Swampscott Open Space and Recreation Master Plan Environmental Collaborative Boston
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Vegetation and WildlifeAll living environmental systems exist in groupings or “communities.” This occurs because each plant and animal species has a range of variation in environmental factors under which it will survive. This is called its “environmental gradient” (the tolerance range of a plant to soil moisture is an example of such a gradient). The various combinations of soil, water, and topography form a variety of sub-landscapes to which different plant and animal species are adapted. The distribution of vegetative and wildlife communities is governed by these physical conditions. VegetationThe existence of vegetative cover has the important effect of moderating environmental extremes, particularly of temperature ranges and of water flow. While climatic and geologic conditions influence the types of vegetative and wildlife communities that exist in any one environment, vegetation (once established) in turn influences climate and geology. It does this by modifying surface erosion from precipitation, moderating extremes in temperature, building up soil from decaying matter, and providing greater relative humidity. In addition to their purely functional values, vegetation types provide the most striking element in most landscapes. The feeling of openness or enclosure, color, texture, and seasonality is determined largely by vegetation. WildlifeWildlife is to be found wherever specific plant communities provide a hospitable habitat: one with food, cover, and water. Different types of wildlife require habitats; thus wherever there is more than one plant community or a variety of vegetative growth, the wildlife tends to be more varied. Such a variety is often found at the edge of a field or forest, or shoreline or marsh. This edge is known as a landscape “ecotone”; and its tendency to have a greater variety of wildlife is known as the “edge effect.” Sometimes a species of wildlife needs more than one habitat, particularly birds which feed in one environment, and rest or breed in another. Swampscott has a great diversity of environmental communities. Following is a list of some of these areas:
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