Vegetation of Long Pine Key, Everglades National Park

摘要

Long Pine Key is an extensive limestone upland in the southern Everglades. The general history and the history of botanical research in the area are reviewed. A detailed vegetation map is presented to show distribution of rockland pine forests, tropical hardwood forests (hammocks), Muhlenbergia prairies, and several sub-types in a 7 x 15 km area. Occurrence of major vegetation types in relation to elevation and substrate is described from samples taken along a 2 km transect. A definitive list of names designating 120 hammocks is presented. Study of aerial photographs showed that 90 percent of the hammocks suffered fire damage in 1940 through 1980. Within southern Florida rockland pine forests, 95 taxa were found to occur in the shrub understroy. Greatest diversity of shrubs (c. 60 taxa) occurred in the Lower Florida Keys and Long Pine Key and diversity decreased northward through loss of West Indian species to fewer than 30 taxa in Big Cypress.