Everglades (Hilsenbeck et al. 1979): 

 (1) Bayhead recoveries; (2) Cypress 

 dome recoveries; and (3) Hammock 

 forest recoveries. 



Bayhead forests are not a typi- 

 cal fire maintained plant community. 

 Although fire related disturbance of 

 natural bayhead vegetation, like 

 that of tropical hammock forests, is 

 a natural phenomenon, it appears 

 that this type of alteration is con- 

 siderably more frequent today than 

 it was prior to the 1900s. Coupled 

 to this increased frequency of dis- 

 turbance is the expansion of exotic 

 species throughout the southern 

 Florida ecosystem. These concomi- 

 tant events are correlated, because 

 fire altered upland forest communi- 

 ties are rapidly colonized by exotic 

 tree species if a colonizing source 

 is nearby and the site is opened 

 when propagules are available for 

 dispersal. 



In bayhead recoveries not 

 subjected to invasion by exotics, 

 vegetation is characterized by a 

 rank growth of bracken fern ( Pteri - 

 dium aquilinum ), willow ( Salix 

 caroliniana ) , saltbush ( Baccharis 

 halimifolia ) , elderberry ( Sambucus 

 simpsonii ) , wax myrtle ( Myrica 

 cerifera ) , and bushy beadgrass 

 ( Andropogon qlomeratus ). This dense 

 vegetation is usually overlain and 

 entwined with several vines, includ- 

 ing sweet briar ( Smilax auriculata ), 

 moon vine ( Ipomoea tuba ), Virginia 

 creeper ( Parthenocissus quinquefo- 

 lia) , chicken grape ( Vitis rotun - 

 difolia ) , and hemp vine ( Mikania 

 batatifolia ) . 



The degree of organic soil 

 removal by the fire varies over the 

 full range of possibilities, from 

 complete loss to very limited surfi- 

 cial litter removal. Commonly over 

 half of the peat soil is removed to 

 pinnacle rock and the remainder 



varies from patches of slight damage 

 to a loss of 10 to 25 cm (4 to 10 

 in) of soil. Complete burnouts may 

 lack any discerable vegetational 

 feature aside from a rank growth of 

 sawgrass and a few scattered wil- 

 lows, elderberry plants, and salt- 

 bushes. Downwood and charred root 

 remnants, however, are usually 

 present somewhere within the burn 

 site. 



The time required for the com- 

 munity to return to the pre-burn 

 condition is a matter of specula- 

 tion. It appears that well over a 

 century may be required before the 

 community structure and floristic 

 composition would converge on the 

 pre-burn condition of the bayhead 

 forest vegetation (Hilsenbeck et al. 

 1979). 



Cypress dome recovery forma- 

 tions are not particularly common 

 within their study area, being lo- 

 cated in the vicinity of the Aerojet 

 property south of Fla S.R. 27 on the 

 eastern margin of Taylor Slough. 

 Cypress dome burnouts are of signi- 

 ficant ecological interest because 

 they are not a fire-adapted nor 

 fire-maintained community, and as a 

 result, are seriously disturbed by 

 any degree of fire presence within 

 the limits of the community. The 

 most obvious types of fire damage 

 are to the vegetation and to the 

 soil layer beneath the community. 



Direct damage to the vegetation 

 is quite variable in degree, running 

 from the complete obliteration of 

 all of the cypress to the partial 

 removal of understory vegetation, 

 and the seedling and sapling age 

 classes of cypress. On the average, 

 the damage involves the destruction 

 of some of the mature trees and 

 some proportion of the juveniles, 

 in addition to limited destruction 

 of other canopy and understory 



119 



