Natural Area Teaching Lab

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Natural Area Teaching Lab
Bret Pasch NATL Graduate TA
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60-acre natural area on campus
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4 ecosystems located behind UF Cultural Plaza
Entomology buildings
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Upland Pine
Upland pine ecosystem restored (1995-date)As
illustrated and described elsewhere, NATL's
upland pine ecosystem was choked with laurel oaks
in 1995. By 2004, after six prescribed burns and
the cutting or killing of hundreds of the
invading oaks, the ecosystem was once more
hospitable to the germination of the seeds of
longleaf pines and the growth of their seedlings.
15 acres 13 being restored since 1995 2
left unburned
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Old Field Plots
Old-field succession must be periodically
interrupted to prevent the succession from
reaching its endpoint, i.e., a self-sustaining
community (hammock or upland pine in this case).
The succession area is subdivided into plots (see
map) that will be cleared and cultivated at 1-,
10-, or 40-year intervals. Units with the same
period of rotation will be cleared and cultivated
out of phase. For example, every five years one
of the two 10-year plots will be cultivated. The
1-year plot will be cultivated only during years
that none of the other plots is cultivated. This
schedule will produce five representative
successional states at all times.

• 6 acres
• 1, 2, 10, 40 year rotations

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Hardwood hammock
21 acres
Ephemeral ponds
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SEEP- Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project

• Retention basin re-contoured for SEEP (1998)

BEFORE
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SEEP today
Boardwalk trail completed 2008
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NATL west academic area

• 22 acres closed to public
• guidelines available online
• Student projects
• Short longterm
• Research

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NATL east

• added in 2005
• 11 acres
• ALL academic use only

Central marsh
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NATL east walkway
Completed in March 09
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Nature trails kiosks
Basic advanced trail guides Available onsite
or online
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50-meter grid photos
Grid-based photographic record of vegetation
(1997, 2007-08)In January 1997, a photographic
record was made of NATL by taking pictures to the
north, east, south, and west at each grid
intersection. This was repeated for NATL-west in
2007 and NATL-east in 2008.                       
                                                  
                                                  
                   
Looking north from C10
N-S-E-W grid photos
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GIS maps photos online
All pines mapped!
Aerial photos

• Grid-based record of soils (2000)Dr. Mary E.
  Collins

LIDAR Elevation Contours
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Species lists online

• Surveys of biota (1995-date)Higher plants,
  vertebrates, and many groups of invertebrates
  that occur in NATL have been surveyed and the
  results posted.

Gryllus firmus
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For more info, visit
Come visit!!
bpasch_at_ufl.edu
http//natl.ifas.ufl.edu/