Eastern savannas of the United States
Encyclopedia
The eastern savannas of the United States covered large portions of the east side of the continent until the early 20th century. These were in a fire ecology
Fire ecology
Fire ecology is concerned with the processes linking the natural incidence of fire in an ecosystem and the ecological effects of this fire. Many ecosystems, such as the North American prairie and chaparral ecosystems, and the South African savanna, have evolved with fire as a natural and necessary...

 of open grassland and forests with low ground cover of herbs and grasses.
The frequent fires which maintained the savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...

s were started by the region's many thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...

s and Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

s, with most fires burning the forest understory and not affecting the mature trees above. Before the arrival of humans about 15,000 years ago, lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...

 would have been the major source of ignition, the region having the most frequent wind and lightning storms in North America. The European settlers who displaced the natives blended the local use of fire with their customary use of fire as pastoral herdsmen in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

In the southern pine savanna, each area burned about every 1–4 years; after settlers arrived burning happened about every 1–3 years. In oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

-hickory
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...

 areas, estimates range from 3 to 14 years, although trails were kept open with fire.

Prehistoric southeastern flora

Of all the United States, southeastern flora has been least changed in composition during the last 20,000 years, although changed in other ways.

During the Last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...

 about 18,000 years ago, the influence of Arctic air masses and boreal vegetation extended to about 33° N. latitude, the approximate latitude of Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

 and Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

. Forests of the glacial period were dominated by various spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...

 species and jack pine; fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...

  was abundant in some locations. With the exception of the absence of certain prairie elements, the understories of these forests were generally typical of modern spruce-fir forests within and near Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Temperate deciduous forest
Temperate deciduous forest
A temperate deciduous forest, more precisely termed temperate broadleaf forest or temperate broadleaved forest, is a biome found in North America, southern South America, Europe, and Asia. A temperate deciduous forest consists of trees that lose their leaves every year...

s dominated from about 33° to 30° N. latitude, including most of the glacial Gulf Coast from about 84° W. longitude. The coastline later changed during glacial melt, both in the Mississippi River valley and sea level rise of 130 meters (400 ft). Regional climate was similar to or slightly drier than modern conditions. Oak, hickory, chestnut, and southern pine species were abundant. Walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...

s, beech, sweetgum, alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

, birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

, tulip tree
Liriodendron tulipifera
Liriodendron tulipifera, commonly known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tuliptree, tulip poplar or yellow poplar, is the Western Hemisphere representative of the two-species genus Liriodendron, and the tallest eastern hardwood...

, elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

s, hornbeam
Hornbeam
Hornbeams are relatively small hardwood trees in the genus Carpinus . Though some botanists grouped them with the hazels and hop-hornbeams in a segregate family, Corylaceae, modern botanists place the hornbeams in the birch subfamily Coryloideae...

s, tilia
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...

s, and others that are generally common in modern southern deciduous forests were also common then. Grass
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

es, sedge
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

s, and sunflower
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

s were also common. Extensive mesophytic
Mesophyte
Mesophytes are terrestrial plants which are adapted to neither a particularly dry nor particularly wet environment. An example of a mesophytic habitat would be a rural temperate meadow, which might contain Goldenrod, Clover, Oxeye Daisy, and Rosa multiflora.Mesophytes make up the largest ecological...

 forest communities, similar to modern lowland and bottomland forests, occurred along major river drainages, especially the Mississippi embayment, the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa Basin, the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Basin, and the Savannah River
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...

 Basin.

Humans arrived as five thousand years passed following the retreat of the glaciers, while deciduous forests expanded northward throughout the region. Pockets of boreal elements remained only at high elevations in the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

 and in a few other refuges. Broadleaf evergreen and pine forests occupied an extent similar to their current one, primarily in the Atlantic Coastal Plain
Atlantic Coastal Plain
The Atlantic coastal plain has both low elevation and low relief, but it is also a relatively flat landform extending from the New York Bight southward to a Georgia/Florida section of the Eastern Continental Divide, which demarcates the plain from the ACF River Basin in the Gulf Coastal Plain to...

. Mesophytic and bottomland forest communities continued to occupy the major river drainages of the region.

Although the major modern community types were flourishing in the Southeast by 10,000 years BP, and the climate was similar to that today, the understory flora had not yet come to resemble modern herbaceous floras. Mixed hardwood forests dominated the majority of the upper Coastal Plains, Piedmont
Piedmont (United States)
The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

, and lower Mountain regions. Southern pine communities dominated the middle and lower Coastal Plains, whereas evergreens and some remnant boreal elements occupied higher elevation sites. There were few canopy openings in the mixed hardwood and high-elevation forest.

Warming and drying during the Holocene climatic optimum
Holocene climatic optimum
The Holocene Climate Optimum was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000 years B.P.. This event has also been known by many other names, including: Hypsithermal, Altithermal, Climatic Optimum, Holocene Optimum, Holocene Thermal Maximum, and Holocene Megathermal.This warm period...

 began about 9,000 years ago and affected the vegetation of the Southeast. Extensive expansions of prairies and savannas occurred throughout the region, and xeric oak and oak-hickory forest types proliferated. Cooler-climate species migrated northward and upward in elevation; many vanished from the region during this period while others were limited to isolated refuges. This retreat caused a proportional increase in pine-dominated forests in the Appalachians. The grasslands and savannas of the time expanded and were also linked to the great interior plains grasslands to the west of the region. As a result, elements of the prairie flora became established throughout the region, first by simple migration, but then also by invading disjunct openings (including glades and barrens) that were forming in the canopy of more mesic forests.

During most of the climatic shifts of the last 100,000 years, most plant migration in Eastern North America occurred along a more or less north-south axis. The climate optimum was significant because it made conditions favorable for the invasion and establishment of species from the center of the continent.

After the end of the optimum about 5,000 years BP, as the climate cooled and precipitation increased, species migrated so that communities were reassembled in new forms in which all of the components of the modern southern forests were in place. The boreal forests of the early Quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...

 enjoyed a modest expansion. Riparian, bottomland, and wetland plant communities expanded. Grasslands and savannas contracted and retracted westward.

At about 4,000 years BP, the Archaic Indian cultures began practicing agriculture throughout the region. Technology had advanced to the point that pottery was becoming common, and the small-scale felling of trees became feasible. Concurrently, the Archaic Indians began using fire in a widespread manner in large portions of the region. Intentional burning of vegetation was taken up to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understories, thereby making travel easier and facilitating the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants that were important for both food and medicines.

Recent history

The oak-hickory forest of the Northeast was primarily burned by Native Americans, resulting in "oak openings", "barrens", and prairies in the Northeast and the Piedmont
Piedmont (United States)
The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

 of North Carolina. There was nearly annual burning throughout the Northeast. After the death of 90% of the native population around 500 years ago, grasslands, savanna, and woodlands succeeded to closed forest. After European settlement of the region the burning frequency was 2–10 years, with many sites burned annually. The practice was so common that a North Carolina law in the early 18th century required annual burning of pastures and rangelands every March.

In the southeast, longleaf pine
Longleaf Pine
Pinus palustris, commonly known as the Longleaf Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia extending into northern and central Florida....

 dominated the savanna and open-floored forests which once covered 92000000 acres (372,311.1 km²) from Virginia to Texas. These covered 36% of the region's land and 52% of the upland areas. Of this, less than 1% of the unaltered forest still stands.

Savannas typically contained grasses that were 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 m) high.

The southeast also had the Black Belt
Black Belt (U.S. region)
The Black Belt is a region of the Southern United States. Although the term originally described the prairies and dark soil of central Alabama and northeast Mississippi, it has long been used to describe a broad agricultural region in the American South characterized by a history of plantation...

 prairie region, within which was the blackland prairie, a type of tallgrass prairie
Tallgrass prairie
The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America, with fire as its primary periodic disturbance. In the past, tallgrass prairies covered a large portion of the American Midwest, just east of the Great Plains, and portions of the Canadian Prairies. They flourished in areas with...

. Much of the Black Belt region was open space. As late as the 1830s, about 11% of the Black Belt region was covered with prairies.

The largest prairie area in the southern Atlantic coastal plain
Atlantic Coastal Plain
The Atlantic coastal plain has both low elevation and low relief, but it is also a relatively flat landform extending from the New York Bight southward to a Georgia/Florida section of the Eastern Continental Divide, which demarcates the plain from the ACF River Basin in the Gulf Coastal Plain to...

 was in the Florida panhandle region, from the Ochlockonee River
Ochlockonee River
The Ochlockonee River is a fast running river originating in Georgia and flowing for before terminating in Florida.- Background :The Ochlockonee originates south of the town of Sylvester in Worth County in southwest Georgia emptying into Ochlockonee Bay, then into Apalachee Bay, in Florida...

 to Louisiana's Florida Parishes
Florida Parishes
The Florida Parishes , also known as the North Shore region, are eight parishes in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana, which were part of West Florida in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Unlike much of Louisiana, this region was not part of the Louisiana Purchase, as it had been...


Savanna elimination

The English colonists harvested the longleaf pine lumber, finding many uses for it. The slow-maturing tall straight trees were particularly suitable for shipbuilding and masts, although the lumber and pitch were widely used. The keel of the USS Constitution
USS Constitution
USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel...

 was made from a single longleaf pine log. King George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...

 decreed that straight pines over 24 inches (609.6 mm) in diameter were the king's property, but the colonists protested by tarring and feathering the official surveyors. However, harvesting was rather limited until 1900.

At the start of the 20th century, heavy cutover of the Southern pine forest, combined with longleaf pine seedling destruction by foraging livestock, eliminated pine regeneration. As reflected by the 1924 federal Clarke-McNary Act
Clarke-McNary Act
The Clarke–McNary Act of 1924 was one of several pieces of United States federal legislation which expanded the Weeks Act of 1911. It was named for Representative John D. Clarke and Senator Charles McNary....

, fire suppression began to be practiced. The American Forestry Association
American Forestry Association
The American Forestry Association was formed in Chicago, Illinois in September 1875 by John Aston Warder. The current headquarters are in Washington, D.C.. The organization acts as a clearinghouse for environmental organizations working to preserve world tree growth. The "National Register of...

's "Dixie Crusaders" told the South that burning woods were bad. The paper industry encouraged growth of loblolly and slash pines. The probability of catastrophic high-intensity fire increased as dead fuels increased on the forest floor. Overgrowth shades and stunts longleaf pine seedlings, undergrowth increases, and succession creates the Southern mixed hardwood forest where savanna used to be. Intentional use of fire to manage vegetation began to be accepted again after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and at present about 6000000 acres (24,281.2 km²) a year are burned.

Remaining examples

The ecosystem of over 98% of eastern savanna areas such as longleaf pine have declined.

Remaining savanna and prairie cover some of the land in the following locations:
  • Apalachicola National Forest
    Apalachicola National Forest
    The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It contains and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The Apalachicola National Forest contains two Wilderness Areas, Bradwell Bay and Mudswamp/New River...

    , Florida
  • Garcon Point
    Yellow River Marsh
    Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park located on Garcon Point, south of Milton, in northwestern Florida. A small parking area, gazebo, and public access point are located on Dickerson City Road...

    , Florida
  • Grand Bay
    Grand Bay, Alabama
    Grand Bay is a census-designated place in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is included in the Mobile metropolitan statistical area. The population was 3,918 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

    , Alabama
  • Gautier, Mississippi
    Gautier, Mississippi
    Gautier is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States, along the Gulf of Mexico west of Pascagoula. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,681 at the 2000 census. In 2002, Gautier annexed land nearly doubling its population to...



The largest prairie remnants are at:
  • Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
    Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
    The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a 402,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge located in Charlton, Ware, and Clinch Counties of Georgia, and Baker County in Florida, United States. The refuge is administered from offices in Folkston, Georgia. The refuge was established in 1937 to protect...

    , Georgia
  • Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area, Georgia

Flora

Members of the Northeast upland oak communities:
  • Trees
    • Blackjack oak
      Blackjack oak
      Quercus marilandica is a small oak, one of the red oak group Quercus sect. Lobatae, but fairly isolated from the others...

    • Bluejack oak
    • Eastern Black Oak
    • Northern Red Oak
      Northern Red Oak
      Quercus rubra, commonly called northern red oak or champion oak, , is an oak in the red oak group . It is a native of North America, in the northeastern United States and southeast Canada...

    • Post oak
      Post oak
      Quercus stellata is an oak in the white oak group. It is a small tree, typically 10–15 m tall and 30–60 cm trunk diameter, though occasional specimens reach 30 m tall and 140 cm diameter. It is native to the eastern United States, from Connecticut in the northeast, west to southern Iowa, southwest...

    • American Turkey oak
  • Invasive hardwoods in disrupted fire regimes
    • American persimmon
    • Hickory
      Hickory
      Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...

    • Oaks
    • Southern magnolia
      Southern magnolia
      Magnolia grandiflora, commonly known as the southern magnolia or bull bay, is a tree of the family Magnoliaceae native to the southeastern United States, from coastal Virginia south to central Florida, and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma...

    • American Sweetgum


Growing in the southeast pine forest:
  • Trees
    • Loblolly Pine
      Loblolly Pine
      Pinus taeda is one of several pines native to the Southeastern United States, from central Texas east to Florida, and north to Delaware. It is particularly dominant in the eastern half of North Carolina, where there are huge expanses consisting solely of Loblolly Pine trees...

       (wetter sites)
    • Longleaf Pine
      Longleaf Pine
      Pinus palustris, commonly known as the Longleaf Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia extending into northern and central Florida....

    • Pond Pine
      Pond Pine
      Pinus serotina is a tree found along the Atlantic coastal plain of the eastern United States, from southern New Jersey south to Florida and west to southern Alabama...

       (wetter sites)
    • Sand Pine
      Sand Pine
      Pinus clausa is a small, often shrubby tree from , exceptionally to tall, found in two separate locations, one across central peninsular Florida, and the other in the western Florida panhandle and the Alabama coast; there is a range gap of about between the populations...

       (drier sites)
    • Shortleaf Pine (drier sites)
    • Slash Pine
      Slash Pine
      Pinus elliottii, commonly known as the Slash Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, from southern South Carolina west to southeastern Louisiana, and south to the Florida Keys....

       (wetter sites)
    • Virginia Pine
      Virginia Pine
      Pinus virginiana is a medium-sized tree, often found on poorer soils from Long Island in southern New York south through the Appalachian Mountains to western Tennessee and Alabama. The usual size range for this pine is 9–18 m, but can grow taller under optimum conditions. The trunk can be...

       (drier sites)
  • Grasses
    • Cane
      Arundinaria
      Arundinaria, commonly known as the canes, is the sole genus of bamboo native to South Africa and eastern North America and the only temperate bamboo in North America. The genus is endemic to the eastern United States from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Ohio and Texas...

       (canebrake
      Canebrake
      Canebrake is an English noun meaning an area of land with a thick dense growth of cane, sugarcane, exotic bamboo, or similar plant material.Canebrake may also refer to:Places in the United States of America:*Canebrake...

      s along streams)
    • Little bluestem
      Little bluestem
      Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a North American prairie grass. Little bluestem is a perennial bunchgrass and is prominent in tallgrass prairie, along with big bluestem , indiangrass and switchgrass...

       (central Alabama westward)
    • Slender bluestem (central Alabama westward)
    • Wiregrass
      Three-awn
      The three-awns are the grass genus Aristida, distinguished by having three awns on each lemma of each floret. The genus includes about 300 species, found worldwide, often in arid warm regions...

       (Atlantic seaboard)
  • Woody understory
    • Gallberry
      Gallberry
      Gallberry refers to two similar shrubs in the Holly family:* Ilex coriacea* Ilex glabraGallberry refers to two similar shrubs in the Holly family:* Ilex coriacea* Ilex glabra...

    • Saw palmetto
    • Wax myrtle
      Myrica cerifera
      Myrica cerifera is a small tree or large shrub native to North America. Its common names include Wax myrtle, Bayberry, Candleberry, Bayberry tree, and Tallow shrub...



Exotics promoted by fire:
  • Cogongrass
  • Japanese climbing fern
    Lygodium japonicum
    Lygodium japonicum is a species of fern that is known by the common name Japanese climbing fern. It is native to eastern Asia, including Japan, Korea, southeastern Asia, and India, and eastern Australia...

  • Broad-leaved paper bark
    Melaleuca quinquenervia
    Melaleuca quinquenervia, commonly known as Niaouli or Broad-leaved paperbark or the Paper Bark Tea Tree, is a small- to medium-sized tree of the allspice family, Myrtaceae. The plant is native to New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and coastal Eastern Australia, from Botany Bay in New South Wales...


Fauna

Fauna which lived in the southeastern savanna include:
  • Plains Bison
    Plains Bison
    The Plains Bison or Common bison is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American Bison, the other being the Wood Bison . Furthermore, it has been suggested that the Plains Bison consists of a northern and a southern subspecies, bringing the total to three...

     (circa 1550-1880)
  • Bachman's Sparrow
    Bachman's Sparrow
    Bachman's Sparrow, Peucaea aestivalis, is a small American sparrow that is endemic to the southeastern United States. This species was named in honor of Reverend John Bachman....

  • Brown-headed Cowbird
    Brown-headed Cowbird
    The Brown-headed Cowbird is a small brood parasitic icterid of temperate to subtropical North America. They are permanent residents in the southern parts of their range; northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat around March or...

  • Brown-headed Nuthatch
    Brown-headed Nuthatch
    The Brown-headed Nuthatch, Sitta pusilla, is a small songbird found in pine forests throughout the Southeastern United States. An endangered population occurs in the pineyards of Grand Bahama; some authorities consider it to represent a separate species, S. insularis...

  • Southeastern Fox Squirrel
    Fox Squirrel
    The fox squirrel is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America...

     (Sciurus niger niger)
  • White-tailed deer
    White-tailed Deer
    The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...

  • Elk
    Elk
    The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

  • Flatwoods Salamander
    Flatwoods Salamander
    The Frosted Flatwoods Salamander is a small , elongate species of mole salamander. It has a small, indistinct head, short legs, and a long, rounded tail...

  • Gopher Frog
    Gopher Frog
    The Gopher Frog is a species of frog in the Ranidae family. It is endemic to the Southeastern United States. It primarily inhabits the threatened sandhill communities, flatwoods, and scrub in the Atlantic coastal plain, where it is usually found near ponds.-Subspecies:Its two subspecies include...

  • Gopher tortoise
    Gopherus polyphemus
    The gopher tortoise is a species of the Gopherus genus native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for 360 other animal species...

  • Henslow's Sparrow
    Henslow's Sparrow
    Henslow's Sparrow, Ammodramus henslowii, is a small American sparrow.Adults have streaked brown upperparts with a light brown breast with streaks, a white belly and a white throat...

     (winter only)
  • Indigo snake
    Drymarchon
    Indigo snakes are a genus of large non-venomous colubrid snakes found in Southeastern United States, Central America, and South America. Three to four species are currently recognized.-Description:...

  • Loggerhead Shrike
    Loggerhead Shrike
    The Loggerhead Shrike is a passerine bird. It is the only member of the shrike family endemic to North America; the related Northern Shrike occurs north of its range but also in the Palearctic....

  • Northern Bobwhite
  • Northern Prairie Warbler
    Prairie Warbler
    The Prairie Warbler, Dendroica discolor, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.These birds have yellow underparts with dark streaks on the flanks, and olive upperparts with rusty streaks on the back; they have a yellow line above the eye, a dark line through it, and a yellow spot...

     (Dendroica discolor discolor) - neotropical migrant
  • Red-cockaded Woodpecker
    Red-cockaded Woodpecker
    The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is a woodpecker found in southeastern North America.- Description :About the size of the Northern Cardinal, it is approximately 8.5 in. long, with a wingspan of about 14 in. and a weight of about 1.5 ounces...

  • Southeastern American Kestrel
    American Kestrel
    The American Kestrel , sometimes colloquially known as the Sparrow Hawk, is a small falcon, and the only kestrel found in the Americas. It is the most common falcon in North America, and is found in a wide variety of habitats. At long, it is also the smallest falcon in North America...

     (Falco sparverius paulus)
  • Red Wolf
    Red Wolf
    The red wolf is a North American canid which once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States and is a glacial period survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch...

  • American black bear
    American black bear
    The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

  • North American Cougar


Living in prairie habitats:
  • Eastern Meadowlark
    Eastern Meadowlark
    The Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna, is a medium-sized icterid bird, very similar in appearance to the Western Meadowlark. It occurs from eastern North America to South America, where it is also most widespread in the east.-Description:...

  • Florida Sandhill Crane
    Sandhill Crane
    The Sandhill Crane is a large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird references habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills in the American Midwest...

     (Grus canadensis pratensis)
  • Savannah Sparrow
    Savannah Sparrow
    The Savannah Sparrow is a small American sparrow. It is the only widely accepted member of the genus Passerculus...



In northeastern savanna:
  • Heath Hen
    Heath Hen
    The Heath Hen was a distinctive subspecies of the Greater Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido, a large North American bird in the grouse family, or possibly a distinct species....

     (extinct)

See also

  • Old growth forest
    Old growth forest
    An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

  • Pre-Columbian savannas of North America
    Pre-Columbian savannas of North America
    Pre-Columbian savannas once existed across North America. These were created and maintained in a fire ecology by Native Americans until the 16th century death of most natives. Surviving natives continued using fire to clear savanna until European colonists began colonizing the eastern seaboard...

  • Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
    Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
    Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are a grassland terrestrial biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees...

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