{"id":254,"date":"2016-11-05T11:54:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-05T15:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/?p=254"},"modified":"2016-11-05T11:59:27","modified_gmt":"2016-11-05T15:59:27","slug":"not-only-humans-are-feeling-the-effects-of-teh-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/2016\/11\/not-only-humans-are-feeling-the-effects-of-teh-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"Not only humans are feeling the effects of teh drought"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this article by Charles Seabrook of the Atlanta Constitution and published Saturday November 5, 2016, we see that not only humans are effected by the drought.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Wild Georgia<\/h3>\n
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Drought may have significant impact on wildlife<\/h1>\n
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Charles Seabrook<\/address>\n
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The chicken turtle, which inhabits Georgia\u2019s Coastal Plain region, burrows into the soil during times of drought.<\/p>\n

WIKIPEDIA \/ PUBLIC DOMAIN<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than a third of Georgia is facing a severe drought, from which no relief is expected soon. Drought, of course, not only adversely affects people, but impacts plants and animals as well.<\/p>\n

While native flora and fauna have evolved to withstand moderate dry spells, a prolonged drought can have immense effects on wildlife. Some of the impact may not become apparent for several months. Reports are coming in, for instance, of shrubs and trees dying in central Georgia from lack of water.<\/span> But, it might be next spring before we know the full impact of the drought on local wildlife.<\/p>\n

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For one thing, it could mean that food and cover will be harder to find. Less food could result in fewer offspring; even those that are born may not get sufficient food to survive. Loss of cover would be a serious problem for birds and animals that normally hide from predators in bushy plants and thickets.<\/p>\n

As rivers and lakes approach record low levels and ponds dry up, many creatures may be forced to leave their home ranges and travel to other areas to find water.<\/span> Semiaquatic turtles, water<\/span> snakes, frogs and salamanders may have to travel more than a mile to find wetlands still holding water.<\/span> Aquatic mammals such as beavers and otters also may have to roam far to avoid dryness. More moving about makes creatures more vulnerable to predation or accidents, as well as indirect mortality from reduced fat reserves needed for hibernation. Some insects, fish, amphibians and reptiles may \u201cestivate\u201d \u2014 go into a deep state of inactivity and low metabolism \u2014 to survive. Some freshwater turtles, such as chicken turtles, may burrow in the soil to escape the drought.<\/p>\n

Alligators may be of some help. During severe drought, alligators dig deep holes to hold water.<\/span> The \u201cgator holes\u201d mean survival not only for the alligator, but for many other plants and animals as well.<\/p>\n

Finally, birds need water,<\/span> too, and so it becomes even more important that you keep your bird baths clean and full this fall and winter.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article by Charles Seabrook of the Atlanta Constitution and published Saturday November 5, 2016, we see that not only humans are effected by the drought. Wild Georgia Drought may have significant impact on wildlife Charles Seabrook The chicken turtle, which inhabits Georgia\u2019s Coastal Plain region, burrows into the soil during times of drought. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/water\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}