Ground-cover
Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows low over an area of ground, which protects the topsoil from erosion and drought. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as the herbaceous layer, and provides habitats and concealments for (especially fossorial) terrestrial fauna. The most widespread ground covers are grasses of various types. In ecology, groundcover is a difficult subject to address because it is known by several different names and is classified in several different ways. The term "groundcover" could also be referring to "the herbaceous layer", "regenerative layer", "ground flora" or even "step over". In agriculture, ground cover refers to anything that lies on top of the soil and protects it from erosion and inhibits weeds. It can be anything from a low layer of grasses to a plastic material. The term ''ground cover'' can also specifically refer to landscaping fabric, a breathable tarp that al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soil Protection
Soil conservation is the prevention of loss of the topmost layer of the soil from erosion or prevention of reduced fertility caused by over usage, acidification, salinization or other chemical soil contamination Slash-and-burn and other unsustainable methods of subsistence farming are practiced in some lesser developed areas. A consequence of deforestation is typically large-scale erosion, loss of soil nutrients and sometimes total desertification. Techniques for improved soil conservation include crop rotation, cover crops, conservation tillage and planted windbreaks, affect both erosion and fertility. When plants die, they decay and become part of the soil. Code 330 defines standard methods recommended by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. Farmers have practiced soil conservation for millennia. In Europe, policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy are targeting the application of best management practices such as reduced tillage, winter cover crops, plant ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vinca Major1
''Vinca'' (; Latin: ''vincire'' "to bind, fetter") is an Old World genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus '' Catharanthus'' (and with the mollusc '' Littorina littorea''). Some ''Vinca'' species are cultivated but have also spread invasively. Additionally, some species have medicinal uses. The most widespread species is Vinca minor. Description ''Vinca'' plants are subshrubs or herbaceous, and have slender trailing stems long but not growing more than above ground; the stems frequently take root where they touch the ground, enabling the plant to spread widely. The leaves are opposite, simple broad lanceolate to ovate, long and broad; they are evergreen in four species, but deciduous in the herbaceous ''V.'' ''herbacea'', which dies back to the root system in winter.Blamey, M., & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''. Hodder & Stoughton.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gardening
Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of Aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing areas, Medication, medicines, cosmetics, dyes, foods, poisons, wildlife habitats, and saleable goods (see market gardening). People often partake in gardening for its Therapy, therapeutic, health, educational, Culture, cultural, Philosophy, philosophical, Environmental protection, environmental, and Religion, religious benefits. Gardening varies in scale from the 800 hectare Palace of Versailles, Versailles gardens down to container gardens grown inside. Gardens take many forms; some only contain one type of plant, while others involve a complex assortment of plants with no particular order. Gardening can be difficult to differentiate from Agriculture, farming. They are most easily differentiated based on their primary objectives. Farming pri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many different species, the unique feature of evergreen plants lends itself to various environments and purposes. Evergreen species There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, including trees, shrubs, and vines. Evergreens include: * Most species of conifers (e.g., pine, Tsuga, hemlock, spruce, and fir), but not all (e.g., larch). * Live oak, holly, and "ancient" gymnosperms such as cycads * Many woody plants from frost-free climates * Rainforest trees * All eucalypts * Lycopodiopsida, Clubmosses and relatives * Most bamboos The Latin binomial term , meaning "always green", refers to the evergreen nature of the plant, for instance: :''Cupressus sempervirens'' (a cypress) :''Lonicera sempervirens'' (a honeysuckle) :''Sequoia sempervirens'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wren
Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old World. In Anglophone regions, the Eurasian wren is commonly known simply as the "wren", as it is the originator of the name. The name ''wren'' has been applied to other, unrelated birds, particularly the New Zealand wrens ( Acanthisittidae) and the Australian wrens ( Maluridae). Most wrens are visually inconspicuous though they have loud and often complex songs. Exceptions include the relatively large members of the genus '' Campylorhynchus'', which can be quite bold in their behaviour. Wrens have short wings that are barred in most species, and they often hold their tails upright. Wrens are primarily insectivorous, eating insects, spiders and other small invertebrates, but many species also eat vegetable matter and some eat small frogs and l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Micromys Minutus
The harvest mouse (''Micromys minutus'') is a small rodent native to Europe and Asia. It is typically found in fields of cereal crops, such as wheat and oats, in reed beds and in other tall ground vegetation, such as long grass and hedgerows. It has reddish-brown fur with white underparts and a naked, highly prehensile tail, which it uses for climbing. It is the smallest European rodent; an adult may weigh as little as . It eats chiefly seeds and insects, but also nectar and fruit. Breeding nests are spherical constructions carefully woven from grass and attached to Plant stem, stems well above the ground. History The genus ''Micromys'' most likely evolved in Asia and is closely related to the long-tailed climbing mouse (''Vandeleuria'') and the pencil-tailed tree mouse (''Chiropodomys''). ''Micromys'' first emerged in the fossil record in the late Pliocene, with ''Micromys minutus'' being recorded from the Early Pleistocene in Germany. They underwent a reduction in range during g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Reed Warbler
The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are sometimes called marsh warblers or reed warblers, but this invites confusion with marsh warbler and reed warbler. These are rather drab brownish warblers usually associated with marshes or other wetlands. Some are streaked, others plain. Many species breeding in temperate regions are migratory. This genus has heavily diversified into many species throughout islands across the tropical Pacific. This in turn has led to many of the resulting insular endemic species to become endangered. Several of these species (including all but one of the species endemic to the Marianas and two endemic to French Polynesia) have already gone extinct. The most enigmatic species of the genus, the large-billed reed warbler (''A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Appalachian Region
Appalachian may refer to: * Appalachian Mountains, a major mountain range in eastern United States and Canada * Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail in the eastern United States * The people of Appalachia and their culture ** Appalachian Americans, ethnic group native to Appalachia ** Appalachian English, the variety of English native to Central and Southern Appalachia ** Appalachian music * Appalachian State University, in Boone, North Carolina See also * Appalachia (other) Appalachia is a socioeconomic region associated with the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. Appalachia may also refer to: * Appalachian (other) * Appalachia (Mesozoic), a Mesozoic-era island * Appalachia, Virginia, a town ... * * Appellation (other) {{Disambiguation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rhododendron Maximum
''Rhododendron maximum'' is a species of ''Rhododendron'' native to the Appalachians of eastern North America, from Alabama north to coastal Nova Scotia. Its common names include great laurel, great rhododendron, rosebay rhododendron, American rhododendron and big rhododendron. Description ''Rhododendron maximum'' is an evergreen shrub growing to , rarely , tall. The leaves are long and broad. The flowers are diameter, white, pink or pale purple, often with small greenish-yellow spots. The fruit is a dry capsule long, containing numerous small seeds. The leaves can be poisonous. Leaves are sclerophyllous, simple, alternate, and oblong (10 to 30 cm long, 5 to 8 cm wide). It retains its waxy, deep-green leaves for up to 8 years, but once shed are slow to decompose. It produces large, showy, white to purple flowers each June and July. File:Rhododendron maximum.jpg, Flower File:American Rhododendron Leaves.jpg, Leaves File:Rhododendron maxima Trunk Bark 2090px.jpg, Bar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Human Impact On The Environment
Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic environmental impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society (as in the built environment) is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, neoliberal economic policies and rapid economic growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation. Some of the problems, including global warming and biodiversity loss, have been proposed as representing catastrophic risks to the survival of the human species. The term ''anthropogenic'' designates an effect or object resulting from h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stolon
In biology, a stolon ( from Latin ''wikt:stolo, stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as a runner, is a horizontal connection between parts of an organism. It may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton. Typically, animal stolons are exoskeletons (external skeletons). In botany In botany, stolons are plant stems which grow at the soil surface or just below ground that form adventitious roots at the Node (botany), nodes, and new plants from the buds. Stolons are often called runners. Rhizomes, in contrast, are root-like stems that may either grow horizontally at the soil surface or in other orientations underground. Thus, not all horizontal stems are called stolons. Plants with stolons are called stoloniferous. A stolon is a plant propagation strategy and the complex of individuals formed by a mother plant and all its Cloning, clones produced from stolons form a single genetic individual, a genet (biology), genet. Morphology Stolons may have long or shor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow horizontally. The rhizome also retains the ability to allow new shoots to grow upwards. A rhizome is the main stem of the plant that runs typically underground and horizontally to the soil surface. Rhizomes have nodes and internodes and auxiliary buds. Roots do not have nodes and internodes and have a root cap terminating their ends. In general, rhizomes have short internodes, send out roots from the bottom of the nodes, and generate new upward-growing shoots from the top of the nodes. A stolon is similar to a rhizome, but stolon sprouts from an existing stem having long internodes and generating new shoots at the ends, they are often also called runners such as in the strawberry plant. A stem tuber is a thickene ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |