UPLAND COMMUNITIES II
PINE ROCKLANDS

HANDOUTS: 1. Species List for pine rocklands

I. PHYSICAL FEATURES

A. Introduction

... we pursued our way through a pine-barren, the ground being formed of coral rocks jutting out in sharp points like oysterbeds, which caused us great suffering by cutting through our boots and lacerating our feet at every step.
... We suffered also very much for lack of water, not a drop even of that which was stagnant was to be met with in this parched up region.
...It was certainly the most dreary and pandemonium region I ever visited; nothing but barren wastes where no grateful verdure quickened, and no generous plant took root - where the only generous herbage to be found was stinted, and the shrubbery was bare, where the hot-steaming atmosphere constantly quivered over the parched and cracked land-without shade-without water-it was intolerable-excruciating. ... But there was neither brook, nor bird, nor any living thing except snakes to be met with.

B. Distribution

1. Geographic Range

2. Remnants

3. Description

C. Physical Attributes

C. Geology and Soils

1. Geology

2. Soils

1. Soils are shallow with high organic content. Plants often establish in organic matter trapped between solution features. pH of this material is circumneutral.
2. Shallow depressions in the rock contain fine, reddish-brown sandy loam, which are slightly acidic (pH 6 - 6.5) and have less than 10% organic matter. The name "Redlands" is derived from this soil type.
3. In lower areas marls may develop over the limestone.
4. Rockdale - common soil type on rocklands.

D. Hydrology

Well-drained due to limestone solution features, higher pinelands seldom flood, lower pinelands adjacent to wet prairies may remain inundated for several months of the year.

II. PLANTS

A. Physiognomy

B. Canopy composition, size and density

1. Dominated by slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa)
2. Canopy at Long Pine Key is 24 m, median dbh is 20 cm, with a few trees greater than 30 cm; elsewhere canopy is below 20 m, with a median dbh of 13 cm
3. Density - ca. 500 trees per hectare.

C. Subcanopy

D. Shrub composition and size

Varies considerably, open canopy and little soil development makes conditions harsh. More than 90 species have been recorded in shrub layer. Most of these are tropical. Only 7 flatwood species occur.

E. Herb layer

May be sparse or diverse, more than 250 herb species occur in rocklands, with more than half restricted to rocklands

F. Related communities

Pine flatwoods

In rockland areas overlain with a thin mantle of sand species composition is intermediate to that of rockland and flatwoods.

Hammocks

Understory often composed of hammock species due to the successional relationship between rocklands and hammocks

G. Endemics, exotics and diversity

1. Endemic species

• Cassia keyensis (Big Pine partridge pea)
• Galactia pinetorum (narrow-leaf milkpea)
• Jacquemontia curtissii
• Melanthera parvifolia
• Poinsettia pinetorum
• Myrcianthes fragrans var. simpsonii (Simpson's stopper)

2. Exotics

• Albizzia lebbeck (Mother-in-law's tongue)
• Melaleuca quinquenervia (melaleuca)
• Schinus terebinthifolius (Brazilian pepper)
• Neyraudia reynaudiana (silk reed)
• Pennisetum purpureum (Napier grass)

3. Diversity

Plant species list for pine rocklands

III. ANIMALS

A. Density

B. Keystone Species

C. Animal species list for pine rocklands

IV. ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES

A. Fire

1. Fires usually burn only at the surface and do not enter the sparse canopy.
2. Open canopy allows rapid drying of litter
3. Hardwood shrubs and palms experience little mortality due to fire
4. Pineland herbs grow rapidly and reproduce following fire, several species flower infrequently except in burned areas.
   Andropogon cabansii
   Imperata brasiliensis
   Ipomoea microdactyla
   Liatris tenuifolia
   Stenandrium dulce
   Tripsacum floridanum
   
5. Ideal fire frequency is once every 2-3 to 10-15 years

B. Productivity

C. Succession

1. Fire maintains the species composition of pine rocklands.
2. In the absence of fire, hardwood species generally invade. Pines do not regenerate in their own shade.
3. Successional changes lead to changes in the soil. Organic matter accumulates, shading increases, soil moisture increases and resistance to fires increases
4. Successional Patterns

V. HUMAN EFFECTS

A. Pre-Colombian

1. aboriginal burning - importance is unknown
2. hunting
3. little clearing for agriculture

B. 18th and 19th century

1. Lumber - logging was limited until the Florida East Coast Railroad reached Miami in 1896. During the next 50 years only a few pines escaped logging.
2. Coontie - industry lasted from 1840-1925

C. 20th century

1. Beginning in 1954 new technology for rockland farming led to rapid extension of agriculture into pinelands. Vegetation was removed then limestone was pulverized to a depth of several feet.
2. Wide scale tropical fruit production especially limes, avocados, and mangoes.
3. First prescribed burn in a National Park took place at Long Pine Key in 1958.
4. Development

Dade County Pine

The early homes in Dade County were built of Dade County pine. It is so dense, so resistant to decay, and so hard that when dry a special steel nail must be used or holes bored to receive nails. The heartwood is resistant to termite attack, and many of the homes of fifty years or more of age are still in good condition today. During World War II, "everything that would make a two-by-four" was cut except for a few isolated patches in the park. The owner of a local sawmill operating in 1952 told me that in the virgin stands of Dade County pine many trees were 2 feet in diameter and as much as 90 feet tall.