Best states for natural diversity? (2015, live, beaches)
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I'm a huge fan of nature and forests and animals, so I'm looking for a state with amazing biodiversity and natural attractions, so far I've looked into Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and other northern states, but I'm just not sure. Any suggestion or help? Please and thank you
California and Hawaii are two I would recommend. Biodiversity involves more than a northern climate and in fact would encompass varying climate zones, which is why Florida is also considered very biodiverse as well. Perhaps you may need to revisit your criteria in order to narrow down effectively.
I think Texas, California, Florida, and Hawaii are the most biodiverse states. They also have a variety of geography, with tropics, beaches, deserts, canyons, forests, and prairie.
The Rocky mountain west is actually pretty bad for plant diversity (and animal diversity if you consider non-mammilian animals). A lot of these areas contain monoculture forests, either all Ponderosa Pine, all sagebrush, all aspen, all spruce... Now this can be pretty, but it isn't diverse. Even though these each look quite a bit different, there's only a number of tree and grass and bush species throughout the whole region, far behind the eastern US and the Pacific US.
This is because the variable precipitation and temperatures make it difficult for everything but a few species to survive in this region.
I believe Alabama is the most diverse state in the US (concerning plants ).
Basically, stability in climate and warmer and wetter yield more species. If you want a northern state, I'd pick the great lakes area or the PNW. Otherwise I'd pick the Appalachian south.
I'm a huge fan of nature and forests and animals, so I'm looking for a state with amazing biodiversity and natural attractions, so far I've looked into Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and other northern states, but I'm just not sure.
No, the northern states don't have the environments on their side. The coldness is the one factor, but the dryness is also often a large factor too (Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, the Dakotas, etc.) When the moisture drops, the plant life and vegetation drop, and along with it the various animals in the food chain. It's pretty simple. I got a good shock when I moved to CO and discovered how sparse it is compared to where I previously lived, mostly due to the moisture difference. Altitude and the related oxygen decline may also play a role.
Combine warmth and moisture though, with large stands of trees and unsettled areas, and you'll find the largest concentration of "nature, forests, and animals". So, I'd guess places like CA, AK, TN, KY, WV, etc.
Last edited by Thoreau424; 09-29-2017 at 08:42 AM..
In that regard It's pretty clear to see that the South East is the most biodiverse.
Yep. It was once thought that the region lacked biodiversity, due to the flat topography, frequent inundations, etc. However, recent investigations have shown that the region's ecosystems are quite old, having had consistent endemic species since the last Ice Age. Combined with many threatened ecosystems in the region, and the SE US coastal plain, from Mexico to the southern NE US, now is classed as the world's 36th biodiversity hotspot: CEPF.net - North American Coastal Plain CEPF.net - Announcing the World
I'm a huge fan of nature and forests and animals, so I'm looking for a state with amazing biodiversity and natural attractions, so far I've looked into Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and other northern states, but I'm just not sure. Any suggestion or help? Please and thank you
Any of these have it, as does Wyoming. Are you looking to relocate to one of them?
The winner according to that map is Colorado with 16 climates, Washington has 14, and California has 10. However this map isn’t ver accurate since the isotherm it uses to differentiate between temperate and continental climates is to have the coldest monthly average at -3C rather than 0C which means that some parts of Colorado is subtropical/oceanic which is insanely ridiculous. But non the less, that map is fairly good guide.
Last edited by grega94; 09-29-2017 at 10:57 PM..
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