Does habitat view mean a photo of a flower bed or does it mean a view of the plant growing in it's native habitat or something else? Let's discuss this & iron it out.

To me, habitat view would mean the conditions this plant is growing in & that would not be restricted to the native habitat of that plant. When I look at a habitat view photo; I am looking to get a good idea of what conditions & type of landscape this plant is growing in. When I look at that photo I expect to be able to fairly well tell if this is being pampered with water & care & in a planting bed or if this is growing in the woods, or a field or by a brook etc....

What does it mean to you? What would be valuable to you when looking at photos of habitat view?

I consider it to be a plant growing in the wild. If you look up the definition it say where a plant or animal naturally or normally occur.

"Habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...

We have lots of folks adding native plants so that category should be used as understood for future folks coming to search info on a plant. For a garden grown plant, I always select "Entire Plant'.

Me too.

Karen

"Entire Plant" - If it's a photo of a Florida native plant that I've purchased from a native plant nursery and planted in my garden, or a photo of a native plant in a botanical garden then I'd enter it in the "Entire Plant" category.

"Habit View" - If I'm hiking in nature somewhere (say the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee) and take photo's of plants in their native habitat then I'd enter it in the "Habitat View" category.

Growing in it's natural environment, in the wild.

So is this something the moderators need to be aware of?

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you guys. What you are describing is NATIVE habitat view. I won't argue if that's what is decided for that category but to just label it "habitat" view is misleading to people. I know it wasn't MEANT to be misleading but to me it is. A habitat is where something or someone lives NOW or in the past. It's where that plant is growing NOW. If you wish the habitat view to mean the NATIVE habitat then I would say the label on that needs to be changed to Native Habitat View so that people don't mistake the purpose of the photo category.
IMHO

I think most of the moderators are aware of it, Lynn. This is what I posted in the Site Talk Forum earlier today:

"When ValleyLynn proposed the addition of the "Habitat" photo gallery, I'm sure she meant the natural habitat of plants. Lately I've been seeing people add long shots of flower beds to the database under the "Habitat" category. I'm not sure that's valid."

Ann, indeed a good point! Maybe we need a "Native Habitat View" as well as "Garden Habitat View"?

That's all I'm sayin'.


Er, or I mean to say.... That's what I'm sayin'.

I get what your saying Ann.

We should have it as Native Habitat, that should not be confusing to anyone.

Zuzu, how do you do a search for photo of plants in their Natural Habitat? Is that possible to do?

Not yet, Lynn. The search for specific galleries is not available yet.

I think most people do understand that "habitat" means the natural habitat, and I personally don't think we need a gallery for the artificial habitat because we already have a forum for Garden Photos, but that's just my opinion.

zuzu said:I think most people do understand that "habitat" means the natural habitat, and I personally don't think we need a gallery for the artificial habitat because we already have a forum for Garden Photos, but that's just my opinion.

Yep, I forgot about the forum for garden photo's ... sorry.

It should be an easy fix to add the 'Natural' to Habitat?

I don't necessarily think we need a gallery for artificial habitat but I do think this still needs ironing out. Okay, take this for example:

Now this is a photo I took today. These are Phlox drummondii which are growing wild on this property. No one planted them here. I happen to know that this county seeded the roadsides with this as well as many other wildflowers; some true natives & some not. The phlox in this photo are volunteers from the phlox that were seeded on the roadsides. This IS their habitat. This particular species of phlox is non native to Fl. & in fact comes from it's native Texas. Now, this photo shows a habitat view of something which is in it's habitat & was not put here by man. The county did not seed this property. But these phlox are in their habitat. Do I put it in the habitat view or not?

And this is interesting...... http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep061

The University of Florida IFAS extension has this listed under Common Native Wildflowers of North Florida however they say, "The species in this publication are plants that are native to the U.S. and occur in Florida; most of them are considered native to Florida."

So where do we draw the line & more importantly; HOW do we let the members know where the line is? If the moderators have to tell each individual the rules then things could get pretty bogged down. I think whatever we decide, we need to make it crystal clear in a word or two w/o moderators having to get bogged down.

Ann: I will be watching for the answer to this too. I look at that lovely photo and think "Habitat View" ... what a pretty scene! One of my books: "Florida Wildflowers in their Natural Communities" lists Phlox drummondii Hooker and states that the plant is native to Texas but escaped from cultivation and is often found in masses along roadsides, in fields and lawns here in Floirda, in areas of the Panhandle, North Florida and Central Florida. Seeds do get disbursed by the wind, birds and animals to "other" habitats ... so, what's the verdict "Native Habitat", "Natural" Habitat" or "Habitat View" which could be woodland views as well as roadsides and fields?

flaflwrgrl said:A habitat is where something or someone lives NOW or in the past. It's where that plant is growing NOW.
IMHO

That's such a broad definition that it makes the term "habitat" almost meaningless. I had 500 iris seedlings growing in the utility room of my basement under grow lights from January through March of this year. By the definition above, a basement utility room would qualify as iris habitat, but a picture of such wouldn't be particularly useful in the Habitat Gallery.

But does everyone think the way you do? I'm just saying.....
Is it crystal clear? Habitat view?
Let me ask you this. Is the house where I'm living my habitat? Yes. Is it my native habitat? No.
The question is ---- Do we want Native Habitat View or Natural Habitat View or what word do we want to specify it?
AND if we say native then do we mean native to the U.S. & or/ Canada or the world? OR do we mean native to your area of your state or wherever the photo was taken?

Kent, you can't just assume that everyone thinks the way you do just as you do not think the way I do. We must define it.

There are two definitions of habitat that you are now referring to, for the database, we are referring to the first one:

1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Biology) the environment in which an animal or plant normally lives or grows
2. (Sociology) the place in which a person, group, class, etc., is normally found

You're missing the big point Sue. Do we call it simply habitat? Zuzu has already said she's getting lots of flower bed photos. Or do we define it as to Native or Natural or something else?
If you guys don't understand that then I don't know how else to give you examples. If you want to nit pick the habitat I'm referring to then don't want to nit pick on the type of habitat referred to in the photos then what are you doing?