Longleaf Pine/Savanna
By: Zachary Vernon, Autumn Umphenour, & Savanna Hicks
About The Longleaf Pine Forests?
Native Longleaf PIne forests once stretched along the southern coastal plain from eastern Texas to Virginia. The Longleaf forests were cut extensively during the early years of European settlement of the south. Although nearly 98 percent of the original forests have been lost, The Longleaf Pine Forests is a great habitat for many animals and other different species.
Native Animals
Gopher tortoise, Red-cockaded woodpecker, southern pine beetle, Northern pine snake
non-Native Plants And Animals
There is no documented non-Native plants and animals
Native Plants
Pitcher plant, wiregrass, roughleaf loosestrife, showy orchids, lilies, magnolia Virginiana, pinus elliottii, Nyssa Sylvatica, Quercus Virginiana, Cyrilla racemiflora, Horse-Weed, fleabane, bromeliad (ball moss), silver bluestem, little bluestem, panicgrasses, buffalograss, hary grama, texas grama, and cross timbers.
Ecosystem Services
Longleaf Pine Forest ecosystem is among the most diverse on
earth. A forest type that formed the foundation of the southeastern economy and aesthetic.
900 plant species are endemic to, or found only in the longleaf pine ecosystem making it one of the most diverse North American ecosystems. Longleaf pine forests and savannas are critical habitat for many species.Human Impact
The human impact on the savanna where they cut extensively during the early years of European settlement of the South. By the 1960s, much of what remained had been cut; commercial plantations of faster-growing loblolly and slash pines now occupy much of the historic range of longleaf pine. More than 98 percent of the original longleaf pine forest has been lost.
Present Protection
The Nature Conservancy has been very active in protecting longleaf pine forests in the Yellowhammer State or Heart of Dixie. Longleaf pine is the State Tree of Alabama. The way the nature Conservancy protect the forest is land protection and conserving seedlings and planting the seedlings in an area of protection. And at least every two or three years have a fire to reduce the fuel load on the forest ground.