An Inventory of the Plant Communities in the Levee-28 Tieback Area, Big Cypress National Preserve
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Material Information

Title:
An Inventory of the Plant Communities in the Levee-28 Tieback Area, Big Cypress National Preserve Report T-664
Creator:
South Florida Natural Resources Center/South Florida Research Center, Everglades National Park
Lance H. Gunderson
Lloyd L. Loope
Place of Publication:
Homestead
Florida
Publisher:
National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
Publication Date:

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Plant communities
Big Cypress Preserve (Fla.)

Notes

Abstract:
The Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades a r e t h e two largest physiographic units in south Florida (Davis, 1943; Craighead, 1971). The border between the units is an abrupt transition of plant communities. The forested, cypress-dominated landscape of the swamp is in distinct contrast to the wide open vista of marshes, prairies and hardwood tree islands in the Everglades. The eastern edge of the Big Cypress Swamp is characterized by an extensive forest of dwarfed pondcypress (Taxodium ascendens) with interspersed tropical hardwood hammocks. Davis' 1943 vegetation map of southern, Florida depicts cypress heads, domes, and hammock forests in the swamp. Craighead (1971) describes this western bank of the Everglades as a "hammock and cypress ridge." Dominant plant communities in the Everglades area include sloughs, ponds, and lakes, sparse sawgrass marshes and tree islands bayheads (Davis, 1943, Craighead, 1971). Different geologic formations are found beneath the Big Cypress and Everglades units. Schroeder and Klein (1954) and Parker et al. (1955) both map the surface (subsoil) geologic structures in the Everglades region as belonging to the Ft. Thompson formation. However, Hoffmeister (1974) only mapped the Ft. Thompson formation in the northern Everglades. He considered that the southern Everglades is underlain by a more recent formation, the Miami limestone. In either case, the recent limestones in the Everglades are newer rock formations than the older Tamiami limestone formation beneath the Big Cypress Swamp. The surface topography developed on the different bedrock formations, plus subsequent depositions of sand, marl and organic matter results in soil surface elevational differences. The plant species composition can be related to these changes in elevation, as well as the associated soil types and hydrologic regime. ( English )
Issuing Body:
SuDoc number: I 29.95:T-664

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Holding Location:
South Florida Natural Resource Center
Rights Management:
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