Florida Habitats
Ecosystems, Habitats & Communities
The area where a plant or animal normally lives is called its habitat.
Derived from the Latin word habitare "to posses, inhabit" an
organisms' habitat provides all the necessities ( food, water,
air, shelter ) to sustain it throughout its life.
All the living organisms of an area, from bacteria up through the
more highly developed plants and animals in the process of
interacting
with the non-living components of an area ( soil, water, minerals
and so on ) create
ecosystems.
Ecosystems are usually made up of more than one habitat type, and is a
delicate balance of plants and animals interacting with each
other and their environment which developed over thousands or even millions of
years.
When any one element of a habitat is altered
or removed the other living things in the habitat and thus the
eco-system system as a whole is affected.
Factors which play a major roles in determining the type of habitat
found in any particular area of South Florida include water, fire,
soil type & proximity to the coast.
As many as 20 separate eco-systems have been identified by scientists
in Florida. These include the 82 types of natural plant and animal communities
as delineated by the
Florida Natural Areas Inventory
( http://www.fnai.org/ ) found in Florida.
A natural community includes all the plant and animal species of a
defined area, for instance a freshwater marsh.
Freshwater Marsh
Freshwater Marshes are inland marshes that depend on ground water,
surface water runoff and direct rainfall accumulation as water
supplies. They may be only seasonally flooded or have a year-round water
supply. These deeper marshes can occur within wet prairies, woodland
depressions and sloughs, the floodplains and margins of freshwater
rivers, creeks, ponds and lakes. Plants include emergent species
such as cattails, sawgrass, pickerelweed, grasses and sedges.
Click pictures for full sized images
Pictures - (L) Seasonally flooded shallow marsh within a wet
prairie,
(R) Marsh in foreground with water lilies, bordered by
pickerel weed then sawgrass marsh and wet pine flatwoods in
background.
Wet Prairie
Seasonally flooded low lying area, a type of shallow marsh found in depressions,
sloughs and the floodplains & margins of lakes, streams and rivers. These are the habitat of a
wide variety of plants and animal life. Classified by the length of time they
stay flooded (hydro-period), & soil type.
Common
plants - St. John's wort, sawgrass, wiregrass, cattails, pickerel weed, lotus
and water lily.
Wet Prairie (Savannah)
Left - Dry season Center - Wet season
Right - Wet Prairie in a woodland depression.
Cypress Swamp &
Dome
Found on the floodplains of freshwater rivers, lakes and seasonally flooded woodland depressions/sloughs. Bald cypress
or Pond cypress with a mix of Water
Tupelo, Black Gum or Maples. Common understory plants are Buttonbush, Wax
myrtle, Corkwood, ferns and other moisture loving species.
  
Pictures - (L) Cypress Dome, (C) Interior of a Cypress dome during the dry
season, (R) Cypress Swamp on the floodplain of a freshwater river.
Mangrove Swamp
Brackish water swamps along the shorelines of rivers and
protected tidal
bays, south of a line from Cedar Key on the Gulf coast and St. Augustine on the
Atlantic coast.
Mangrove swamps in Florida consist of various combinations of Red,
Black, and White mangroves.
There are at least 120 animal species that depend on Mangrove swamps in some
way, either as a nursery for their young or as feeding grounds.
Birds like the Peregrine Falcon, Bald
Eagle and several varieties of Herons use mangroves for
hunting, nesting or roosting. Blue claw and Fiddler crab, shrimps, corals, seahorses and a host of other invertebrates
also call the mangroves home and provide food for native fishes.
 
Pictures - (L) Red Mangroves line the Loxahatchee river in South Florida,
(R) Mangroves at low tide, showing stilt roots.
Hardwood Swamps
Hardwood trees or a mixture of hardwoods and cypress. Occurs on floodplains &
upland areas that are lower than surrounding flatwoods. Water
hickory, bald cypress, holly, maples, oaks, cabbage
palms and bay trees with a generally dense understory of ferns and herbaceous plants.
Pictures - (L) Interior of a hydric hardwood swamp with lush understory growth
(R) During the dry season a small blackwater stream trickles through a mix of
cabbage palms, oaks and maples.
Baygall
Perpetually wet areas that receive slow seepage or drainage from
higher elevations, soil is that of a heavy acidic muck and peat with a thick layer of leaf litter. Dominated by Bay
trees, hence the name. Loblolly Bay, Swamp Bay, Red bay, Sweet Bay. Understory plants
include Dahoon holly, Wax myrtle, Fetterbush,
Royal fern, and Cinnamon fern.
Picture - Baygall, Bay swamp
Hammocks
Hammocks are located from the coastal strand inland to wetlands,
prairies and flatwoods and vary from Mesic (moist) to Xeric (dry)
habitats. Associated species include live oak, laurel oak, cabbage palm.
Broadleaf evergreen and
semi-deciduous species include Red maple,
Mahogany, Gumbo limbo, Cocoplum, Florida elm, Holly, Marlberry,
Mulberry and Southern Magnolia.
Hardwood hammocks also provide habitat for a large variety of epiphytic plants
or
"air plants", including native orchids and spanish moss. Attached to
the bark of a host tree and acquiring nutrients from rain
water, the air and pockets of moisture in the bark of the host. Common on oaks,
cabbage palms and cypress trees, these plants are not parasitic and usually do
not harm their host.
Pictures -
(L) Inland Oak hammock, (R) Coastal or Maritime Oak hammock
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Palm Hammock
In South Florida - Coastal strand, wet flatwoods, bottomland forests, low lying
areas within dry prairies, margins of marshes and other wetlands. As the name
implies the dominate species is the Sabal palm. Understory plants include vines,
grasses, ferns and various herbaceous species and are determined primarily by
the type of soil and its moisture content.
Pictures - Xeric palm hammock
Dry Prairie
Large areas of native grass and shrublands on flat terrain which are subject to
frequent fires. Includes palmetto prairies which contain scattered pines
covering less than 15 percent of the area. Grasses, sedges, herbs, and shrubs. Saw palmetto, fetterbush, tar
flower, gallberry, wiregrass, carpet grass.
Pictures - (L) A lone deer grazes on a Palmetto Prairie. (R) Grasses dominate
this Dry Prairie.
Pine Flatwoods
The understory of these pineland habitats depends primarily on
the type of soil conditions found at each site, which varies
from xeric to hydric, as well as the geographic location within the state.
Historically, longleaf pine dominated dry, well drained areas but most of these
extensive stands have been logged out or developed. Slash pine which was once
found mainly near woodland depressions and the borders of marshes and other
wetlands has now replaced most of the longleaf pine flatwoods, preferring soil with a more median amount of
moisture. Pond pine is found in poorly drained, hydric soils in
central and northern Florida.
A wide variety of grasses, sedges, herbs, and shrubs grow in the flatwoods. Saw
palmetto, fetterbush, tarflower, gallberry, blueberry, broomsedge, wax myrtle and St.
Johnswort are some common understory plants of pine flatwoods.
Pictures - Two examples of Pine Flatwoods
Florida Scrub Habitats - Sand Pine Scrub
Florida's unique scrub habitats are some of the rarest and most endangered
ecosystems and plant communities in the United States.
Formed when sea levels were much higher than they are now, these
areas are the former sand dunes and islands that were the only part
of Florida that existed above the ancient sea level. Plants and
animals were isolated on these islands, separated from the mainland
for millions of years during which they evolved to live in the harsh
conditions. As the seas once again receded these species remained
there and are today found nowhere else.
Scrub habitat occurs only on these deposits of deep white sands
which permit the rapid drainage of rainwater
The two largest areas of remaining scrub are - The Atlantic Costal Ridge,
which runs
parallel and in close proximity to the east coast of Florida from
northern St. Lucie county south to Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, ranging in height from 10 feet to
well over 50 feet above sea level, and The Lake Wales Ridge which extends from Lake and Orange counties
in the north, south through Highlands county and ranges in height
from 70 feet to over 300 feet above sea level.
Chapmans oak, Sand pine,
Myrtle oak, Scrub oak, Scrub holly, Florida rosemary, lichens.
Pictures - (L)
Sand Pine & Oak scrub, (C) Sand Pine Scrub (L) Sand Pine & Rosemary Scrub
Oak Scrub
Found on deep, white sands where fire or clear cutting
has removed the pine overstory. Myrtle oak, Chapman's oak, Dwarf live oak, Scrub
holly, Hog plum, Scrub hickory, Florida rosemary, Gopher apple and Saw
palmetto. Areas of open white sand are common in this type of
habitat.
Pictures - (L) This Oak scrub was once Sand Pine scrub, the overstory of Sand
Pine has been removed by catastrophic fire. (R) Lichen are common on the dry,
sandy soil of the Oak scrub.
Coastal Strand
Sandy, well drained soils along the coastline. From the open sands of the upper beach and the dune
lines - inland to where more highly developed plant communities are found.
Beach morning glory, Railroad vine, Sea
Oats, Saw Palmetto, Spanish Bayonet, Prickly Pear cactus, Sea grape,
Cocoplum, Grey Nicker
Picture - Coastal strand community of Sea grape, Sea oats and
Railroad vine, which help stabilize the dune against erosion from
wave and wind.
Shrub Swamp
Wetland areas that are dominated by a thick growth of woody shrubs, saplings and
a variety of herbaceous plants. Generally indicative of a wetland area that is
undergoing environmental
change due to some type of disturbance, such as increased or
decreased water flow, recent fire, or increased silt deposits
from surrounding areas that have been clear cut.
Common species include willows, wax myrtle, primrose willow, buttonbush, maples,
bay trees, holly and a variety of other shrubs and herbaceous plants.
Sandhill
Areas of rolling terrain on deep,
well-drained, white to yellow, sterile sands. A xeric plant
community that depends on fire to maintain it's ecology. Longleaf pine, turkey oak and bluejack oak, wiregrass,
partridge pea, beggars tick, milk pea, queen's delight, and other
herbaceous plants and grasses.
Bottomland Hardwoods
Floodplains of rivers, creeks, and lake basins. Black gum, water tupelo, bald cypress, blue beech, swamp ash.
Salt Marsh
Found in the sheltered tidal zones of rivers, creeks and bays. In the southern
part of Florida salt marshes are broken up or replaced by mangrove
swamp.
The degree of water salinity determines
the dominate plant. Smooth cordgrass in the normal tidal zone and black
needlerush in areas that receive less frequent inundation of
brackish water, such as during occasional extreme high tides and storms.
Tropical Hardwood Hammocks
South Florida in areas along coastal uplands, in
the Florida Keys and tree islands within the Everglades where frost
is a rare occurrence.
This habitat is home for over 100 varieties of trees
and shrubs and marks the northern most range of many tropical
plants, including many rare and
endangered species.
Soils types include shell, sand and limestone.
Today, due to development of coastal areas this habitat is found only as scattered remnants in nature preserves.
Strangler fig, Gumbo-Limbo, Live-Oak, Mastic, Bustic, Lancewood,
Ironwood, Poisonwood,
Pigeon plum, Jamaica dogwood, Bahama lysiloma, Mahogany, Thatch palms and
Manchineel.
Pine Rocklands
Found on the southern most tip of
Florida and home to the endangered Dade county pine, Pinus elliottii var. densa .
This habitat is based on a limestone substrate covered with a thin layer of
sand. Found only on the Miami
Ridge, Florida Keys, Big Cypress Swamp, the Bahamas
and Cuba.
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