WALL SPRINGS

We visited Wall Springs on October 30th the temperature was 77 degrees Fahrenheit, it had 70% cloud coverage, the area for the most part is maintained. The aquifer releases 4.2 million gallons per day . The temperature of the water was 74 degrees Fahrenheit. the ph was 7 and the salinity was 0. some species we saw were ducks, wax myrtle, cat tails, cabbage palms,and beauty berry.

John Chesnut Sr. Park

For the class project we went to John Chensut Sr. Park which is located along Lake Tarpon and borders another park just north of it. This park has 3 main ecosystems: lake/pond, swamp lands, pine lands as well.

           
Here are two maps of the area. One is the map of the park and the other is a map of the restoration taking place that John Chesnut and others are doing. Both maps show 255 acres  that have many amenities to offer those who come.



Along with maps the park had other signs up that talked about not molesting the wildlife, invasive plants that are taking over the park, and birds that can be seen on Lake Tarpon.

Majority of the trails we walked on were boardwalks due to the standing water that the park occasionally has. 

 In both pictures you can see that there are three different layers: the canopy, understory, and shrub layers. In both pictures, the shrub layer in this swampy land are giant leather leaf ferns.

 These three pictures show more of the standing water. This area was near Lake Tarpon. The majority of the plants seen in the pictures are bald cypress and giant leather leaf ferns.

Picture of the canopy in the park. Mostly closed and had vines or air plants growing on them.

Hammock Park

The very last field trip we went on was to Hammock Park which is located in Dunedin. The objective of this field trip was too look at the hammocks in the park and see how they co-exist with other ecosystems as well. Hammock Park is anywhere from 85 to 103 acres which use to also use to be a citrus farm.

 Turks cap was growing near the parking spots. The other picture is where the trail started and the park is also very dog friendly as well. We saw at least 2 people walking there dogs.







Towards the back of the park there was a little creek that ran along the edge which separated the park from a neighborhood and a baseball field. Along the back as well were bat boxes.

 

These two pictures show the pine flatland . You can see two distinct layers: the canopy and the shrub layer. There were also mangroves and buttonwood growing at the beginning of the boardwalk trail. There was also a creek that went through this ecosystem as well. 

The right of the pictures show the different hammock layers that can be found in the park. There are also some trees that have fallen down which helps other plants grow or provides a food source or decomposers. 

This last picture is of a pine stand. When walking through the path there were massive red ants that covered it. 

Brooker Creek

Brooker Creek Preserve is by far one of the biggest parks we have taken a trip too. The park encompasses 8700 acres with different trails taking you through different regions of the park. The main objective was look at the different ecosystems, such as high pinelands.

We first started off on a boardwalk that went over the creek along with some flood areas of the hammock/swamp lands. 

Afterwards we started walking on a sandy trail and decided to walk the BlackWater trail, which of course was underwater. In the picture above you can see the canopy layer which dominated by sparse pine trees and a shrub layer of saw palmetto. We also found a cool looking insect.

 The next two pictures show want the trails looked like after a good rain. You can clearly see at least 3 layers in the picture to the right: canopy, understory, and shrub.

Here is a picture of a plant living on another tree in order to get the light and nutrients it needs in order to survive. 

Upper Tampa Bay Park

On several dates, I drove out to Upper Tampa Bay Park to study the ecosystems for our term project. This park is managed by Hillsborough County and located just outside of Oldsmar on SR580. Upper Tampa Bay Park has several ecosystems.

Pine Flatwoods

Salt Barron

Saltwater and Mangroves

While we were out after a massive rain, we collected salinity samples in various spots. We observed that the puddles laying on the salt baron had the highest salinity. This is because as every puddle of water evaporates from the area, the salt becomes more and more concentrated. 

We also saw several species of wildlife, including the endangered Florida Panther (however, we weren't able to get a picture of it). We saw several snakes, crabs, fish in the water, deer, snails, various birds, raccoon and horseshoe crabs. 

We were able to identify many species of plants also including the red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove, buttonwood, live oak, saw palmetto, cabbage palm, curlycup gumweed, brazilian pepper and even more. 

John Chesnut Sr. Park

Something for everyone

Address: 2200 East Lake Road in Palm Harbor

John Chesnut Sr. Park is a 255-acre park located at the southern end of Lake Tarpon and is managed by Pinellas County. The park is very busy as it offers amenities that appeal to a wide range of visitors.

This park encompasses three ecosystems:

Lake

Swamp

 

Pine flatwoods

There is ample opportunity to observe a variety of wildlife:

Best shot of the day...Yay!

John Chesnut Sr. Park is part of the Adopt-A-Park program and friends of the park assist the staff in control of invasive species along with maintenance of park trails. Also available are picnic shelters, playground, sand volleyball court and a dog park.

Awesome "tree house" for the little ones

Community service opportunity

Bring plenty of water and make sure your camera has a full charge because a complete circuit of the park takes about 2 to 3 hours...and please obey the signs!

Boca Ciega Millenium Park

(First Visit)
10.23.14
82 degrees
2% cloud coverage
managed

On October 23,2014, Alyssa, Morgan, Imani and I went to our park in Seminole. The time we went was around 2:15-3:35 pm. The first thing our group did was talk to the park ranger David Conley. We accidentally ran into him on the way in and we're glad we did! We asked him our five questions and learned about how the different ecosystems live together, how the drainage ponds worked for the park, and the things that draw many different birds to the park. We saw squirrels, a Bluejay, some small crabs, a Cardinal, and a Pigeon and also collected different plants such as swamp fern, southern magnolia, cinnamon fern, etc.

Hammock Park

11.20.14
58 degrees
95% cloud coverage
managed

On November 20, 2014, the Field Biology of Florida class traveled to Dunedin's Hammock Park to view the hardwood hammocks. This is a managed park that is 90 acres and a low elevation. When we were at Hammock Park, our class took the 'Cline Trail.' Along the way we saw that there were three different canopy layers; canopy, understory, and shrub layer. We also saw areas that were probably burned which were closed off. Another fun thing we saw was trash cans for air potatoes to try and reduce the number of air potatoes (an invasive species) by throwing them away instead of throwing them back onto the ground. Also, the oldest tree that lives in Hammock Park is the Sweetbay Tree.

  This is a picture of a scab on a tree that is trying to heal itself.

An image that captures all three of the canopy layers.

The marker to show that we were on the Cline Trail.

Brooker Creek/ DOOM Walk

 

Walking into this park you'd think it was going to be a lovely path and a nice walk. DON'T BE FOOLED! We went to this park a few days after it had rained. The day we went it was sunny around 74 degrees and less then 50% cloud coverage. But then we started walking and ended in a bath of DOOM. A path of DOOM as I call it is a swamp or muddy path way that has been covered in water from the previous rain. We walked through the muddy path for maybe a mile and at some points the water reached my knees. (I'm 5'9", my knees are up pretty high). Other than the crazy muddy water swamp DOOM walk we saw a bug that looked like a scorpion and a rattle snake. The trip was fun, just a little mucky.
-Ashley Wolpert