User talk:Talkinser/sandbox

feedback
Hi nice work so far. A few things you can improve, though:
 * Section titles are in sentence case, so only capitalize the first word and proper nouns
 * Make sure everything you add is cited. It's a red flag when a sentence or paragraph ends without a citation, as everything you add to Wikipedia must be cited.

Let me know if you have any questions moving forward! Elysia (Wiki Ed) (talk) 20:28, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

Reference formatting suggestion
I took a look at your draft and adjusted the mainspace intro to hopefully better accommodate what you're doing. Also, thought I would provide you with a template reference using the template (you can paste this in between   tags).

The template will produce this in the references:

-Furicorn (talk) 12:38, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Peer review comments
Hi Tal, here some comments to help you with the article while you work on it Introduction: I would suggest including more details on the species that are characteristic of this province, or some of them Definition section: You can use a link to the Coastal plain in the first sentence of your definition As you have it right now, It is confusing with me if the North American Costal Plain is a geological formation or a floristic unit that occupies the space of that geological unit. Ecosystems and Plant Communities: Remember to include citations You could add links to some of the species you mention like Longleaf pine, Wiregrass. It can be also helpful to external links as an additional section like: https://www.nps.gov/articles/coastalplain.htm Hope this can help McvallejoMcvallejo (talk) 03:16, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

Comments from Emily
'''[Can you include a map?? And what about some pictures? Other specific comments below.]'''

Although no floristic treatment has been attempted on the province, it was designated the 36th biodiversity hotspot [link to wiki page] in 2016 due to having more than 1,500 endemic plant species combined with 70% habitat loss.

In Definition section: The North American Coastal Plain can be defined as the Geological Coastal Plain that is formed of soft rock layers that have been deposited over the past 100 million years at low relief.[4] This region stretches along the Atlantic Coast, east of the Piedmont from Massachusetts to Florida and along the Gulf Coast to east Texas and as further [should be far] south into northeastern Mexico.[5][6] Taxa within southern Texas and northeastern Mexico are included within the Sonoran Floristic Province, and taxa within south Florida are part of the West Indian Floristic Province. Therefore, these regions are excluded from the geographic definition of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Province.[6]

Physical Environment
[This section (physical environment) is currently empty??]

=== Longleaf Pine Communities '''[Why is longleaf pine communities the only community type you cover? There are many other types of communities to be found throughout the coastal plain, and this makes it seem like these longleaf-dominated ones are the only ones. You need to extend this section, or provide an introductory paragraph for it that mentions what some of the other communities are.]'''===

'''[Each of these communities already has its own wikipedia page, and they are much more extensive than what you have here. You need to link to them (ideally, start each of these sections with the name of what it is, as a link, e.g.: Pine barrens {link} consist of coarse.... And you've spelled barrens wrong, it has two Ns.'''

Pine Barens
These areas consist of coarse, well-drained sands, and the plant community is thus dry and scrubby. 'Longleaf pine is sparse with scrub oaks, commonly turkey oak (Quercus laevis)'', in the understory. [This is not a grammatically correct sentence.]''' Grasses and other herbaceous plants are also sparse and are xerophytic. [Yeah in each of these sections you need to make it clear that you're just providing an overview, since much more information exists on the corresponding pages]

Flatwoods
These communities exist on low, flat terrain. Soils are more poorly drained. Longleaf is more dense than in pine barens and other pines may be mixed in in some areas. Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is a common component of the understory. A variety of grasses are common, including wiregrass (Aristida) [here, and throughout, you MUST link these names to their wiki pages!]. There is a diversity of other herbaceous plants and shrubs, such as wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), as well.

Pine Savannas
Soils in these communities are more moist though vary in texture and chemistry. Longleaf is spread out and can be mixed with a variety of other pine species. There is a diversity of grasses, orchids, insectivorous plants such as pitcher plants (Sarracenia) and bladderworts (Utricularia), composites, and other herbaceous plants.

In history section: The earliest fossils of terrestrial plants in the Coastal Plain date to the Cretaceous and include a diversity of flora including pine, birch, fir, and oak. Climate in this region was mostly warm and humid during the Paleogene (66 - 23 million years ago). While much of the Coastal Plain was inundated '''[When? for that entire period? Be specific]''', tropical forests occurred along the Gulf Coast in the Paleocene (66 - 59 mya). Many exposed parts of the Coastal Plain were seasonally dry during the Eocene, and fire adapted taxa, such as Sabal, Quercus, and Ephedra were present [again, you need to link these to other pages]. Global cooling occurred during the Oligocene, many tropical species were replaced with temperate species, and more of the Coastal Plain was exposed as sea level dropped. During the Miocene, subtropical flora existed in Florida and other southern coastal areas. Savannas were also common in Florida, and pine woodlands and hardwood forests were widespread in other parts of the Coastal Plains. The climate became more seasonal with cool and dry periods, and C4 grasses along with other fire-adapted were widespread by the late Miocene.'''[There are no citations in this section, which is a BIG problem. Please fix!!]'''

'''[Below, both of these sections have only a few sentences each, so why break it into two sections? There's not enough content in either to warrant having them separate. There's also a lot more you could potentially say about human impacts beyond what you have here.]''' Human settlement in the Coastal Plain dates back to ____ '''[?? and you need citations]''', though the earliest evidence for human-induced landscape fires date to ____. There is still considerable debate regarding the relative role of human-induced compared to lightning-induced fire regimes in shaping modern ecosystems of the Coastal Plains.

Frequent burning was still induced by Seminoles and European settlers. During the 1920s, fire suppression campaigns were started to avoid loss of commercial timber. Much of the longleaf pine ecosystems were clearcut during this time.