Honeymoon Island

Madison and I ended up visiting Honeymoon Island 3 times. We talked to a park ranger who said that all plants here are drought tolerant. The animals here have to withstand drought as well. There is no fresh water on the island. Honeymoon does prescribed burns that used to be called controlled burns. The reason they do this is to reduce catastrophic fires, to help restore the ecosystem, kill non native species, and help plants who need fire to reproduce. They burn different zones at a time to try and mimic the natural cycle of fire in the ecosystem. This can be anywhere from 3 to 5 years depending on the plant. They factor in wind conditions, dryness, and KBDI, which is a drought index determining the amount of rain and the absorption of rain. One of the many ecosystems here is the beach dune ecosystem. Honeymoon is a barrier island that takes the bulk of storms and helps protect against erosion. A clear example was on our first trip here during that big hurricane on the east coast. The line of mangroves by the water helped protect us from the majority of the wind. Once we stepped past a break in the mangroves all the wind was back at us. Beach dune ecosystems also help stop flooding from occurring inland. The island also provides people a relaxing and peaceful destination. Honeymoon used to be one island called hog island because they had hogs. In 1921 a hurricane broke the island apart into two. That created what is now Caladesi and Honeymoon Island. The spot the hurricane ripped through to separate the islands is called hurricane pass that is about 300 yards long. Some of the threats to the ecosystem are people, erosion, raccoons that eat sea turtle eggs, invasive species, development and hurricanes. Some of the plants we observed were sea grasses, sea oats, railroad vine, mangroves, sea grapes, cabbage palm, saw palmetto, etc. Some of the animals we saw were armadillo, jellyfish, coquina, fiddler crab, sponges, evidence of gopher tortoises from their holes, dogs, lizards, fish and a spiney orb weaver. The other ecosystems beside the beach dune were tidal flats, coastal salt marshes, mangroves, coastal strands, sea grass beds, and mesic pine flatwoods.  We really ended up learning and experiencing a lot Honeymoon Island had to offer.

Hammock Park

On our trip at Hammock Park we did a lot of walking on the many different trails. Hardwood hammocks are a dense growth of broad-leaved trees (hardwoods) on a slightly elevated area. Some non-hardwoods can still be there.The difference between deciduous and evergreen is that evergreen keeps their leaves while deciduous drops all their leaves. Not all hardwoods are deciduous. Palms and pines are evergreens while maples are deciduous. Hardwood hammocks always have 2 main layers at the minimum. The canopy is always present and often diverse and either the understory or shrub layer is also always present. The ground cover is often absent or sparse. Hardwood hammocks are characterized by hydrology and fire. They rarely flood or burn and the soil is very rich in nutrients. The hardwood hammocks contain high species diversity but limited new species because of limited space and light. The lack of light is a very big adaption that many organisms have to deal with. The ways they can deal with low light is chemical warfare, broader leaves, viny plants, and plants holding onto their leaves longer than other plants. The way for new trees to spring out with the absence of fire is from tree fall that creates gaps allowing succession to occur. Hardwood hammocks can be classified as xerix, mesic, or hydric. Xeric are most likely to burn, are dry, have good drainage, lower in nutrients, and higher in elevation. Mesic has lots of vegetation, is moist, has organic (humus) material, has evergreens, pines, cabbage palms, and is more diverse and denser. Hydric is wet and has standing water for a period of time. There is low infiltration and high saturation.  Hammocks produces large amounts of oxygen. Threats to the ecosystem are the air potato which is an invasive species, rosary peas that can kill you, development, fire, and reduced precipitation.

Hammock Park

Hammock park is in Dunedin and was owned by the church at one point in time. The park is very peaceful and shady due to the canopy coverage. We learned about hardwoods which are angiosperms and the difference between deciduous and evergreens, which is deciduous change color and shed their leaves during the season change, evergreens are green. Hardwood hammock canopy that we saw was diverse with a thick canopy and the under story shrub layer and sparse ground cover. there was a lot of liter on the floor. We also learned about the difference between xetric which is dry and mesic which is moist and hydric which is wet. These are all hardwood hammock types. We did taste a leaf it kind of had a cherry taste. The threats are people and carbon storage and water and nutrient cycle and reduce heat. The high diversity provide habitat to numerous species and the increase soil infiltration and aquifer recharge. I really liked this part.

Taylor Park - Chosen park

Taylor Park
Largo, Fl

     Taylor park is a park located in Largo, Fl that has a nice trail all the way around a large lake along with a couple shelters to be used for group parties. This park could be characterized as a lake ecosystem due to the large lake in the center of the park. The most productive part of the lake is the shoreline as there is a lot of activity there. There are many plants and animals that spend the majority of their time on the shoreline. Many fish will spend their time there to feed and hide from other predators. While no fish were observed on this trip, there were signs posted to inform fisherman about what type of fish are living in the lake. There were also a lot of types of insects along the shoreline that interacted with the plants. Some of these insects included butterflies that are important for fertilizing plants and dragonflies were also present.
     There were many types of birds along the shoreline of the lake. These birds are known to feed on grubs in the soil of the lake shoreline. They would wade around and poke at the ground searching for food. Some birds include: white ibises, wood stork, ducks, and anhingas. Turtles and alligators could also be seen in the lake. This is a typical environment for all of these animals as the freshwater lake provides many food options and shelter for all of these animals.

This is a wood stork which is an endangered bird. They are native to Florida and can be seen in similar environments. 

All around the park were Slash Pines. The Slash Pines drop their needles and this allows for a more acidic soil allowing the pines to grow better in that soil. 

Part of the shoreline along a more shallow part of the lake. These trees are Bald Cypress and they are typical tress for this environment. They need a lot of water in order to maintain their health. The 'knees' act as pneumatophores which allow for oxygen exchange when the water levels get too high. 

A turtle sunning in the shallow water. 

White ibises can be seen grazing along the shoreline eating various grubs in the soil. 

White Peacock butterflies spend time on the plants along the lake shoreline, pollinating the plants.

Little blue heron spending time in the shallow water. 

An unknown plant that was found along the shoreline of the lake. 

Great blue heron along the lake shoreline. They spend time looking for food along the shoreline and in the shallow parts of the lake. 

Anhinga. This bird spends time fishing. They do not have oils on their wings which allow for the waterproofing and after diving or spending time in the water they need to dry their wings before they can fly. 

American alligator. These animals are characteristic of Florida freshwater environments. They eat birds and fish in the lake. 

An Anhinga drying its wings after spending time in the water. 

Hammock Park

Dunedin, FL

     Hardwood hammocks usually consist of hardwood trees and usually at a higher elevation. Of course, some other trees that are not considered hardwoods can be present. At Hammock Park, there were a lot of Live Oaks that made up the majority of the canopy. The understory consisted of ferns and vines. The vines are there due to the lack of light. Since there is little light that gets through the canopy, the vines are able to use the teller trees as support and thus can use less of their energy for structural support and more for growing taller.

     There are three types of hammocks: hydric, mesic, and xeric. Hydric hammocks have a more wet environment, but the water doesn’t usually last all year. The amount of water in hydric hammocks depends of rainfall for the year along with the type of soil present. If there is more clay in the soil, then the water will take longer to percolate through; which is the case with hydric hammocks. Mesic hammocks are slightly more dry than hydric hammocks but still have water for some part of the year. The soil has slightly more sand in the soil which allows for greater drainage of the water making the mesic hammock more dry. Xeric hammocks are the last type of hammock and they are the driest of the three. They have the highest amount of sand in their soil which allows for quick drainage. Xeric hammocks are also more likely to burn compared to the other two. This is because of the dry environment and because of the lack of fire in high pine grassland environments which are prone to fire. If a high pine grassland has not had fire in a long time, a hammock will eventually develop.

     One way that hammocks can change is when a tree falls. This is called gap succession and allows for more light to enter the understory allowing other plants to grow. Some plants are adapted to grow very quickly when gap succession occurs. The plant will grow more broad at the bottom and store energy when it is ready to grow taller and shoot up when there is an opportunity. Another way that the hammocks change is through mechanical thinning since fires do not usually come through. The thinning allows for new things to grow along with providing dead material to be decomposed by fungus or worms. 

American beauty berry a native plant to Florida and is currently fruiting. The berries can be picked and made into a jelly. 

Castor plant. The seeds of this plant are poisonous. 

Cherry laurel. This plant was found as part of the understory of the hammock. A cherry scent can be smelled if the leaves are rubbed to release the smell. 

This is a hydric hammock. Hydric hammocks are wet for part of the year and can have different plants than the other types of hammocks due to the water. 

Monarch caterpillar.

Hammock Park

Madison Bommelaere
11/18
Hammock Park                              
                                                                Hammock Park
                    Hammock Park in Dunedin off of alt 19 is a large park with many walking trails through the thick hammock forest. The whole park is pretty shady due to the coverage the hammock's canopy creates. Today we have learned that the hammock hardwoods are all angiosperms along with the difference between evergreens and deciduous. Evergreen trees are trees that are always green like oak and deciduous trees are trees that change color and shed their leaves during the change of seasons like maple trees. During class we also learned how the smaller plants under the canopy have adapted to the low light conditions. The plants deal with low light conditions by growing vines to climb up to the sunlight, bigger leaves to catch light ans water, and they hold on to leaves longer after the canopy thins out. We learned that hammocks almost never burn because they are green and moist, so they grow due to allelopathy which is a chemical secretion of germination and growth to the other plants. Though plant use allelopathy to expand they also grow because of succession from not being cut or burnt down. The hammocks consist of Xeric which is dry and usually have lots of moss and other epiphytes growing on them, Mesic hammock which is moist and higher in nutrients, and the Hydric hammpck which is a swampy hammock that his high in nutrients. I noticed the Xeric was very sandy which has a high drainage rate which is why its dry because water cannot collect and pool. Because hammocks rarely burn, fire is a major threat to this ecosystem for it would wipe it all out. Other threats to the ecosystem also consist of invasive plants like the air potato and human development.
Overall this is a great park but be prepared for your shoes to fill up with sand!

PICTURES

Brooker Creek- Juan Amado

On November 4th my class and I went to Brooker Creek Preserve, It is one of the biggest natural areas in Pinellas county. The weather was great about 78 degrees.

During our walk in the trail we discussed the different characteristics of what a swamp, which is a very wet land ecosystem that has very poor drainage and is mostly dominated by trees. it was really cool to see how the surfaces changed from land to water.

We also got to see and discussed hammocks, high pine grassland and pine flatwooods. One of the most important thing for this ecosystem is fire because it gives the ecosystem the different nutrients it needs in order to survive. 

As part of our trip, we saw different very few kinds of animals such as spiders, and birds.

Brooker Creek Preserve Blog

Madison Bommelaere
Brooker Creek Preserve
                                                      Brooker Creek
             Brooker Creek, located on Keystone rd in Tarpon Springs is a vast and beautiful preserve. While exploring Brooker Creek(Keystone preserve) we observed many species of insects and birds including the HUGE Golden Orb Spider or also known as the Banana Spider and Vultures. There's many other animals including snakes and stuff hiding around, we just didn't see them. The preserve has a few different ecosystems such as a cypress swamp that's helps maintain water overflow, high pine grasslands, and pine flat woods. On this day we learned about indicator species, which is a species whose presence signifies that an entire integrated community of other species are present also like friends. Indicator species are also a sign that the ecosystem is healthy. We also learned about Keystone species which is a species that all the other species depend on. The disappearance of the keystone species means a loss in diversity of the animals in the ecosystem, like a gopher tortoise  creating homes and hiding places for the other animals. We also learned about the type of wetlands including the Seepage Wet lands, Floodplain Wetlands, Basin Wetlands, and Forested Wetlands and how they help the whole world control over flooding, recharge aquifers, good source of carbon storage and that it's a great animal habitat. Another thing we learned about was the growing stages of Slash pines going from, Broom Stage, Grass stage, and Adult Stage. One of most important things we learned was the importance of fires. Fires are usually man made in to make the plants release nutrients to help the ecosystem grow more, burn off the dry dead leaves and stuff that can cause a uncontrollable wild fire, opens up space for the animals, controls disease and alters temperature and moisture which is beneficial to the ecosystem. These man made fires to help the ecosystem are called prescribed fires.
                    All in all Brooker creek is an awesome place to visit and hike with your family and friends and I extremely recommend this park. When my class and I visited it was a comfy  79 degrees but most of the park is shaded by forest and high trees that it would still be fine to go on a hotter day.

Brooker Creek

Our class visited Brooker Creek to learn about High Pine Grasslands and Pine Flatwoods. Pine communities originally were located in the north and central parts of Florida. They were the most common ecosystem in Florida. That changed in the 19th century due to logging. High pine grasslands are found in spots with higher elevation where pine flatwoods are in lower elevation with flat terrain. The high pine grasslands have two forest layers which is the canopy and the ground layer. The pine flatwoods have 3 forest layers that are the canopy, shrub layer, and groundcover. Pine communities are very fire dependent and therefore the park does prescribed burns. It's basically a prescription to burn certain sections of the park to help the ecosystem. It helps the ecosystem by releasing nutrients, opening up space, reducing litter, and controlling disease. The organisms in this ecosystem are adapted to deal with fire. The wire grass is the most common ground layer that has a thick base with lots of leaves coming out of it. The slash pine has 3 stages. The grass stage is the first with leaves to protect from fires. Next  is the broom stage which is the most sensitive. The last  is the adult stage which has bark to protect from fires. Within the community there are indicator and keystone species. Indicator species are absolutely essential to the community and show signs that the ecosystem is intact. An example of this would be worms because plants need them. Keystone species are those that other species depend on to survive. The golfer tortoise is a good example because the holes they build are used as shelter for other species.The functions of  pine communities are protection, shelter, lumber, carbon storage, water retention, and source of fire. Elevation changes in this ecosystem make all the difference. We saw secondary succession on the left and right sides of the trail. We could see that the whole understory looked different. The biggest threats to this ecosystem are fires, people, droughts, and development.

Brooker Creek Preserve
Tarpon Springs, FL

Our trip to Brooker Creek was on another nice day. I had never been to Brooker Creek Preserve and my first impression was a good one. It was a nice drive to get to the shelter that we were meeting at and then the trail we took around the preserve was nice. Brooker Creek is the largest preserve in Pinellas County and is approximately 8,000 acres. About 55% of the preserve is upland and 45% are wetlands and some of the preserve consists of hammocks. When we got started walking around the park, the first thing we noticed on the boardwalk was that on one side of the boardwalk was wet and the other side was dry. There was even different types of vegetation literally due to a few inches different elevation. The slight drop in the elevation allowed the water to pool and be more of a swamp area than a hammock. Some plants that are characteristic of a swamp include bald cypress that have "knees" that are their pnematophores and allow for gas exchange when the water levels are high. Other plants in a swamp are ferns and mosses. Both of these plants require a moist environment for their reproduction.
As we walked along the boardwalk, we talked about what characteristics are used to determine what a swamp is. The hydroperiod is important because it refers to how long the water, amount of water, and how fast the water evaporates between flooding. Determining where the water comes from in a swamp is also important because it can tell us what kind of swamp it is. One particularly interesting detail that I learned on this trip was that peat is formed in swamps and that it is a huge form of carbon storage in the environment. It gave me something to think about because a huge problem in climate chage is that there is too much carbon in the atmosphere and I never thought about ways that carbon was stored. Coal was an obvious one but I didn't think about the significance about peat, I thought its main function was to help maintain the water from draining.

Once we reached a shelter on the path, we took a seat to talk about hammocks and high pine grasslands. The picture above depicts a high pine grassland. High pine grasslands are fire dependent communities. Fires, which are usually caused by lightning, burn the dead underlying brush and put those nutrients back into the soil. The pines are not harmed by the fires due to their insulated bark and high up canopies. Often times, the bark on the pines can be seen to be charred from previous fires. This can be seen in the picture at the bottom. When there is no fire in these environments, hardwoods become more common. This can pose a problem because hardwoods burn completely in fires and can burn too hot and long, causing other plants in this community to burn with them that would not normally burn in a quick fire. 

This is a Golden Orb Weaver spider. They are non aggressive spiders.  

Pictured here are animal tracks, most likely raccoon, in the marsh part of the trail. Raccoons are common in these environments, as they like to scavenge for food. 

This pine tree has been charred around the trunk from a fire. Due to the insulation from the bark, the pine does not burn in the presence of a fire. Fires are beneficial in these communities because they get rid of the dead plants and recycle the nutrients back into the soil. 

11/4/16

This park was established in 1992, this place has been a apart of my childhood and still til this day. It offers biking,hiking, horseback riding and FREE parking !Brooker Creek has a high pine grassland along with flat woods. the location is in Pinellas County tarpon springs,with about 9800 acres of land. This has offered many different homes to different animals such as a woodpecker, turtles and your typical rattle snakes here and there. i did notice that there was a canopy giving the forest floor a lot amount of shade. Due to this slight problem we can only have plan that don't require much sun and light rain falls. there was different types of plants ferns, pines, wire grass and saw palmetto. The visitor center is quite amazing actually. this gives students more information with a hands on project, along with magazines and books to further help you with your confusion.  This park belonged to the Tocobaga Indian tribe.back in the 17th century.

Brooker Creek Preserve
November 4, 2016

Brooker Creek Preserve is about 8700 acres large and is located in Tarpon Springs, FL. When we visited the preserve, it was a perfect day. The weather was dry and cooler than what it had been in the last few weeks. There was not a single cloud in the sky. The first part of the trail included the swamp area. Something that was lacking in this area was the forest floor because it was filled with water. Some problems in this type of ecosystem would be drought and potential fires that would burn the canopy layer. Some functions that play a role in the wetlands would be temperature control, flood control, water filtration, and carbon storage.
The next area we looked at was the pine grasslands and the pine flatwoods. This was the area where we could see the palmetto and the pine trees at the broom and adult stage. Somethings that is important to this ecosystem if fire, so that it can have more nutrients to survive. Something I thought was interesting on this trip was that the gopher tortoise is a keystone species and can help other animals survive a fire. They are able to provide shelter for more than 360 species. The main threat to this ecosystem would be not having fires because of development in the areas. I saw many birds, but very few other animals were spotted. In the park you can find gopher tortoise, rattlesnakes, birds, frogs, worms, and wild turkey.

Brooker Creek Park

It was a nice day maybe about 81 degrees as I entered the park I seen 2 deer's eating in the woods, then as I was coming to the parking lot I saw a Gopher tortoise crossing the road. I leaned he was one of the Keystone species in the pine communities. Then I came across a Gopher tortoise's burrow. Then I was told that fire is introduced to the area because pines are fire dependent it requires to releases nutrients to reduce liter and open up space. We started to walk on the board walk and we came across the swampy area and the water was brownish-orange this happens because of the tannis that had leached into the water from dead plants and this makes acidic water. I remember when this park was somewhere else and how it has really changed.

Brooker Creek 11/04/2016

Location: Brooker Creek

Date: 11/04/2016

Weather: Around 80°

On our visit to Brooker Creek Nature Preserve we traversed ecosystems of Flowing Water Swamp, High Pine Grasslands, and Pine Flatwoods.

In the swamp we observed how the water was a brownish-orange color because of the tanins that had leached into the water from dead plants which makes the water acidic. Seepage and Basin wetlands are the most common types of wetlands in Florida. Seepage wetlands are mostly fed by ground water as they are at a lower elevation while Basin wetlands are mainly composed of rainwater and fluctuate depending on the weather. Floodplain wetlands are flooded seasonally.

On our way back through the swampy area I saw a large crane that seemed to be searching the water for food before our presence distracted it. As the ground gradually got less wet Saw Palmettos seemed to be the prevalent vegetation in the understory in the pine flatwood area. These forested wetlands offer habitat, oxygen, water filtration, flood control, climate moderation, and carbon storage which helps to reduce pollution from being released into our atmosphere. I was surprised to learn just how flammable peat is. Reduced rainfall and development are the major threats to flowing water swamps.

As we looked over the High Pine Grasslands we observed a vulture flying from tree to tree, probably searching the ground for prey. Although we didn’t see any, the Gopher Tortoise is one of the Keystone species in pine communities. Each tortoise creates 8 to 10 burrows and a burrow can be up to 40 feet long. These burrows offer a hiding place for other animals, especially when fire is introduced to the area. Pines are fire dependent; it is required to release nutrients, reduce litter, and open up space, among other things. Threats to Pine communities are a lack of fire and development. (Hardwoods are not dependent on fire, they are destroyed.)    

Brooker Creek Preserve by Martha Rhine

Brooker Creek Preserve is located in North Pinellas and is the largest natural area in the county at 8700 acres in size. Our class explored the forested wetlands as an example of flowing swamps and the pinewood areas.
The wetlands are bordered by tall Cypress trees which are deciduous and drop their leaves in the wintertime. The Cypress are thin towards the top but become large at the base, and they are known for their "knees", pneumatophores, which help to carry oxygen to the tree since it's roots are underwater.

The high pine flatwoods at Brooker Creek Preserve are open areas with tall pine trees and fields of saw palmetto. This area is better for birds to spot their prey, gopher tortoises and worms burrow in the sandy ground. This area needs prescribed fire to remain healthy. The pine trees have a defense mechanism at every stage, like the saw palmetto, its new growth is protected by the outer leaves which shield it from the fast moving fires.