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Spirepipe Forest Draft

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Spirepipe Forest
Creator: Coolsteph, The BigDeepCheatsy, Kopout

At time of evolution, Bonespire, Branching Bonespire, and Piperoot Colonystalks are keystone species to this environment. Piperoot Colonystalks pipe in water and desalinate it.

The Spirepipe Forest landmark connects many of the oases of the upper latitudes of Fermi Desert. The forest stretches from roughly [LATITUDE to LATITUDE], although it is not an even band, becoming more broken in the interior, with sparser trees. In much of its range, it’s more of a shrubland, but issstill distinguishable from Fermi Desert as a whole by a higher density of Bonespires and Pipe Colonyroots. The Bonespires’ roots can stretch farther than they look, so they still exert an influence in low-density areas. (CHECK) The environment remains desertlike because of the low precipitation and sandy soil, even if the moisture is retained better than the usual desert.

Abiotic Factors

Spirepipe Forest is dry and somewhat cold, with temperate, desert-like conditions. Due to the lack of moisture, trees generally don't get very tall. The places with the most moisture tend to support the biggest flora.
Over many millions of years, organic matter (such as decayed roots) built up in the soil enough to change its water-retention properties. The soil is black and sandy, though richer in organic matter than the surrounding desert.

Biotic Factors

The spire trees stabilize the soil with their roots and add a little shade; they can function as nurse logs or nurse trees. Their spores alter rainfall patterns on a seasonal basis.

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Species List Draft (Courtesy of Kopout)

Flora:
Keystone
-Piperoot Colonystalk
-Bonespire
-Branching Bonespire

Secondary
-Saturntower
-Meltbowl
-Bangsticks
-Gourjorn
-Greyblades
-Sunleaf (new)
-Fruiting Glog (new)
-Beach Carnofern (new)
-Beach Piloroot (new) (rare)

Maybe
-Greysnip
-Dalmatian Spinetower

Sunstalks, Pioneerroots, Cryobowls, Sapshrooms and Supershrooms are also present though shrooms are likely seasonal and Cryobowls are localized around oases

References suggested by Kopout:

QUOTE

The real life temperate semidesrt island of Lampedusa Italy receives 319 mm, Alexandra New Zealand receives 359 mm and is noted to be right on the edge of being a maritime climate. Tempature wise Fermi is probably more like Alexandra but percipitation wise closer to Lampedusa ( Semi arid islands are fairly rare, especially cool semi arid as they tend to happen in continental interiors)

Some picture references:
Alexandra, New Zealand; right on the edge of being a maritime climate

https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/...-1411031645.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/cd/a9/66/cda9661b...and-central.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/cd/a9/66/cda9661b...and-central.jpg

https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/...-1613745439.jpg

Lampedusa
https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/lampedusa...oi28mp4o6689y30
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Habitat..._fig3_325082994

I can probably see the Aardoorn being a common sight in these forests due to the abundance of small fauna that would be living there.

Here's some more for it from me

Click to expand

Spirepipe Forest
Creator: Coolsteph, The BigDeepCheatsy, Kopout

At time of evolution, Bonespire, Branching Bonespire, and Piperoot Colonystalks are keystone species to this environment. Piperoot Colonystalks pipe in water and desalinate it.

The Spirepipe Forest landmark connects many of the oases of the upper latitudes of Fermi Desert. The forest stretches from roughly [LATITUDE to LATITUDE], although it is not an even band, becoming more broken in the interior, with sparser trees. In much of its range, it’s more of a shrubland, but is still distinguishable from Fermi Desert as a whole by a higher density of Bonespires and Pipe Colonyroots. The Bonespires’ roots can stretch farther than they look, so they still exert an influence in low-density areas. (CHECK) The environment remains desertlike because of the low precipitation and sandy soil, even if the moisture is retained better than the usual desert. It does receive more rain than most of Fermi however due to the water released into the atmosphere by the flora. Although precipitation is low ground water is relatively abundant compared to the rest of the desert. Much of this water is brought inland by the piperoots.

The Spirepipe Forest is the most bioticly productive portion of Fermi desert. It is home to a much higher density of flora than the rest of the desert and as a result supports many more fauna. Saturntowers are at their most abundant in the spirepipe forest, clustered around the edges of ponds and many desert dwelling thornback species use the relatively abundant oases as breeding grounds. It is also home to the only populations of beach Piloroot and Fruiting Glog in the Fermi interior. Dalmatian Spinetowers are common but often smaller than those found in drier parts of the desert due to the more frequent rains causing them to reproduce and die as soon as they mature. Razorbark and Maulwart are notably scares however as they have adapted to the drier portions of the desert.

It rains several time a year in the Spirepipe Forest with the heaviest rains coincide with the spore producing season of the spire trees, which is also the spore producing season of most other flora. This is the result of a feedback loop in which the spores provide nuclei for cloud formation and the increased rains provided a survival advantage to spores released at this time.

Abiotic Factors

Spirepipe Forest is dry and somewhat cold, with temperate, desert-like conditions. Due to the lack of moisture, trees generally don't get very tall. The places with the most moisture tend to support the biggest flora.
Over many millions of years, organic matter (such as decayed roots) built up in the soil enough to change its water-retention properties. The soil is black and sandy, though richer in organic matter than the surrounding desert.

Biotic Factors

The spire trees stabilize the soil with their roots and add a little shade; they can function as nurse logs or nurse trees. Their spores alter rainfall patterns on a seasonal basis. The piperoot colonystalks bring desalinated ocean water which increases both the available groundwater and the humidity.

This post has been edited by kopout: Jan 23 2022, 11:52 PM

"Razorbark and Maulwart are notably scares however as they have adapted to the drier portions of the desert."
Razorbarks and Maulwarts are notably scarce, however, as they have adapted to the drier portions of the desert.

"Although precipitation is low ground water is relatively abundant compared to the rest of the desert. Much of this water is brought inland by the piperoots."
It needs a comma after "low", and "ground water" should be "groundwater".

"bioticly" is not a word; you probably meant "biologically".

"beach Piloroot": Capitalization error.

"Spirepipe Forest with" needs a comma after "Forest".

@Coolsteph, I am so sorry for being late with this.

There's no need to be sorry. I myself delayed working on this for months, due to various factors.
Shouldn't there be more trees and shrub-like flora in a forest? Admittedly, this is far from a rainforest. Adding two more trees and two more small flora should be sufficient to convey it's a forest. I also recommend adding some texturing to the black sand, like grain texturing or Hydromancerx-style soil blotching, adjusted or the horizon. I'm not sure if I could imitate your lineart style, but I could add shading and texturing.

QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Aug 19 2022, 09:50 AM)

There's no need to be sorry. I myself delayed working on this for months, due to various factors. Shouldn't there be more trees and shrub-like flora in a forest? Admittedly, this is far from a rainforest. Adding two more trees and two more small flora should be sufficient to convey it's a forest. I also recommend adding some texturing to the black sand, like grain texturing or Hydromancerx-style soil blotching, adjusted or the horizon. I'm not sure if I could imitate your lineart style, but I could add shading and texturing.

Will this do?

QUOTE (TheBigDeepCheatsy @ Aug 21 2022, 07:52 PM)

QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Aug 19 2022, 09:50 AM) There's no need to be sorry. I myself delayed working on this for months, due to various factors. Shouldn't there be more trees and shrub-like flora in a forest? Admittedly, this is far from a rainforest. Adding two more trees and two more small flora should be sufficient to convey it's a forest. I also recommend adding some texturing to the black sand, like grain texturing or Hydromancerx-style soil blotching, adjusted or the horizon. I'm not sure if I could imitate your lineart style, but I could add shading and texturing. Will this do?

Hm, the image isn't loading on my end

I can't see the image either. It just says, "user posted image".

Let's try it again.

A little more undergrowth/groundcover would be ideal, but it's a decent approximation of something like Alexandra, New Zealand.

QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Aug 22 2022, 08:09 AM)

A little more undergrowth/groundcover would be ideal, but it's a decent approximation of something like Alexandra, New Zealand.

Any updates for this @Coolsteph?

QUOTE (TheBigDeepCheatsy @ Sep 10 2022, 01:47 AM)

Any updates for this @Coolsteph?

No. My attention has been split among many things lately. Looking over Sagan 4 organisms to provide feedback seemed more important, as Sagan 4 tasks go. Some submissions haven't had a response since August 7, apparently.