Hammock Park

11/18/16
Kaelyn Jenkins
Hammock Park

     On a bright and sunny day we headed out to Hammock park to learn about hardwood hammocks. We learned about how plants deal with low light, the three types of hammocks, and the difference between deciduous and evergreen.

     Plants in hardwood hammocks have to deal with low light conditions. But lucky for the plants, they have found a few solutions for their low light problem by either growing fast to reach the light, having broader leaves, holding onto their leaves longer, growing slow while biding their time, or the use of allelopathy. Allelopathy is chemical warfare for plants, plants use this technique to take out the competition.

     Then we learned about the three types of hammocks, xeric, mesic, and hydric. Xeric which are dry with low nutrients and high up in elevation. Mesic which is more diverse and moist with vegetation, like evergreens, pines and cabbage palms. Hydric hammock is wet and has may have standing water.

     There is a difference between deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous trees lose all of their leaves at once during one season and grow new ones in a later season. Evergreen trees have leaves all year long, they will lose some leaves but new ones will grow right back. Not all hardwoods are evergreens, maple trees are deciduous while alms and pines are evergreens. At the least the hardwood hammocks have two main layers. One of the layers is the diverse canopy. Another layer is  the understory or shrub layer.

     Without fire, the way for new trees to spring up is through gaps created from fallen trees. This is called succession. Some major threats to this ecosysytem are development, invasive species like the air potato, and fire.