located_in_the_administrative_territorial_entity ace basin national wildlife refuge
Ashepoo ___MASK40___ is a short blackwater ___MASK40___ in ___MASK57___ . It rises in a confluence of swamps south of Walterboro , flows in southeast direction and then empties into Saint Helena Sound at . The entire course of the ___MASK40___ lies within the boundaries of Colleton County . The Ashepoo basin forms part of the ACE Basin , a coastal conservation area that encompasses its bottomlands confluence with the Combahee and Edisto ___MASK40___ basins ( thus , the origin of the refuge ' s name , formed from the first letters of the names of the 3 rivers : A - C - E ). Many people enjoy fishing and boating on this ___MASK40___ and others in ___MASK57___ . The Ernest F . Hollings ACE ___MASK77___ National Wildlife Refuge is a 11 , 815 - acre ( 47 . 81 km2 ) portion ___MASK5___ the larger ACE ___MASK77___ area , and the only portions that are federally protected . The wildlife refuge is divided into two units : the Edisto River unit and the Combahee River unit . The following threatened or endangered species are present in the refuge : wood stork , American alligator and bald eagle . In biology , a species ( abbreviated sp ., with the plural form species abbreviated spp .) is the basic unit ___MASK5___ biological classification and a taxonomic rank . A species is often defined as the largest group ___MASK5___ organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring , typically by sexual reproduction . While this definition is often adequate , looked at more closely it is often problematic . For example , in a species complex , the boundaries between closely related species become unclear or disappear altogether . Other ways ___MASK5___ defining species include similarity ___MASK5___ DNA , morphology , or ecological niche . The presence ___MASK5___ locally adaptive traits may further subdivide species into infraspecific taxa such as subspecies . ___MASK32___ is a county located in the Lowcountry region ___MASK5___ the U . S . state ___MASK5___ ___MASK57___ . As ___MASK5___ the 2010 census , its population was 38 , 892 . Its county seat is Walterboro . The county is named after Sir John Colleton , 1st Baronet , one ___MASK5___ the eight Lords Proprietor ___MASK5___ the Province ___MASK5___ Carolina . After two previous incarnations , the current ___MASK32___ was created in 1800 . A blackwater ___MASK40___ is a type ___MASK5___ ___MASK40___ with a deep , slow - moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands . As vegetation decays , tannins leach into the water , making a transparent , acidic water that is darkly stained , resembling tea or black coffee . Most major blackwater rivers are in the Amazon Basin and the Southern United States . The term is used in fluvial studies , geology , geography , ecology , and biology . Not all dark rivers are blackwater in that technical sense . Some rivers in temperate regions , which drain or flow through areas ___MASK5___ dark black loam , are simply black due to the color ___MASK5___ the soil ; these rivers are " black mud rivers ". There are also black mud estuaries . In an ecosystem , predation is a biological interaction where a predator ( an organism that is hunting ) feeds on its prey ( the organism that is attacked ). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them , but the act ___MASK5___ predation often results in the death ___MASK5___ the prey and the eventual absorption ___MASK5___ the prey ' s tissue through consumption . Thus predation is often , though not always , carnivory . Other categories ___MASK5___ consumption are herbivory ( eating parts ___MASK5___ plants ), fungivory ( eating parts ___MASK5___ fungi ), and detritivory ( the consumption ___MASK5___ dead organic material ). All these consumption categories fall under the rubric ___MASK5___ consumer - resource systems . It can often be difficult to separate various types ___MASK5___ feeding behaviors . For example , some parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on it while it continues to live in or on its decaying corpse after it has died . The key characteristic ___MASK5___ predation however is the predator ' s direct impact on the prey population . On the other hand , detritivores simply eat dead organic material arising from the decay ___MASK5___ dead individuals and have no direct impact on the " donor " organism ( s ). The Edisto ___MASK40___ is one ___MASK5___ the longest free - flowing blackwater rivers in North America , flowing over 250 meandering miles from its sources in Saluda and Edgefield counties , to its ___MASK26___ mouth at Edisto Beach , ___MASK57___ . It rises in two main tributaries ( North Fork & South Fork ) from springs under the Sandhills region ___MASK5___ West Central ___MASK57___ , just to the south ___MASK5___ the Piedmont fall line . It is the longest and largest river system completely contained by the borders ___MASK5___ ___MASK57___ . Its name comes from the Edisto subtribe ___MASK5___ the Cusabo Indians . ___MASK57___ is a state in the southeastern region of the United States . The state is bordered to the north by North Carolina , to the south and west by Georgia across the Savannah River , and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean . ___MASK49___ Sound is a coastal inlet in the Lowcountry region ___MASK57___ , located along the Atlantic Ocean between Beaufort and Colleton counties . Located within the relatively undeveloped ACE Basin , the sound consists of the mouths of the Ashepoo , Combahee , and the south branch of the Edisto rivers , of which the ACE moniker derives from . The inlet is located east of Beaufort , between Edisto Island and Hunting Island . At its widest point , ___MASK49___ Sound is across . The Intracoastal Waterway crosses the sound . Much of lands surrounding St . Helena Sound has been preserved through the St . Helena Sound Heritage Preserve and the larger ACE Basin project . Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because ___MASK5___ their recognized natural , ecological and / or cultural values . There are several kinds ___MASK5___ protected areas , which vary by level ___MASK5___ protection depending on the enabling laws ___MASK5___ each country or the regulations ___MASK5___ the international organisations involved . The term " protected area " also includes Marine Protected Areas , the boundaries ___MASK5___ which will include some area ___MASK5___ ocean , and Transboundary Protected Areas that overlap multiple countries which remove the borders inside the area for conservation and economic purposes . There are over 161 , 000 protected areas in the world ( as ___MASK5___ October 2010 ) with more added daily , representing between 10 and 15 percent ___MASK5___ the world ' s land surface area . By contrast , only 1 . 17 % ___MASK5___ the world ' s oceans is included in the world ' s ~ 6 , 800 Marine Protected Areas . ___MASK31___ America is a continent entirely within the ___MASK75___ Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere . It can also be considered a ___MASK75___ subcontinent of the Americas . It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean , to the east by the ___MASK26___ , to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean , and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea . A wildlife refuge , also called a wildlife sanctuary , is a naturally occurring sanctuary , such as an island , that provides protection for species from hunting , predation or competition ; it is a protected area , a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected . An island or isle is any piece ___MASK5___ sub - continental land that is surrounded by water . Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets , skerries , cays or keys . An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait , and a small island off the coast may be called a holm . A grouping ___MASK5___ geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago , e . g . the ___MASK6___ . Hunting is the practice ___MASK5___ killing or trapping animals , or pursuing or tracking them with the intent ___MASK5___ doing so . Hunting wildlife or feral animals is most commonly done by humans for food , recreation , to remove predators that are dangerous to humans or domestic animals , or for trade . Lawful hunting is distinguished from poaching , which is the illegal killing , trapping or capture ___MASK5___ the hunted species . The species that are hunted are referred to as game or prey and are usually mammals and birds . A fall line ( or fall zone ) is the geomorphologic break that demarcates the border between an ___MASK23___ region ___MASK5___ relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain ___MASK5___ softer sedimentary rock . A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river , for there will often be rapids or waterfalls . Many times a fall line will recede upstream as the river cuts out the uphill dense material , often forming  c - shaped waterfalls . Because ___MASK5___ these features riverboats typically cannot travel any farther inland without portaging , unless locks are built there . On the other hand , the rapid change in elevation ___MASK5___ the water , and the resulting energy release , makes the fall line a good location for water mills , grist mills , and sawmills . Because ___MASK5___ the need for a river port leading to the ocean , and a ready supply ___MASK5___ water power , settlements often develop where rivers cross a fall line . A drainage ___MASK77___ or catchment ___MASK77___ is an extent or an area ___MASK5___ land where all surface water from rain , melting snow , or ice converges to a single point at a lower elevation , usually the exit ___MASK5___ the ___MASK77___ , where the waters join another body ___MASK5___ water , such as a river , lake , reservoir , estuary , wetland , sea , or ocean . Thus if a tributary stream joins a brook that in turn joins a small river which is a tributary ___MASK5___ a larger river , there is a series ___MASK5___ successively larger ( and lower elevation ) drainage basins . For instance , the Missouri and Ohio rivers are within their own drainage basins and also within the drainage ___MASK77___ ___MASK5___ the Mississippi River . The ___MASK26___ is the second largest of the world ' s oceans with a total area of about . It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earth ' s surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area . It separates the " Old World " from the " New World ". The Combahee ___MASK40___ is a short blackwater ___MASK40___ in the southern Lowcountry region ___MASK5___ ___MASK57___ formed at the confluence ___MASK5___ the Salkehatchie and Little Salkehatchie rivers near the Islandton community ___MASK5___ Colleton County , ___MASK57___ . Part ___MASK5___ its lower drainage basin combines with the Ashepoo ___MASK40___ and the Edisto ___MASK40___ to form the ACE Basin The Combahee empties into Saint Helena Sound near Beaufort , which in turn empties into the Atlantic Ocean . The Cusabo or Corsaboy were a group ___MASK5___ historic Native American tribes who lived along the coast ___MASK5___ the ___MASK26___ in what is now ___MASK57___ , approximately between present - day Charleston and south to the Savannah River , at the time ___MASK5___ European encounter . English colonists often referred to them as one ___MASK5___ the Settlement Indians ___MASK5___ ___MASK57___ , tribes who settled among the colonists .