Biologists have identified some 100 specific habitats in Georgia — places such as oak-hickory forests and salt marshes where certain groups of plants and animals prefer to live.
Last week, several of us Georgia Botanical Society members explored two of the state’s rarest and most unusual habitats, remnant tallgrass prairies near Rome in Floyd County and sandhills along the Fall Line near Butler in Taylor County.
One might also call them two of Georgia’s most amazing habitats: Despite their seemingly harsh environments, both are rich in biological diversity, harboring dozens of Georgia’s rarest plant and animal species. Several of the species are found nowhere else in the state.
The remnant prairies are in the 920-acre Coosa Valley Prairies preserve near Rome, characterized by clayey, calcium-rich soil that discourages tree growth.
Many of the plants that grow there — including big bluestem grass, switchgrass, Indian grass, prairie dock — are characteristic of the tallgrass prairies of the Great Plains, said botanist Richard Ware of Rome.
In 1994, Ware made a significant botanical find in the prairies: He “rediscovered” a species known as the whorled sunflower, which for 90 years was thought to be extinct. It’s now on the federal Endangered Species List.
Some 175 miles south of Rome, we visited another unusual habitat — the sandhills in the 1,575-acre Fall Line Sandhills Wildlife Management Area in Taylor County. Georgia acquired the tract in 2007 for its high diversity of rare species, such as the sandhill golden aster and the tawny cotton grass, one of the state’s rarest plants.
The fall line sandhills date from the late Cretaceous Period some 65 million years ago, when the Atlantic Ocean covered the southern half of Georgia. The fall line represents where the coastline used to be. Today, the landlocked sand dunes of the ancient seashore support unique plant and animal communities that have become dependent on the deep sandy soils.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be first quarter on Tuesday. Venus is high in the west around dusk and will appear near the moon Saturday night. Jupiter and Saturn are in the southwest at dark. Saturn will appear near the moon on Thursday night; Jupiter will do so on Friday (Oct. 15).
Charles Seabrook can be reached at charles.seabrook@yahoo.com.
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