Sandy Over Loamy Pine Flatwoods and Hammocks

Description

Flatwoods are mesic or wet pine woodlands or mesic shrubland on flat sandy limestone substrates consisting of ecological communities dependent on landscape position, hydrology, and fire regime. These communities consist of similar overstory vegetation with varying understory vegetation depending on hydrology and fire regimes.

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Description

This state describes the transition of a natural pine flatwoods community that has had fire excluded from its system long enough to develop a closed canopy of oaks and other shrubby indicator species. This forest type will often have a relict pine canopy and the understory will reflect the type of flatwoods community it established from.

Characteristics and indicators

These differ from natural hardwood hammock communities by their establishment on flatwoods soil as well as key indicator species.

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Description

Palmetto Prairies consist of low shrubs and grasses occupying vast, level expanses on generally treeless landscapes. Common shrubs are saw palmetto, which is often stunted, dwarf live oak, gallberry, fetterbush, shiny blueberry, netted pawpaw, Atlantic St. John's wort, dwarf wax myrtle, and dwarf huckleberry. These are mixed with about an equal proportion of herbs, predominantly wiregrass, along with bottlebrush threeawn, hemlock witchgrass, broomsedge bluestem, lopsided indiangrass, and cypress witchgrass, plus numerous forbs including narrowleaf silkgrass, milkworts, meadowbeauties, yellow-eyed grasses, and wild pennyroyal. Drier sites tend to have fetterbush and coastalplain staggerbush; wetter sites lack these and have Elliott’s yellow-eyed grass.

Characteristics and indicators

This state is similar to mesic pine flatwoods but lacks the overhead pine component. They share similar soils of poorly to very poorly drained spodosols with an organic hardpan, but is believed lack of drainage dissection of the landscape results in more frequent flooding than in mesic pine flatwoods.

Resilience management

This state is maintained by stressors at the beginning of the rainy season, where natural fire return intervals of every 1 to 2 years as well as flooding immediately afterwards prevent the growth of pine species.

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Description

Cabbage Palm Flatwoods are flatwoods similar to wet pine flatwoods characterized by an open overstory of pines, a midstory of cabbage palms, and a dense understory of grasses. They occur on more neutral to alkaline sands, and are similar to other flatwoods with the presence of a hardpan that reduces percolation above and below its surface. Fire return intervals of every 1 to 2 years help maintain this community.

Characteristics and indicators

This state is characterized by cabbage palm species in the sub canopy or shrub layer, under an open layer of pine species. Natural fire return intervals are similar to wet flatwoods, along a shorter interval of every 1 to 2 years. Cabbage palms have a very slow growth cycle and can spend 10 to 15 years or more in a grass-like state before the trunk will grow. The grass-like state is dependent and tolerant on fire for growth and after the trunk becomes visible grows at slow rates up to 6 inches per year.

Resilience management

This state can be maintained by regular fire intervals of every 1 to 2 years that prevents the establishment of shrubby species. Mechanical removal from hand removal or roller chopping may shift the community back towards a wet pine flatwood community, with an increased chance of encroachment of invasive species.

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Description

This state consists of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Non-Native Category 1 Species list . More information on these species list can be found:
https://www.fdacs.gov/content/download/63140/file/Florida%E2%80%99s_Pest_Plants.pdf

or by contacting the UF / IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants (http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/), the UF / IFAS Assessment of Non-native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas (https://assessment.ifas.ufl.edu/), or the FWC Invasive Plant Management Section (http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/invasive-plants/).

These species are common in areas where natural processes are interrupted via hydrology or fire regimes. The introduction of these species pose serious threats to endangered and threatened habitats and plants within Florida as they become outcompeted for habitats and nutrients.

Characteristics and indicators

Non-native species include species that exist outside of Florida's natural range and introduced to the state by people, weather, or any other means.

Resilience management

This state can be found as a part of any other state and can completely destroy the native habitat if not properly managed. Restoration to natural communities after exotic invasion include practices such as mechanical, biological, and chemical removals.

Description

The following communities comprise the major land uses in the United States and the land uses receiving the majority of the conservation treatment that address soil, water, air, plant, and animal resources within the USDA.

Characteristics and indicators

These land uses consist of areas that are not completely naturalized (i.e. native habitat) and have been anthropogenically altered for commodity production.

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Description

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 formed 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., Immokalee 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 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).

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