Ohio Wildlife Encyclopedia: An Illustrated Guide to Birds, Fish, Mammals, Reptiles, and Amphibians

by Scott Shupe

Overview

Ohio’s wildlife has always played an important role in the history of human beings inhabiting the state. Native Americans depended on birds, mammals, and fish for sustenance and the state’s first Europeans came in search of Beaver and buckskins. Although the state’s wildlife is still an important resource for human consumption, wildlife is also increasingly important in today’s culture for its intrinsic, aesthetic value. For many Ohioans, the age-old traditions of hunting and fishing have been replaced by a desire to simply observe wildlife and experience nature. But most Ohioans are largely unaware of the diversity of species inhabiting their state. This volume is intended to provide an introduction to the state’s fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

In The Ohio Wildlife Encyclopedia, nationally known naturalist Scott Shupe has collected information on all the wildlife that reside in the Buckeye State. The first in a series of state wildlife encyclopedias, this book will be a handy, usable, layman’s guide to Ohio’s wildlife.

Included are over 800 color photographs, depicting the different species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and fish, while also offering over 600 range maps to show their territory. Along with basic information for the biology of each animal, Shupe includes the size, habitat, and abundance of each species located in the state.

Whether you’re a lover of the outdoors, photography, or are looking to learn more about your state, this comprehensive guide will teach you about the wonderful wildlife that covers the water, earth, and skies of Ohio.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510728837
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	05/29/2018
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	297,947
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Scott Shupe began his naturalist career in 1971 at the famed Ross Allen Reptile Institute in Silver Springs, Florida. He has also worked at Florida’s St. Augustine Alligator Farm and at the Black Hills Reptile Gardens in Rapid City, South Dakota. Today he serves as the director of education for the Kentucky Reptile Zoo & Venom Laboratory and is the author of U.S. Guide to Venomous Snakes and Their Mimics and the editor for Venomous Snakes of the World.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

THE FACE OF THE LAND

— THE NATURAL REGIONS OF OHIO —

Defining and understanding the natural regions of Ohio is the first step in understanding the natural history of the state. Man-made political boundaries such as county lines and state borders are meaningless to wildlife, whereas mountains, rivers, or lakes can be important elements in influencing the distribution of the state's wildlife.

The major considerations used in determining and delineating natural regions are such factors such as elevation, relief (topography), drainages, geology, and climate. All these are important elements that can determine the limits of distribution for living organisms. It follows then that some knowledge of these factors is essential when involved in the study of the state's natural history.

The study of natural regions is known as Physiography, which means "physical geography" or literally "the face of the land." While the terms geography and physiography are closely related and sometimes used interchangeably, geography is a broader term which includes such things as human culture, resource use, and man's impact on the land, while physiography deals only with elements of geography created by nature.

The term used to define a major natural region is "physiographic division." Physiographic divisions are subdivided into smaller units called "physiographic provinces." There are several major physiographic divisions across the United States and Canada, and portions of two affect the state of Ohio. The two major physiographic divisions of Ohio are the Appalachian Highlands Division and the Interior Plains Division. See Figure 1 on the following page.

The Appalachian Highlands Division occupies eastern portion of the state. Just to the west of the Appalachian Highlands Division the Interior Plains Division covers the rest of Ohio. Elevation and topography are the major defining characters of the two main provinces affecting Ohio. Generally speaking the higher elevations and most pronounced relief occurs in the Appalachian Highlands Division, but interestingly, the highest elevation in the state occurs in the relatively flat Interior Plains Division.

A unique geological feature known as "Campbell's Hill" rises to over 1500 feet above the surrounding plains. This unique feature was formed by glacial activity.

Each of Ohio's two major physiographic divisions are futher divided into smaller divisions known as "physiographic provinces," which are then divided again into even smaller "physiographicsections."

Figure 1 on the following page is map of the eastern United States showing where the major physiographic divisions of the eastern half of the country occur. Figure 2 on the next page shows how these major divisions are divided into physiographic provinces. Figure 3 shows how those provinces are then subdivided into their respective physiographic sections.

Some appreciation of these various divisions is helpful when it comes to discussing the distribution of some of the vertebrate species of Ohio. Many species may occur in only a few of the regions defined by the maps on the following page. Some may even be found in only one (or even a portion of one) of these regions.

Two of the major physiographic divisions shown on the map above occur within the borders of Ohio. The Interior Plains Division and the Appalachian Highlands Division.

Figure 2 on the following page shows how each of these divisions are subdivided into smaller Physiographic Provinces.

In the Appalachian Highlands Division the Appalachian Plateau Province (which occurs in eastern Ohio) is shown on the map above in bright green.

In extreme southeastern Ohio the portion of the Interior Lowlands Division known as the Interior Low Plateau Province invades the state from Kentucky to south. This province is shown in purple.

The portion of the Interior Plains Division that occurs in Ohio is the Interior Lowland Province (dark purple). It constitutes most of the western half of the state.

The provinces shown in Figure 2 can be further divided into Physiograpic Sections, which are then further divided into regions. The sections and regions affecting Ohio are shown on the map below (Figure 3).

The bright yellow line on the map above is the Allegheny Escarpment, which is the demarcation between the Interior Plains Division and the Appalachian Provinces Division. All of Ohio except the area in dark green (A. Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau) was once impacted by glaciers. These regions of the state are often referred to as "Glaciated Ohio." Likewise, the area in dark green (A.) is often called "Unglaciated Ohio."

Table 1 below provides another reference for the discussion of the physiographic divisions affecting Ohio and their respective provinces. It should be noted that most of the provinces of the major divisions can also occur outside the boundaries of the state of Ohio. Those provinces that occur in the state of Ohio are shaded. Table 2 shows how the different provinces of Ohio are subdivided into sections.

A written description of each of Ohio's physiographic provinces and the natural regions contained within those provinces is as follows:

The Appalachian Plateau Province

The Appalachian Plateau Province is a subdivision of the Appalachian Highlands Division (Figure 1). This is a region of older mountains that have been heavily eroded over time to produce a high plateau region that is moderately to highly dissected by rivers and streams. The entire region extends from northern Alabama to central New York. Elevations in Ohio are lower and relief is much less pronounced in comparison to the Appalachian Plateau in other nearby states. Historically this region was nearly completely covered in mature forests. The area is still the most heavily wooded region of Ohio and most of the state's remaining forests occur here. In Ohio the Appalachian Plateau Province is represented by a smaller subdivision (physiograpic section) known as the Allegheny Plateau. The Allegheny Plateau is divided into two smaller physiographic regions, the Allegheny Plateaus region and the Glaciated Allegheny Plateaus region.

A brief description of these two regions follows:

Glaciated Allegheny Plateau

This region of the Allegheny Plateau has been impacted significantly by glaciers in its geologic history.

Glaciers can act like giant bulldozers ond the land and tend to level everything in their path. Thus this region, despite being part of the Appalachian uplift, shows fewer hills and uplands and less relief than the related Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau region. Some of the hills and ridges in the region are glacial deposits of sand and gravel known as "kames."

Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau

This region is an uplifted plateau that shows considerable relief due to erosional action and it can be quite rugged in some areas of southeastern Ohio. While many people would consider this to be a mountainous region, these are not true mountains in the sense that there is no uplifted folds of the earth's crust, such as may be seen in other parts of the Appalachian Highlands or in the Rocky Mountain region. Likewise, the elevation here is not as high as would be seen in true mountains. The highest points on this plateau are typically only about 1200 feet above sea level.

The Interior Lowland Province

The Interior Lowland Province is a vast area of geologically stable bedrocks. Here the earth's crust has been little affected by the forces of plate tectonics that uplift mountains and plateaus. Most of the area is a relatively flat plain and where this province affects the midwestern US it has been subjected to the impacts of glaciation. Relief here is slight to moderate and usually associated with the actions of rivers and streams, although in Ohio glacial deposits of sand and gravel have also contributed to the region's topography. This province is subdivided into two sections. A brief description of those sections is as follows.

Huron-Lake Erie Plains

This excepitonally flat region of the Interior Lowlands was once covered by water in a massive freshwater lake (Lake Maumee) that was continuous with what is now Lake Erie. At the end of the last ice age the lake shrank to its present size and the former lake bottom became the Huron-Lake Erie Plain. Remnants of the old lake shoreline now form one of Ohio's most unique ecological regions known as "Oak Openings." Much of the rest of the region was historically wetland, including an area known as "the Great Black Swamp." A few ecologically important wetland areas still remain in the region.

Till Plains

The Till Plains constitutes a large area of gently rolling plains in the western and central portions of Ohio. The region owes its topography to glacial activity, with long, gently sloping hills and ridges being formed from glacial moraine. The fertile soils of the region are highly suited to agriculture and today most of the rural areas in the region are farmlands. This region once contained large swaths of native tallgrass prairies with decidous woodlands dominating river valleys. Strangely, the highest point in the state (Campbell's Hill-Elevation 1,549 feet) occurs in the Till Plains near the border with Indiana.

The Interior Low Plateau Province

This area is a low, dissected plateau with lower elevations and less relief than what is seen in the much higher Appalachian Plateau Province. Most of the Interior Low Plateau is located in central Kentucky and in middle Tennessee, but the province extends from northern Alabama to southern Indiana and a tiny portion of southern Illinois and southeasternmost Ohio. Most is under 1,000 feet above sea level, and some areas are less than 500 feet in elevation. It is essentially an area of rolling landscape well dissected by numerous rivers and streams that create areas of moderate relief. The region once contained extensive forests, grasslands, and wetlands, but today is mostly agriculture or urban. The Interior Low Plateau is subdivided further into three sections, one of which, the Bluegrass Section, extends northward from Kentucky into southeastern Ohio.

The Bluegrass

In Ohio the Bluegrass region consists of rather flattened hills and uplands deeply dissected by streams.

The substrate is mostly limestone, dolomite, and shale. The topography ranges from gently sloping to cliffs.

Glaciated and Unglaciated Ohio

In the state of Ohio, the history of the state's climate has played and important role in both the state's topography and in differentiating natural regions. Within the relatively recent geological history of Ohio (beginning about one and half million years ago and ending only a few tens of thousands of years ago), much of the state of Ohio (and most of the northern half of North America) was covered by immense glaciers. These glaciation events impacted so significantly upon the landscape of the region that naturalists today sometimes regard Ohio as almost being two different states, "glaciated" and "unglaciated" Ohio. The map below shows how the state of Ohio is divided into "Glaciated" and "Unglaciated" regions.

CHAPTER 2

ECOREGIONS AND WILDLIFE HABITATS OF OHIO

— PART 1: ECOREGIONS —

First, it should be noted that in ecology, as in the study of most other scientific disciplines, different opinions exist among experts as to the definition of a particular habitat or ecoregion (such as types of forests). Man's understanding of the earth's ecology continues to evolve and not every ecologist adopts the same model or criteria in describing habitats and ecosystems. Moreover, different models may be used by different researchers based on the needs of that research. The ecological model adopted here is derived from the Ecoregions used by the Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions).

The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes a total of fourteen "Level I Ecoregions" in the US and Canada. Each of these Level I Ecoregions consists of several progressively smaller divisions, known respectively as Level II Ecoregions, Level III Ecoregions, and Level IV Ecoregions. The entire state of Ohio falls within one of the larger of North America's fourteen Level I Ecoregions, known as Eastern Temperate Forest (see Figure 5 below).

The designation of Ohio as a forest habitat is based on the state's naturally occurring wildlife habitats, i.e., the historical natural conditions found in Ohio prior to the changes wrought by European settlers. Obviously, today much of Ohio is not forested. In fact the natural habitats of the state have been so altered by man that today very little land area in the state remains in a pristine, natural condition. Some estimates are that prior to the European invasion of Ohio, as much as 98 percent of the state was forested. Today that percentage is closer to 30 percent, most of it in the Appalachian Plateau, and it is virtually all regrowth. West of the Appalachian Mountains, most of the state's forests have been cleared and converted to agricultural land, with only small pockets of regrowth woodlands scattered throughout.

When considering the state's wildlife habitats, it is important to remember that despite the fact that while all of the land area of Ohio is regarded as a within the eastern Temperate Forest Ecoregion, some areas of grassland, wetland, and savannah habitats also historically occured (and still occur) in the state. Thus, although the habitat type is designated as forest, Ohio has always contained a variety of other habitats that were embedded within the boundaries of the eastern Temperate Forest Ecoregion.

The eastern Temperate Forest (Level I Ecoregion) consists of five Level II Ecoregions. The Level II Ecoregions of the eastern Temperate Forest are the Ozark-Ouachita-Appalachian Forest, the Southeast US Plains, the Mississippi Alluvial and Southeast Coastal Plains, Mixed Wood Plains, and Central US Plains. The location of these five Level II Ecoregions are shown in Figure 6 below.

Four of the five Level II Ecoregions shown above occur in Ohio. The Level II Ecoregions that affect Ohio are the Ozark-Ouachita-Appalachian, the Mixed Woods Plains, the Southeast US Plains, and the Central US Plains.

The Level II Ecoregions shown in Figure 4 are sometimes referred to differently by other ecological models. The portion of the Ozark-Ouachita-Appalachian Forest that occurs in Ohio is often called "Appalachian Mixed Mesophytic Forest." Similarly, the part of the Southeast US Plains found in Ohio may be referred to as "Central US Hardwood Forests."

A written descripton of the Level II Ecoregions affecting Ohio is as follows:

Ozark-Ouachita-Appalachian Forest

The portion of this ecoregion which affects Ohio is also sometimes called Mixed Mesophytic Forests. This region encompasses the highland regions of the western slope of the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio south and west to northern Alabama. In Ohio this ecoregion corresponds closely to the Appalachian Plateau physiographic province (see Figures 1, 2, or 3 in Chapter 1). These forest boast a high diversity of species for a temperate region. They are characterized by being relatively cool and damp forests. They have a wide variety of deciduous trees (oaks, hickories, walnuts, birches, ashes, maples, elms, beech, etc.) as well as a variety of evergreen species such as pines, hemlocks, rhododendron, magnolia, and Mountain Laurel. Within this ecoregion several types of localized habitats occur including mesic (damp) woodland, xeric (dry) woodland, wetlands (seeps and bogs), and open lands (glades, barrens, and some agricultural lands in valleys). Also widespread are ecotone habitats, successional areas, and man-made habitats (see Table 3). Virtually 100 percent of this type of forest ecoregion occuring in Ohio has been altered from its original state, and no significant areas of virgin forests remain in the state.

Central US Plains

In Ohio this ecoregion roughly corresponds to the physiographic province known as the Interior Lowlands (see Figure 2). Originally this region was primarily hardwood forest with oak, hickory, maple, elm, ash, and beech as the dominent tree species. Significant but scattered areas of tall grass prairies also occurred here, along with wetland areas of marsh and swamp and scattered glacial lakes (especially in northwestern Ohio).

Today the region is dominated by agriculture.

Southeast US Plains

In Ohio this ecoregion roughly corresponds to the physiographic province known as the Interior Low Plateaus (see Figure 2). Hardwoods are dominant in this ecoregion with more drought tolerant species such as oaks and hickories being more common. Pines also occur commonly in much of the region. Grasslands were once sporadic but fairly widespread within this ecoregion, and wetland swamps and marshes dominated river valleys and lowlands. Also widespread are ecotone habitats, successional areas, and most commonly, manmade habitats (see Table 3). This ecoregion supports the highest number of herbaceous plants and shrubs in North America (over 2,500 species). Modern agriculture has drastically altered the natural habitats in this region and in fact pristine examples of the original habitats of this region in Ohio are virtually non-existent.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Ohio Wildlife Encyclopedia"
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Copyright © 2018 Scott Shupe.
Excerpted by permission of Skyhorse Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction,
Chapter 1 The Face of the Land,
Chapter 2 Ecoregions and Habitats of Ohio,
Chapter 3 The Mammals of Ohio,
Chapter 4 The Birds of Ohio,
Chapter 5 The Turtles of Ohio,
Chapter 6 The Reptiles of Ohio,
Part 1 Lizards,
Part 2 Snakes,
Chapter 7 The Amphibians of Ohio,
Part 1 Frogs and Toads,
Part 2 Salamanders,
Chapter 8 The Rivers and Streams of Ohio,
Chapter 9 The Fishes of Ohio,
References,
Glossary,
Index of Common Names,
Photo Credits,
About the Author,