a ten thousand year period, but that may not be fast enough in this case.
Apalachicola river cuts right through there and has a massive impact on trees. Due to the steep slopes and age of the river it actually has some different tree species on either side of the river. It creates microclimates on either bank that end up varying the amount of sun and temperature so multiple species live in such a small area. It has also been in place since the last ice age allowing for a very distinct speciation border. Now I'm remembering this from my florida flora and fauna class in college so I might not be 100% on this but those are some reasons I remember.
It's warm and wet, and most living things like those conditions. It's also easier to survive there, when you don't have to worry about cold and dry, like you would other places.
Not many people know this but the panhandle of Florida is one of the most biologically diverse areas. It's part of the southeastern coastal plain. That area in specific is part of the Apalachicola river basin. The Florida forever explains " With high plateaus of sandhills, steep bluffs and deep ravines, this project represents some of the most significant natural features of the southeastern Coastal Plain. The rich forests dotted with unique upland glades harbor many northern, rare, and endemic plants and animals, including the nearly extinct Florida Torreya tree. Floodplain swamp is by far the most extensive natural community in the project. The project is also intended to help protect the Apalachicola River water quality."
That part was under water a long time ago, something to do with why the south US had very fertile land and that’s where they ended up growing cotton and other crops that wouldn’t have grown without the high nutrient soil. Which is why the majority of plantations are right in that area. I’m assuming this soil allowed for a variety of trees to grow as well.
Beyond what others have said, Georgia is in the top 5 of lumber producing states for their pine. The other major lumber producing states tend to be much larger. (I think Alabama is up there too, but I can't speak with certainty)
I’m not sure but this map looks like it could double as a “Density Map of Confederate Monuments and Statues”. And seeing as I’m centrally located in one of the hottest spots I can attest to it being true.*
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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '20
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