TROPICAL FOREST- 

 climax ASSOCIATION 



BEACH 

 ASSOCIES 



MATURE 



MANGROVE FOREST 

 ASSOCIES 



OPEN 



WATER 



SALINE 



CONOCARPUS 



TRANSITION ASSOCIES 



AVICENNIA 



SALT MARSH ASSOCIES 



MATURE 



RHIZOPHORA 



CONSOCIES 



'INELAND EDAPHIC 

 SUBCLIMAX ASSOCIATION 



FRESHWATER MARSH 

 ASSOCIES * 



RHIZOPHORA FRESH 

 MARSH LOCIES 



MARL PRAIRIE 

 ASSOCIES 



RHIZOPHORA BRACKISH- 

 MARSH LOCIES 



MEAN 

 HIGH 

 TIDE 



MEAN 

 TIDE 



MEAN 



LOW 



TIDE 



PIONEER 



RHIZOPHORA 



FAMILY 



MARINE AQUATIC ASSOCIES 



Figure 49a. Mangrove community associations and forest types along the 

 southwest coast of Florida (adapted from Davis 1940). 



fairly small, uniform trees and a 

 lack of understory foliage giving 

 the forest a rather symmetrical 

 appearance when viewed from within. 



Basin forests occur inland 

 along drainage depressions channel- 

 ing runoff toward the coast. In the 

 more coastal location red mangroves 

 are dominant but as one moves inland 

 dominance is shared with black and 

 white mangroves. A variant of this 

 forest type is the mangrove hammock 

 occurring along the northern fringe 

 of Florida Bay on the topographi- 

 cally flat but slightly elevated 

 Buttonwood embankment. 



The dwarf forest is more or 

 less restricted to portions of the 

 flat coastal fringes of the Taylor 

 Slough drainage basin and to the 

 Florida Keys. Due to restricted 



flushing and salinity stress (e.g., 

 in Taylor Slough), or excessive 

 flushing and stress due to inhospi- 

 table substrate (e.g., in the Keys), 

 trees in this forest type are char- 

 acteristically stunted though they 

 may be quite old (40 yrs). Lugo and 

 Snedaker (1974) also mention that 

 some dwarf forests may be nutrient 

 limited. 



7.22 SALT PRAIRIES, MARSHES, 



AND TRANSITIONAL HABITATS 



Salt "prairies" (also "barrens" 

 or "flats") in the study area char- 

 acteristically occur inland of the 

 mean sea level mark (Davis 1940), 

 often in association with black man- 

 groves. In the northern portion of 

 the study area these prairies are 

 clearly transitional between the 

 mangrove swamp environment and the 



147 



