Hammock Park

19 November 2015

Weather: 79° F, all clouds in sky, very very humid

Why are we here? To observe a hammock, and determine the types of species that live here, as well as take note of how the ecosystem works to decompose the material in the environment.

Observations: Grassy, with rich soil. Many leaves on ground. Brackish water in river because their are black mangrove pneumatophores present. There are some nurse logs from fallen trees that have resurrection ferns on them. These logs use secondary succession which allows different species to take over and slowly decompose them, placing the nutrients back into the environment. The hammock we were in was mesic because it had high diversity. The canopy layers we observed were all of them- the emergent was somewhat from the taller palm trees. We observed species like the air potato, which is an invasive species that the park has trash cans placed around the trails for you to throw them away, as well as wild coffee, and a tree with a fungal infection. We also saw many bromeliads high in the trees, which are examples of epiphytes. The fungus' that were present on some of the nursery logs were important in order to breakdown items in the detrital for web. When a tree falls down, this is an example of gap succession, which allows light into the understory layer as well as it makes space for other plants to grow. As we went slightly up in elevation, we noticed more pines, less soil, tortuous burrows, and more sand. This was because there was less of a canopy which provided the shade for the organic material to make a ground layer. As we went back down in elevation, we noticed lots a oaks as well as Spanish moss growing on it. We also saw vines. These are both more examples of epiphytes. Along the river we noticed elephant ears, ear pod trees, giant leather ferns, a Great Egret (black feet), as well as papyrus growing on the river.

Overall, the hammock has been the most interesting ecosystem we have visited so far, because it has a great amount of diversity in species as well as unpredictable plants and animals you might see.