Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F154XA005FL
Poorly Drained Upland Pine-Hardwood Forests
Last updated: 2/21/2024
Accessed: 11/21/2024
General information
Provisional. A provisional ecological site description has undergone quality control and quality assurance review. It contains a working state and transition model and enough information to identify the ecological site.
MLRA notes
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 154X–South-Central Florida Ridge
MLRA 154 is entirely in Peninsular Florida, and contains 8,285 square miles. The landscape of MLRA 154 is characterized by a series of parallel, prominent sandy ridges of Pleistocene marine origin, including the Brooksville and Mount Dora Ridges. These North to South oriented parallel ridges are interspersed with more low lying physiographic provinces, including: upland hills, plains, valleys and gaps (Puri and Vernon, 1964). The extreme western portion of the MLRA consists of thin belt of coastal lowlands and marshlands.
Many of the soils of MLRA 154 are Pleistocene or Holocene sands that are underlain with older, loamy Pliocene marine sediments (Cypresshead formation) or the clayey Miocene marine sediments (Hawthorne formation). A combination of marine depositional events and the dissolution of underlying limestone (karst geology) is responsible for surficial topography throughout Peninsular Florida.
Classification relationships
All portions of the geographical range of this site falls under the following ecological / land classifications including:
-Environmental Protection Agency’s Level 3 and 4 Ecoregions of Florida: 75 Southern Coastal Plain; 75c Central Florida Ridges and Uplands (Griffith, G. E., Omernik, J. M., & Pierson, S. M., 2013)
-Florida Natural Area Inventory, 2010 Edition: Upland Pine, Upland Mixed Woodland, and Upland Hardwood Forest (FNAI, 2010)
Ecological site concept
Map unit components associated with this concept occur on 2 to 12% slopes. Soils include very deep, poorly drained, loamy and clayey subsoils with low base saturation map units (Blicthon, Kanapaha, Wacahoota, Wacahoota Variant). Also included are very deep, poorly drained, loamy and clayey subsoils with high base saturation map units (Bivan, Boardman, Fellowship, Fellowship Variant, Flemington). This site is extensively mapped in the Northern Highlands, Fairfield Hills, Ocala Hills, Sumter Uplands, and Brooksville Ridge physiographic provinces of Central Florida.
Reference site vegetation include various upland hardwood plant communities. These are closed canopy forests of mainly hardwood species (pine may be present but not dominant). Included are some hardwood species typical of wet habitat. Understory vegetation is sparse.
Associated sites
F154XA004FL |
Moist Sandy Pine-Hardwood Woodlands These sites are somewhat poorly drained communities that occur in higher, slightly drier landscape positions |
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F154XA007FL |
Moist Sandy Wet-Mesic Flatwoods These are poorly drained communities that occur in slightly lower, wetter landscape positions |
F154XA008FL |
Moist Sandy Scrubby Flatwoods These sites are somewhat poorly drained communities that occur in higher, drier landscape positions |
F154XA010FL |
Moist Lithic Flatwoods And Hammocks These are poorly drained communities that occur in slightly lower, wetter landscape positions |
F154XA011FL |
Wet Lithic Flatwoods And Hammocks These are poorly drained communities that occur in slightly lower, wetter landscape positions |
F154XA012FL |
Wet Rich Forests And Woodlands These are poorly drained communities that occur in slightly lower, wetter landscape positions |
Similar sites
F154XA007FL |
Moist Sandy Wet-Mesic Flatwoods These sites occur on slightly lower landscapes (lowland flats) with similar soil drainage and sandy family particle size class. These sites will have slightly longer hydroperiods on more level landforms which will result in different plant community composition and structure. |
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F154XA011FL |
Wet Lithic Flatwoods And Hammocks These sites occur on slightly lower landscapes (lowland flats) with similar soil drainage and loamy family particle size class. These sites will have slightly longer hydroperiods on more level landforms which will result in different plant community composition and structure. |
F154XA012FL |
Wet Rich Forests And Woodlands These sites occur on slightly lower landscapes (lowland flats) with similar soil drainage and clayey family particle size class. These sites will have slightly longer hydroperiods on more level landforms which will result in different plant community composition and structure. |
Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
(1) Quercus virginiana |
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Shrub |
(1) Carya glabra |
Herbaceous |
(1) Chasmanthium laxum var. sessiliflorum |
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