The Florida dry prairie is a herbaceous upland plant community found in subtropical southern Florida. It consists of plains covered in grasses, low shrubs, and few widely scattered trees. It was originally found on the plains near the Kissimmee River and Fisheating Creek connected to Lake Okeechobee, but conversion to agriculture and pasture have reduced its range. Frequent fires are necessary to maintain this system. [1] [2]
Dry prairie was once the dominant grassland endemic to central Florida, from the western shore of Lake Okeechobee and extending northeast into Osceola County. [3] Historically, it is thought that Florida’s dry prairie covered approximately 1,931 square miles. Pre-settlement dry prairie could be separated into three regions: the “Kissimmee River Prairie,” “the Big Prairie” across central Florida, and the “Myakka Prairie”. These three regions are not geographically isolated. [4]
There are 658 known vascular flora species, 115 families, and 317 genera found in Florida’s dry prairie, with 94% of species native to central Florida. [4] There are no plants known to be endemic to the dry prairie environment, but there are a number of species endemic to the Florida peninsula. The shrub layer is dominated by saw palmetto (Serenoa repens). Occasional trees include slash pine (Pinuselliottii) and cabbage palm ( Sabal palmetto ). Wiregrass (Aristidia beyrichiana), toothache grass (Cteniumaromaticum), and beak rush ( Rhynchospora spp.) are dominant grasses and sedges. Where slash pine is more abundant, this system grades into south Florida pine flatwoods. [1] [4] [3]
There are a number of species that are listed as “at-risk” that can be found in the Florida dry prairie. The grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus), sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis pratensis), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia floidana), and the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) are a few that are at risk, with the grasshopper sparrow and panther listed as “endangered” according to the U.S. Endangered Species Act. [1]
The increased settlement and growing population of Florida in the early 20th century came with expanded agriculture and the conversion of dry prairie to farmland. Extensive dairy and citrus farms have very little dry prairie vegetation and result in landscape fragmentation, subsequently reducing habitat for dry prairie wildlife. There may also exist a correlation between wetland development and encroachment of the pineland/prairie border. [4]
Historically, this system experienced fire intervals of 1-4 years, allowing fire-adapting vegetation to grow and maintaining the treeless landscape. [5] [6] Many vegetative species are found in greater abundance at sites with frequent fire . As the settlement of Florida expanded, fire suppression became common practice to prevent damage to homes and agriculture. Because the dry prairie system requires fire for maintenance, suppression has reduced the geographic coverage of this system. With regular prescribed burning, a resurgence in dry prairie vegetation and wildlife can be seen. [6] [3]
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, and the steppe of Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. Lands typically referred to as "prairie" tend to be in North America. The term encompasses the area referred to as the Interior Lowlands of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, which includes all of the Great Plains as well as the wetter, hillier land to the east.
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The ecosystem it forms is not presently found anywhere else on earth. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee. Water leaving the lake in the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state. The Everglades experiences a wide range of weather patterns, from frequent flooding in the wet season to drought in the dry season. Throughout the 20th century, the Everglades suffered significant loss of habitat and environmental degradation.
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica and are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. Furthermore, grasslands are one of the largest biomes on earth and dominate the landscape worldwide. There are different types of grasslands: natural grasslands, semi-natural grasslands, and agricultural grasslands. They cover 31–69% of the Earth's land area.
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. According to Britannica, there exists four savannah forms; savanna woodland where trees and shrubs form a light canopy, tree savanna with scattered trees and shrubs, shrub savanna with distributed shrubs, and grass savanna where trees and shrubs are mostly nonexistent.
Baird's sparrow is a species of North American birds in the family Passerellidae of order Passeriformes. It is a migratory bird native to the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras. Rangelands do not include forests lacking grazable understory vegetation, barren desert, farmland, or land covered by solid rock, concrete and/or glaciers.
Flatwoods, pineywoods, pine savannas and longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem are terms that refer to an ecological community in the Southeastern coastal plain of North America. Flatwoods are an ecosystem maintained by wildfire or prescribed fire and are dominated by longleaf pine, and slash pine in the tree canopy and saw palmetto, gallberry and other flammable evergreen shrubs in the understory, along with a high diversity of herb species. It was once one of the dominant ecosystem types of southeastern North America. Although grasses and pines are characteristic of this system, the precise composition changes from west to east, that is, from Texas to Florida. In Louisiana, savannas even differ between the east and west side of the Mississippi River. The key factor maintaining this habitat type is recurring fire. Without fire, the habitat is eventually invaded by other species of woody plants.
Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pinelands occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Pine barrens are plant communities that occur on dry, acidic, infertile soils, dominated by grasses, forbs, low shrubs, and small to medium-sized pines. The most extensive barrens occur in large areas of sandy glacial deposits, lakebeds, and outwash terraces along rivers.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum is a teaching and research facility of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the site of historic research in ecological restoration. In addition to its 1,260 acres (5 km2) in Madison, Wisconsin, the Arboretum also manages 520 acres (210 ha) of remnant forests and prairies throughout Wisconsin. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021, in recognition for its role as a pioneer in the field of ecological restoration.
The Belle Glade culture, or Okeechobee culture, is an archaeological culture that existed from as early as 1000 BCE until about 1700 CE in the area surrounding Lake Okeechobee and in the Kissimmee River valley in the Florida Peninsula.
The Florida Trail is one of eleven National Scenic Trails in the United States. It currently runs 1,500 miles (2,400 km), from Big Cypress National Preserve to Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Beach. Also known as the Florida National Scenic Trail, the Florida Trail provides permanent non-motorized recreation opportunity for hiking and other compatible activities and is within an hour of most Floridians. The Florida National Scenic Trail is designated as a National Scenic Trail by the National Trails System Act of 1968.
Bachman's sparrow is a small American sparrow that is endemic to the southeastern United States. This species was named in honor of Reverend John Bachman.
Before drainage, the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, were an interwoven mesh of marshes and prairies covering 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2). The Everglades is both a vast watershed that has historically extended from Lake Okeechobee 100 miles (160 km) south to Florida Bay, and many interconnected ecosystems within a geographic boundary. It is such a unique meeting of water, land, and climate that the use of either singular or plural to refer to the Everglades is appropriate. When Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote her definitive description of the region in 1947, she used the metaphor "River of Grass" to explain the blending of water and plant life.
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens.
The eastern woodlands of the United States covered large portions of the southeast side of the continent until the early 20th century. These were in a fire ecology of open grassland and forests with low ground cover of herbs and grasses.
The many-flowered grass-pink, Calopogon multiflorus, is a species of orchid. It is a perennial forb that requires recurring ground fires to maintain its habitat. It falls under the genus Calopogon, meaning "beautiful beard" in Greek, referring to the stamen-like bristles or beard on the lip.
The South Florida rocklands ecoregion, in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, occurs in southern Florida and the Florida Keys in the United States, where they would naturally cover an area of 2,100 km2 (810 sq mi). These forests form on limestone outcrops with very thin soil; the higher elevation separating them from other habitats such as coastal marshes and marl prairies. On mainland Florida, rocklands exist primarily on the Miami Rock Ridge, which extends from the Miami River south to Everglades National Park. South Florida rocklands are further divided into pine rocklands and rockland hammocks.
The Kissimmee/Okeechobee Lowland is one of 47 distinct lake regions within the state of Florida, United States.
The Southeastern conifer forests are a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the southeastern United States. It is the largest conifer forest ecoregion east of the Mississippi River. It is also the southernmost instance of temperate coniferous forest within the Nearctic realm.
The Florida grasshopper sparrow is an endangered subspecies of grasshopper sparrow native to the dry prairies of south-central Florida.