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My grandson (Reisende) was recently stranded back in the eastern United States and decided to make his way back to Utah by car. That kid loves to drive and most of all to enjoy the great vegetation that the United States has to offer (The great ecologist Forrest Shreve is one of his academic heroes). Reisende is so darn interested in the relationships between climate and plant distribution that he stopped along the way to record the vegetation type. When stopped (remembering safety first), Reisende used his cell phone to describe everything to me. I recorded a few of these notes below, but he talked so fast that I am not sure that I recorded everything that he said. Not only that, but the darn kid then took the time to log onto the internet and obtain a climate diagram for each of these locations. He e-mailed me some of those graphics which I have now pasted into my notebook on page 159. But the poor kid is so scatter-brained that he forgot to tell me which climate diagram is associated with which vegetation type. When will he send me the remaining climate diagrams? Well, I do know that Reisende saw the eastern deciduous forest of Tennessee, the savannas of Texas and eastern Oklahoma, the tall grass prairie of eastern Kansas, the short grass prairie of western Colorado, the coniferous forests of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming, and the deserts of southern Utah. Wow, what a trip.
Telephone notes
(1) Eastern deciduous forest of Tenessee: beautiful closed-canopy forests; dicotyledonous trees about 25-30 m tall; well developed understory of herbs and small shrubs; much of this area is young forest (maybe 100-200 years old)
(2) Savannas of Texas: open tree landscape with grass interspersed; not the same as the typical tropical savannas such as I saw in southern Brazil last week; this area is mostly natural, but heavily grazed in some regions
(3) Tall-grass prairie: absolutely beautiful; grassland with few dicot herbs; grasses typically 1.5 m tall; this vegetation is uncommon though because most of the region has been converted to agriculture
(4) Shortgrass prairie: grass dominated landscape with few dicot herbs and no shrubs visible; grasses are typically 10-30 cm tall; most of this grassland are is ocassionally grazed by cattle
(5) Rocky Mountain coniferous forest: spectacular coniferous forest with dense, closed canopies; very limited understory vegetation development; most of this vegetation is still pristine
(6) Deserts of southern Utah: open, sparse vegetation dominated by shrubs, but with grasses interspersed; the active grasses appear to be C4 based on leaf cross section analysis using a hand lens; this regions looks like it has had limited cattle impact
(1) Eastern deciduous forest of Tenessee: beautiful closed-canopy forests; dicotyledonous trees about 25-30 m tall; well developed understory of herbs and small shrubs; much of this area is young forest (maybe 100-200 years old)
(2) Savannas of Texas: open tree landscape with grass interspersed; not the same as the typical tropical savannas such as I saw in southern Brazil last week; this area is mostly natural, but heavily grazed in some regions
(3) Tall-grass prairie: absolutely beautiful; grassland with few dicot herbs; grasses typically 1.5 m tall; this vegetation is uncommon though because most of the region has been converted to agriculture
(4) Shortgrass prairie: grass dominated landscape with few dicot herbs and no shrubs visible; grasses are typically 10-30 cm tall; most of this grassland are is ocassionally grazed by cattle
(5) Rocky Mountain coniferous forest: spectacular coniferous forest with dense, closed canopies; very limited understory vegetation development; most of this vegetation is still pristine
(6) Deserts of southern Utah: open, sparse vegetation dominated by shrubs, but with grasses interspersed; the active grasses appear to be C4 based on leaf cross section analysis using a hand lens; this regions looks like it has had limited cattle impact