State 1
Coastal Reference Communities

This state consists of reference coastal non-forested and forested communities. Changes in community phase will follow succession as distance from saline influence increases.

Resilience management. This state develops usually in one of two ways: either as a barrier island builds seaward, developing new beach dune ridges along the shore, protecting the inland ridges from sand burial and salt spray, or as a beach recovers from a storm event as a new foredune protects the overwashed area from sand burial and sea spray. Distance from the coast and the physical barrier of the first dune ridge above the beach (foredune) diminish the intensity of sand burial and salt spray, which affect the coastal grassland community to a lesser extent than they do the beach dune community. Once a new foredune ridge builds up above the beach and plant cover inhibits further sand movement behind this ridge, other herbaceous species can colonize and occur with the coastal pioneer species to form the coastal grassland community.

Community 1.1
Coastal Grasslands

This community describes a open grasslands along adjacent coastlines. This community correlated with the Florida Natural Area Inventory Community "Coastal Grassland" (FNAI, 2010).

Resilience management. Most of these species are good colonizers and will re-vegetate an area naturally after storm events. If restoration plantings are used, care should be taken not to plant coastal endemics outside their range. If these areas are absent of disturbances over long periods of time, herbaceous species of coastal grasslands will slowly be replaced by woody species to form coastal shrubland and eventually coastal forest communities.

Forest understory. Dominant vegetation consists of dune building grasses such as seaoats (Uniola paniculate), bitter panicgrass (Panicum amarum), and saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens), as well as a variety of other herbaceous species more typical of stabilized soils such as bluestem grasses (Andropogon sp., Schizachyrium sp.), camphorweed(Heterotheca subaxillaris), and earleaf greenbriar (Smilax auriculata).

Community 1.2
Coastal Shrublands

This community consists of sparse to densely packed shrub species growing where a coastal grassland was once prevalent. These are the result of absence of disturbance from the reference state, allowing for shrub cover to form and stabilize an area. This community correlates with the Florida Natural Area Inventory community "Coastal Strand" (FNAI, 2010)

Resilience management. Along the eastern coast, these communities will often have a smooth canopy due to pruning by salt spray. Along the western coast, where prevailing easterlies do not blow across the water and create intense salt spray, this community will not reflect a low, even, spray-pruned profile seen on the eastern coast. Fire frequency in these communities are unknown, but estimated may occur due to the flammability of some shrub species such as saw palmetto.

Forest understory. Vegetation will often consist of dense saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) and scattered dwarfed cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto) on the seaward edge, which are gradually joined inland by taller shrubs, including tough bully (Sideroxylon tenax), yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), Hercules’ club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis), and shrubby forms of red bay (Persea borbonia), redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), and live oak (Quercus virginiana). Sparse graminoids reflecting the reference community may still be present between shrub patches.

Community 1.3
Coastal Forests

This site consists primarily of evergreen hardwood forests growing on stabilized coastal grasslands and dunes at varying distance from the shore. This community correlated with the Florida Natural Area Inventory community "Maritime Hammocks" (FNAI, 2010).

Resilience management. These communities are primarily influenced by wind-borne salt spray, storm waves, and sand burial. Salt spray from both the ocean and bay sides of islands can enter and kill the upper buds, producing smooth, “pruned” canopies of evenly increasing height away from the coast. Along the eastern coast, these communities will often have a smooth canopy due to pruning by salt spray. Along the western coast, where prevailing easterlies do not blow across the water and create intense salt spray, this community will not reflect a low, even, spray-pruned profile seen on the eastern coast. If storm waves destroy the protective dunes seaward of the hammock, sand can blow inland, burying the trees. In addition to physical destruction by storm waves, hammock trees are susceptible to being killed by standing salt water deposited in low areas by storm surge. Fires are naturally rare in this community, but probably occurred infrequently on larger barrier islands. Fires may weaken the canopy trees making them more susceptible to damage by other coastal stresses, such as salt spray and storm winds.

Forest overstory. Characteristic species include live oak (Quercus virginiana),cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto), and red bay (Persea borbonia), combining to form a dense canopy. Additional canopy species include pignut hickory (Carya glabra) and southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora).

Forest understory. Characteristic subcanopy species are red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and American holly (Ilexopaca). Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), tough bully (Sideroxylon tenax), wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) are typical shrubs. The herb layer is sparse to absent.

Community 1.4
Standing Dead Forests

This community represents a coastal forest which has been killed via a storm event which has deposited sand and salt by storm surges and extreme winds. While these species of forests are tolerant of the influence of sea spray, prolonged salt exposure may kill the root system, leaving behind the standing dead tree, often giving the appearance of a standing dead forest. This may also be seen along the edge of fragmented areas (i.e. road cutting through the forest) as sea spray from onshore winds may kill the exposed edge, creating a standing dead forest of the canopy species until shearing and regrowth form a early successional shrubland. These areas are characterized by standing dead trees with little to no living vegetation. Arboreal epiphytes such as airplants (Tillandsia spp.) may be present on the limbs.

Pathway 1.1A
Community 1.1 to 1.2

This transition is driven by the absence of disturbance events. Without storm surges and destruction of coastal grasslands, these species will begin to allow woody species to become established forming a coastal shrubland. As distance from shoreline increases with beach migration, these areas have become less influenced by salt water and allow for the growth of more freshwater tolerant low shrubs.

Pathway 1.2A
Community 1.2 to 1.3

This transition is driven by the absence of disturbance events. Without storm surges and destruction of coastal grasslands and shrublands, these species will begin to allow more woody species to become established forming a coastal forest. As distance from shoreline continues to increases with beach migration, these areas have become less influenced by salt water and allow for the growth of more freshwater species that can penetrate the deep freshwater lense.

Pathway 1.3A
Community 1.3 to 1.2

Canopy gaps can be created through overstory mortality that would create light availability allowing shrubs to become dominant before overstory trees become reestablished. Overstory mortality may be naturally influenced by insects, disease, windthrow, or age, or may be anthropogenically influenced by selective logging.

Pathway 1.3B
Community 1.3 to 1.4

The climax forest phase is destroyed through an extreme storm event. Deposition of sediment and prolonged inundation of salt water will kill the root system of freshwater forest species, creating a standing dead forest. Distance from the coast and the physical barrier of the first dune diminish the intensity of sand burial and salt spray as well as intensity of the event.

Pathway 1.4A
Community 1.4 to 1.2

As salt is diluted from the system via precipitation, species with an existing viable seedbank may become reestablished in the understory of standing dead forests, allowing for the re-establishment of a sparse shrubland.

State 2
Unconsolidated Substrates

This state encompasses unconsolidated unvegetated substrate primarily consisting of sand and shell fragments. This community shift is typically driven by the destruction of a dune system during a storm event, when storm waves breach a dune and spread sand over the coastal grassland, killing the existing species through intensive burial and prolonged inundation of saltwater. Amount of substrate is dependent on the local intensity and destruction of the storm.

Resilience management. Once a new foredune ridge builds up above the beach and plant cover inhibits further sand movement behind this ridge, other herbaceous species can colonize and occur with the coastal pioneer species to reform the coastal grassland community.

Community 2.1
Unconsolidated Sandy Substrate

This community describes the unvegetated, loose, sand and shell substrate deposited via overwash during a storm event. This substrate will partially or completely bury the existing species. Once the storm surge has subsided and the soil looses excess moisture, the existing seedbed will begin to grow with pioneer dune building species such as seaoats, building a foredune adjacent to the shoreline. These are less stable habitats that may be disturbed annually by high spring tides or storm tides, but will recolonize rapidly.

Resilience management. Time to recovery of a coastal grassland following a disturbance will be dependent on the ability of pioneer dune building grasses to build above the beach and protect the overwash areas behind it, allowing for a more protected environment for the coastal grassland species to grow. With storm events depositing unconsolidated substrate, piles of seaweed are often washed ashore by the storm, fertilizing and assisting in plant growth and the re-colonization process.

State 3
Invaded State

This state represents the dominance of one or multiple non-native or exotic species which outcompetes the native natural community and may significantly alter the composition and structure of the invaded stand by overshading the canopy and understory components and preventing regeneration of native species.

Community 3.1
Australian Pine - Brazilian Peppertree

This phase describes the introduction and establishment of common invasive species to this ecological site. Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia) and Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolia) are the two most common species. In many areas, these species will be found along the edge habitat due to higher soil disturbance, a result of urbanization. These species are adapted to droughty conditions and have high salt tolerance. They may typically become prevalent following storm disturbances and will often outcompete native vegetation. These species often displace native vegetation by creating dense shade and litter in habitats which frequently have sun all day, as well as dropping leave which have allelopathic properties which suppress the growth of other plant life. These may also displace wildlife due to the shallow root system which may affect some animal's ability to nest in the sand and displace native habitats. Less dominant invasive species may also include Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), Century Plant (Agave neglecta), Lantana (Lantana camera), Cat's eye (Abrus precatorius), and Life Plant (Kalanchoe pinnata). Other undesirable species may be present in this community that have not been mentioned,

Resilience management. Restoring native habitat may be very difficult with these species. These species responds to herbicide application strategies such as frill/ girdle, basal bark, foliar, and soil herbicide application methods. Mechanical removal can be used with mulchers and stump grinders to eliminate and remove these species.

State 4
Human Altered and Human Transported Soils Materials

These areas include soils that were intentionally and substantially modified by humans for an intended purpose, commonly for terraced agriculture, building support, mining, transportation, and commerce. The alteration is of sufficient magnitude to result in the introduction of a new parent material (human-transported material) or a profound change in the previously existing parent material (human-altered material).They do not include soils modified through standard agricultural practices or farmed soils with unintended wind and water erosion. When a soil is on or above an anthropogenic landform or microfeature, it can be definitely be associated with human activity and is assigned to a unique taxa, usually found as an "Urban land complex" within that communities' natural soil properties (e.g, Canaveral fine sand-Urban land complex, 0 to 2 percent slopes).

Characteristics and indicators. Evidence of these areas include soils with manufactured items (e.g. artifacts) present in the profile, human altered-materials (e.g., deeply excavated or deeply plowed soil) or human-transported material (e.g., fill), and position on or above anthropogenic landforms (e.g., flood-control levees) and microfeatures (e.g., drainage ditches). Detailed criteria regarding the identification of anthropogenic (artificial) landforms, human-altered materials, and human-transported material are in the "Keys to Soil Taxonomy" (Soil Survey Staff, 2014).

Community 4.1
Reclaimed / Restored Areas

Reclaimed areas are areas that have been modified through anthropogenic means that are restored to a natural or second-hand natural community. Areas that can be reclaimed are any intensity urban areas, and may be required to be reclaimed after urban use (e.g., active mines must be reclaimed). These practices include the identification, removal, and stockpiling soil materials before altering the land, and revegetation and replacement of soil materials after altering the land. This also applies to nearby urban areas that have been adversely affected by the anthropogenic activities.

Community 4.2
Urban Areas

This urban community consists of development for human use. Urban areas include a variety of land uses, e.g., inner city or urban core, industrial and residential areas, cemeteries, parks, and other open spaces; the overall function which may benefit the quality of human life. These often form an urban soil mosaic, where the natural landscape has been fragmented into parcels with distinctive disturbance and management regimes and, as a result, distinctive characteristic soil properties.

Resilience management. Within this community there are three different levels of urbanization, based off population dynamics, residential density, and intensity of development. These are labeled as low-intensity, medium-intensity, and high-intensity urban areas, which can eventually be split apart into its own separate state. Low-intensity urban areas may consist of single dwelling homes with little impact on the surrounding community which still somewhat represents the natural community (e.g., represents natural landscape, hydrology, and vegetation) , other examples of this are urban parks, cemeteries, or campgrounds with little urban development. Medium-intensity urban areas consist of larger urban dwellings with some natural features but have been modified to meet urban needs (e.g., towns). High-intensity urban areas are areas of heavily modified areas with complete alterations of the natural landscape, hydrology, and vegetation to support a very large population, which once constructed is permanently altered (e.g., metropolis areas/ active mines).

Community 4.3
Non-Reclaimed Areas

Non-reclaimed areas are areas that have been modified through anthropogenic means that are unable to be restored to a natural community. Areas that cannot be reclaimed in this ecological site are areas that are currently utilized as military bases and installations.

Pathway 4.1A
Community 4.1 to 4.2

This transition is driven by clearing and developing the land for low-, medium-, or high-intensity urban areas.

Pathway 4.2A
Community 4.2 to 4.1

This transition is driven by the revegetation, reestablished hydroperiods, and replacement of displaced soil materials after urbanization of the land.

Pathway 4.2B
Community 4.2 to 4.3

This transition is driven by heavy industrial or urban development which causes the land to become non-reclaimable. This transition is rare due to the many environmental laws and regulations that must be followed when developing land.

Pathway 4.3A
Community 4.3 to 4.1

This transition is driven by the revegetation, reestablished hydroperiods, and replacement of displaced soil materials after urbanization of the land.

Transition T1A
State 1 to 2

This transition is driven during high intensity storm events when the protective dune system is destroyed, the storm surge deposits overwash of marine deposits. This deposition of sediment and prolong inundation of salt water will kill existing reference species and replace the area with unconsolidated substrate. Distance from the coast and the physical barrier of the first dune ridge above the beach diminish the intensity of sand burial and salt spray.

Transition T1B
State 1 to 3

This transition represents proliferation and dominance of an invasive species. Soil mechanical disturbances can compound this effect and create suitable conditions for invasive species.

Transition T1C
State 1 to 4

This transition is driven by the alteration and/ or transportation of materials via anthropogenic means.

Restoration pathway R2A
State 2 to 1

This restoration is often driven naturally due to an abundance of salt tolerant seeds present in these communities. For vegetation establishment to thrive in these systems, a dune system must first be rebuilt to protect these communities that form immediately behind it.

Transition T2A
State 2 to 4

This transition is driven by the alteration and/ or transportation of materials via anthropogenic means.

Restoration pathway R3A
State 3 to 1

The establishment of, or a return to, natural habitat conditions following a previous invasive / non-native / undesirable species infestation may be possible in some areas. Successful actions will require relentless efforts that include removal of the species via chemical or mechanical or biological means. In some extreme cases, restoration attempts could result in greater erosion and worsening of local conditions. Please consult with District and Soil Conservationists at local NRCS Field Offices for advice and guidance on land restoration attempts on invaded areas.

Transition T3A
State 3 to 4

This transition is driven by the alteration and/ or transportation of materials via anthropogenic means.