Air-land operations combine the actions of ground forces and air forces.
Air-land is an adjective that is used in the military field to describe operations that are carried out with the combined use of ground forces and air forces . Units composed of these two forces are also called air-land forces.
The United States Marine Corps , which belongs to the Armed Forces of that country, is usually organized into Air-Ground Task Forces . This type of organization is made up of ground units and air units led by the same commander, who is assigned a particular mission.
This Air-Ground Task Force is made up of a Command Element (in charge of directing it), an Air Combat Element (composed of the planes, helicopters and the personnel that drive and maintain them), a Ground Element Combat Element (which includes artillery, tanks and infantry units) and a Combat Logistics Element (medical, transportation, communications units, etc.).
Aeroterrestrial in biology and botany
The notion of air-terrestrial also appears in the context of biology and botany . Air-terrestrial plants , in this framework, are those that can be attached to the stem of other plants or to another support. In this way, while they have their roots sunk into the earth, they also grow at an aerial level.
The air-terrestrial environment is called, in turn, that which houses animals capable of developing both on the earth's surface and in the air. The environments that constitute the habitat of animals such as falcons or eagles can be called air-terrestrial environments.
Air-terrestrial plants are attached to the stem of other plants or to another support.
Classification of environments
It must be established that air-terrestrial environments can be divided or classified into three different groups if the different physical conditions that occur in them are taken as criteria:
- The jungle areas , where there are trees that can exceed 50 meters in height, extensive foliage, humid soil and a great diversity of animals.
- The polar areas , which have particularities such as being the scene of frequent snow storms and where the most common temperatures are below zero. As for the animals that live there, it can be noted that some mammals have the particularity of having certain systems in their body that prevent their blood from freezing: that is, their blood flow is correct.
- Arid areas are identified because they have high temperatures during the day and cool temperatures at night, rainfall is very low, and there is little water in the soil. All this without forgetting that there are animal species that protect themselves from the sun in burrows under the ground and that others, such as reptiles, have covers that allow them to conserve as much water as possible.
As a general rule, air-terrestrial animals are vertebrates, they can feed on both meat and plant species and they can fly, jump or glide as well as move along branches. However, there are also those that have the ability to crawl and then, thanks to that, climb the trees.