Tropical Hardwood Hammock Florida

A hardwood hammock is a dense stand of broad leafed trees that grow on a natural rise of only a few inches in elevation.

Tropical hardwood hammock florida.

Hammocks grow on elevated areas often just a few inches high surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them. The tropical hardwood hammock is an ecosystem consisting of broad leafed trees shrubs and vines nearly all of which are native to the west indies with live oak quercus virginiana being the only significant temperate species. Tropical hardwood hammocks are found along both coasts of south florida as well as throughout the everglades and florida keys. However development pressure associated with growth of the south florida human population has resulted in the conversion of many of these forests to urban and agricultural uses.

The park is home to 84 protected species of plants and animals including wild cotton mahogany mistletoe and the american crocodile. If you were to look straight up you might have trouble seeing the sun and sky because of all the trees growing close together. Hammocks can be found nestled in most all other everglades ecosystems. Hammocks growing on a florida marshland.

To walk into a hardwood hammock is to walk through a shady tropical forest. Tropical hardwood hammocks are found in south florida or the everglades with large concentrations on the miami rock ridge in the florida keys along the northern shores of florida bay and in the pinecrest region of the big cypress swamp. Tropical hardwood hammocks are habitat for a few endemic plants and are critical habi. Tropical hardwood hammocks are found nearly throughout the southern half of south florida with large concentrations in miami dade county on the miami rock ridge in miami dade and monroe counties in the florida keys and along the northern shores of florida bay and in the pinecrest region of the big cypress swamp.

Tropical hardwood hammocks are closed canopy forests dominated by a diverse assemblage of evergreen and semi deciduous tree and shrub species mostly of west indian origin. Hardwoods are broad leaved trees that grow well in the everglades. In the deeper sloughs and marshes the seasonal flow of water helps give these hammocks a distinct aerial teardrop shape. In the northern portion of the everglades hammocks are dominated by trees of temperate origin including the live oak quercus virginiana and the hackberry celtis laevigata.

A hardwood hammock is a habitat that is found on higher elevations making it like the pinelands a dry habitat. Habitat loss primarily from development has left only small patches of tropical hardwood hammocks throughout coastal south florida the everglades and the keys. Hammock is a term used in the southeastern united states for stands of trees usually hardwood that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Once slated to become a condominium development this park contains one of the largest tracts of west indian tropical hardwood hammock in the united states.