Natural Coastal Communities of Florida

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Natural Coastal Communities of Florida
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• Floridas 3 Zones
• Highlands/Ridgelands/Upland Plains
• Innermost zones
• Highlands mostly clay
• Upland plains sandy clays over deep limestone
  (karst topography)
• Ridges (Sandy Hills) remnants of ancient dunes
• Lowlands exposed only recently
• Flatwoods to flats, also display karst topography
• Coastal Zone
• Salt marshes and mangrove swamps
• Estuaries where salt and freshwater mix

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• Coastal Zone can also be grouped into the
  following categories
• Mineral based communities
• Consolidated and unconsolidated substrate in the
  subtidal, intertidal and supratidal
• Faunal based communities
• Sponge bed, coral reefs, worm reefs
• Floral based communities
• Algal bed, seagrass beds, tidal swamp and tidal
  marsh

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• Consolidated substrate hard
• Coquina limestone composed of broken shells,
  corals, and other organic material
• Relic reefs
• Unconsolidated substrate
• Beach, mud flats, clay, sand bar, shell bottom,
  soft bottom

http//www.dep.state.fl.us/geology/geologictopics/
rocks/anastasia.htm
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Faunal Based Communities

• Coral Reefs
• 2 classes of Cnidarians are reef builders
  Anthozoa and Hydrozoa
• 34 different species of corals have been
  identified on coral reefs found in the Florida
  Keys
• Barrier reefs line shore
• Patch reefs dome shaped
• Factors affecting reefs
• Temperature
• Light
• Salinity
• Currents
• pH

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Hard Corals
Elkhorn coral, branching coral
Brain coral http//reefguide.org/keys/pixhtml/symm
etricalbrain2.html
Star coral
Rose coral
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Soft Corals
Sea fan http//marinebio.org/oceans/coral-reefs.as
p
Sea feather
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Faunal Based Communities

• Mollusk Reef
• Oyster reef
• Expansive concentrations of sessile mollusks
• Numerous other sessile invertebrates live on or
  around these reefs
• Planktonic larvae (spat) require hard substrate
  (the reef) to settle
• Affected by salinity, disease, etc.

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Faunal Based Communities

• Sponge Beds
• 3 dominating species
• Branching candle sponge
• Florida loggerhead sponge
• Sheepswool sponge

Yellow tube sponge http//reefguide.org/keys/yello
wtube.html
Fire sponge http//www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Tedani_i
gnis.htm
Lavender tube sponge
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Faunal Based Communities

• Worm Reefs Sabellariid Reefs
• Large conglomerates of tubes of Sabellariid worms
  of species, Phragmatopoma lapidosa
• Threatened by beach restoration
• Provide shelter to a number of species

http//www.floridarambler.com/florida-best-beaches
/best-snorkeling-in-florida/
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Floral Based Communities

• Algal Beds
• Examples are Sargassum, Oscillatoria
• Blooms can cause problems with other species

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Floral Based Communities

• Seagrass Beds
• Turtle grass, manatee grass, shoal grass
• Light penetration greatly affects seagrass growth

http//www.flmapr.com/grass.html
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Floral Based Communities

• Tidal Marsh
• Expansive of grasses, sedges, and rushes
• Most abundant in Florida north of the frostline
• Typical animals osprey, fiddler crabs,
  periwinkle, catfish, red drum, killifish, snapper

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Osprey
http//www.wildflorida.com/wildlife/birds/Osprey.p
hp
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Fiddler crab
http//www.jaxshells.org/0024aa.htm
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Periwinkle
http//www.iloveshelling.com/blog/category/periwin
kles/
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Red drum
https//www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/Re
dDrum/RedDrum.html
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Killifish
Least killifish https//www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sou
thflorida/everglades/marshes/glossary/leastkillifi
sh.html
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Snapper
http//www.floridasportsman.com/sportfish/muttonsn
apper/
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Floral Based Communities

• Tidal Swamp Mangrove Forrests
• Shorelines of low wave energy along southern
  Florida
• Red Mangrove, Black Mangrove, White Mangrove

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• Both tidal marshes and mangrove swamps serve as
  nursery grounds for many of Floridas important
  recreational and commercial fish and shellfish

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Red Mangrove
http//www.pbcgov.com/erm/natural/mangroves.htm
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Black Mangrove
http//www.sfrc.ufl.edu/extension/4h/ecosystems/_p
lants/Black_mangrove/index.html
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White Mangrove