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.

Wall Springs/ Anderson Park

Wall Spring









Wall Springs and Anderson Lake park were both very interesting parks. That Friday was a very hot and sunny day. Not a ton of shade at Wall springs. I found it cool that there were mangroves growing at wall springs. I always thing of just fresh water, near that the spring flows into the open ocean and creates a small area of brackish water. Wall Spring park supported a ton of wildlife because it has the fresh and brackish water.

Sawgrass Lake

I had missed the class visit to Sawgrass Lake park in St. Pete, I went last weekend with my father. It was a nice fall day (for Florida), about mid 80's, sunny, little cloud coverage. We walked the boardwalk down to the viewing deck. Along the way, all my dad could say  was "look at the the weeding and gardening that needs to be done" and he was right. Some parts were overgrown with air potatoes,  As we got to the viewing deck, there was a group of people looking over the side. A bunch of little new born alligators and the mom were wandering around under and near the boardwalk.