South Florida Rocklands
Briana Mangrum
Walking through the Rocklands
Abiotic Factors
Pine forests are in areas with permanent and fresh groundwater.Fire is a very important source for the pine forests. Some hammock trees such as gumbo limbo and mahogany also have to require openings from fire or other disturbances in order to regenerate.
Biotic Factors
Biotic Factors
There are bunches of animals and plants that surround this Pineland. All of these things help (in some way) the Pinelands. All of the animals live in their habitat while they are using the environment around them. All of the plants provide fresh air and food for the animals to eat. So all of these plants and animals have a purpose in their habitat which is the Pinelands. Some of these plants and animals are:
- Pine trees
- White oak
- Red Oak
- Post Oak
- Saw palmetto
- Sable palm.
- Natural Root Bat
- Leafwing butterfly
- Black bear
- White-tailed deer
- Zebra- longwing butterfly
- Florida Panther
- Shelf Fungus
- Goldsmith beetle.
Human Impacts
If we did not have the Florida Rocklands there would be a lot more fire then we want or need. In the Rocklands, there are special types of ferns and bushes. They are special because they are fire resistant, which means they do not catch on fire as easy as other trees or plants. Now you may think that being a fire resistant ecosystem is good for just that ecosystem, but it turns out, if a fire starts in another ecosystem and spreads its way to the Rocklands, the Rocklands will prevent the fire from moving on to another Ecosystem near like the Everglades. Another Positive Impact is that the Florida Rocklands have so many beautiful species of animals that people want to walk through its wonderful Hammocks to observe them. Which means a lot of tourists, which means a lot of money for the state of Florida.:-)
Negative Impacts
I honestly feel bad for the Rocklands because they do so many Magnificent things for us and our lives but a lot of people don't do any magnificent things For the Rocklands, they just do Horrible things to it. Tropical Hammock ecosystems are rapidly declining and are listed as seriously endangered habitat in Florida. Much of this timber in these coastal woodlands was logged in the 19th and early 20th century.Many beautiful mahogany trees were cut for furniture-making and cabinetry. After Poachers and commercial harvesters depleted many of the flowering orchids and bromeliads, hundreds of homes and businesses sprang up as land was developed along the coastlines. Farming, commercial pine plantations, and livestock rangeland then caused more of the land to be cleared.Late in the 1800s, as railroads were built in South Florida, thousands of acres of pine rocklands were clearcut from coastal hammocks, leaving less than 2% of the original coastal pinelands intact. All of these activities are leading to the decline of our beautiful Southern Florida rocklands.
Apex Predator
Consumers
- The White-tailed deer
- Natural Root Bat
- Eastern Cottontail
- 9 banded Armadillo
- Raccoon
- Feral Hog
- Leafwing Butterfly
- Zebra-longwing Butterfly
Decomposers
Producers
- Saw Palmetto
- Sable Palm
- Post Oak
- White Oak
- Red Oak
- Pine Trees
Classification of Florida Panther
- Domain: Eukarya
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Family: Felidae
- Genus: Puma
- Species: concolor
Water- Florida's Lifeblood
Sources of Info
http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/extension/florida_forestry_information/forest_resources/pinelands.html
http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/156134/
http://www.deeringestate.com/uploads/Pine%20Rockland%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf
http://www.savethepinerocklands.org/index.html
http://www.fws.gov/southeastfire/documents/msrp_pinerocklands.pdf
http://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/kidsyouth/pine-rocklands.htm
http://www.whatdobearseat.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Florida_rocklands
https://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/docs/pdf/academic/papers/Lindemann-Ronald-D.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther
Google images.com
Google.com