白头海雕 vs Common Water Clover

Haliaeetus leucocephalus compared with Marsilea quadrifolia

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	白头海雕	Common Water Clover
Kingdom	Animalia (动物界)	Plantae (植物)
Phylum	Chordata (脊索动物门)	Tracheophyta
Class	Aves (鳥綱)	Polypodiopsida (水龍骨綱)
Order	Accipitriformes (鷹形目)	Salviniales (槐叶蘋目)
Family	Accipitridae (Hawks & Eagles)	Marsileaceae
Genus	Haliaeetus (Sea Eagles)	Marsilea
Species	Haliaeetus leucocephalus	Marsilea quadrifolia

Conservation Status

白头海雕

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~316.7K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Common Water Clover

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	白头海雕	Common Water Clover
Diet	Carnivore	—
Average Lifespan	28 years	—
Average Length	90 cm	—
Average Weight	5.0 kg	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

白头海雕

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 10 distinct biome types spanning the Neotropic and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (8 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Ecuador).

Common Water Clover

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (India, Vietnam), Europe (5 countries), and North America (Canada, United States).

白头海雕

白头海雕是美国国鸟，也是美国生态保护史上的成功案例，曾因滴滴涕（DDT）的广泛使用而濒临灭绝，经保护措施的实施后种群数量已显著恢复。该物种在IUCN红色名录中被评估为无危（LC），以白色头颈和尾羽与深棕色体羽形成的鲜明对比为主要识别特征。它们主要以鱼类为食，也会捕食哺乳动物和腐肉。

Common Water Clover

<em>Marsilea quadrifolia</em>, commonly known as the common water clover or European waterclover, is an aquatic fern in the family Marsileaceae. Its conservation status is listed as Not Evaluated by the IUCN. The species has a broad native distribution spanning Asia and Europe, and has been introduced to North America, where it now occurs in scattered freshwater habitats. It typically grows in shallow ponds, rice paddies, slow-moving streams, and muddy lake margins, rooting in soft sediments while its four-leaflet fronds float on or emerge above the water surface. The distinctive four-lobed leaves strongly resemble a four-leaf clover, lending the plant its common name. <em>Marsilea quadrifolia</em> is a heterosporous fern, producing specialized reproductive structures called sporocarps that contain both megaspores and microspores, allowing reproduction under conditions unfavorable for vegetative growth. The plant is remarkably drought-tolerant, as sporocarps can remain viable for decades. It typically spreads through both vegetative rhizome growth and spore dispersal. Biological traits including average lifespan, height, and mass remain poorly documented in standardized databases. The species plays a role in shallow aquatic ecosystems as a colonizing plant, stabilizing soft substrates and providing microhabitat for invertebrates and small vertebrates in the temperate freshwater zones it inhabits.