March 13: Archbold Biological Station
Archbold Biological Station is located on the Florida Ridge, the second highest elevation in Florida, a towering 200+ feet above sea level! While this seems insignificant to most people who are accustomed to thousands of feet of elevation, this height was substantial enough to prevent this part of Florida from being covered with water during recent interglacial periods. As a result, the area was isolated as several islands, and much of the plant and animal life is found nowhere else on earth. A harsh, inland environment with deep sands, very little vegetation can survive without substantial and often remarkable adaptations to this environment, named the “Florida scrub.” The area for miles and miles and miles is surrounded by citrus groves which have encroached during the past several decades, leaving very little of “old” Florida untouched.
AMANDA ENGELHARD:
“At Archbold Biological Station we witnessed the effects of fires on a scrub habitat. The area at the beginning of the trail had been burned less than two years ago as part of a controlled burning plan to maintain the fire-dependant habitat. After a burn the habitat opens up for colonization by new plants. Incidentally some of these plants are non-native species. The plants that out tour guide pointed out were Caesar Weed, which was a tall plant with brown burrs on it, Rosary Pea, which has a brown pod with red seeds with a black dot on them, and Air Potatoes, which are a vine that winds up the trunks of trees and has a fruit that looks like a potato. Many of the native plant species are able to reclaim their territory after some time because they are better adapted to the environment, especially when fires occur.”
JENNI EMMONS:
“The first thing I noticed about our guide, Rick, was his shirt covered in tracks of native species. This was appropriate because of all the tracks that we found in the sand of the nature trails. We saw tracks of cottontail rabbit, mouse, millipede, armadillo, raccoon, black bear, and bobcat. Though there was evidence of many animals in the scrub habitat none were seen. Well, except for Dr. Carrier. I was standing with the professors as the group continued along, looking for a pileated woodpecker that could be heard but not seen. All of a sudden Dr. Carrier made an excited noise; I looked but was too slow and missed what had caused the excitement. Dr. Carrier had seen a bobcat run across an adjacent trail; it had been flushed out by the group that had continued down the trail. No one would have believed him had Rick not verified that the tracks Dr. Carrier found where it had crossed were indeed bobcat tracks. The evidence of animals but their absence during the day reminds me of deserts. Scrub habitat is very dry so this makes sense. Species that thrive in scrub habitat must have water conserving mechanisms, and for most animals being active at night as opposed to the day is a good way to minimize water loss.”
MEGAN HINZ:
“During a search for the elusive Gopher Tortoise we came across a burnt plot in which we found three crispy specimens. Over the past week we have been learning about the importance of prescribed burning on vegetation, but here we had the opportunity to view a very different effect on animals. Our friendly scrub ranger, Rick, suggested that the shells where most likely placed with in close proximity to each other by a researcher during a survey, but it was unknown if these tortoises perished in the same fire. The fact that we were unable to find one live tortoise, but found three empty shells speaks for its self. The Gopher Tortoise is hard to find in general, but what impact has burning had on their overall population? Ranger Rick never really answered my question on the matter, but he did tell me that Gopher Tortoises are generally safe in their burrows, if they can get to them. But Gopher Tortoises weren’t the only remains present, we found charred snake, which could have perished from being too close to extreme heat rather then burning. But burning doesn’t always have such a negative consequence for all critters; take the Florida Scrub Jay for example. The Scrub Jay is native only to this area and depends greatly on open post burn conditions to thrive. In 1995 prescribed burning had a positive impact on the birds’ re-colonization in 1995. We did learn that burning can be a naturally occurring phenomenon and the demise of these Gopher Tortoises might just be chalked up as another fatality in nature.”
AUDRA MASTERNAK:
“One of the first things I noticed when we were traveling to the Archbold Biological Station was the widespread, thick groves of citrus. Plopped right in the middle of these vast groves was Archbold. The citrus groves were placed in the scrub land because of the sandy environment which stabilizes the roots and holds the tree upright in place. Although seeming surrounded, our path guide, Rick, told us Archbold actually had more than 5,000 acres of preserved land, however, not all connected. This is a problem for many of the organisms living in this environment. The division of scrubland by citrus trees (displaces) native trees and land, making it unusable for some species to thrive in such small treks of land. Although protected on paper and by law, pesticides and other chemicals are not stopped from traveling into this rare area, thriving with growth endemic only to Florida. This makes me wonder what is going to become of the scrubland and all the unique animals that exist only here. Will the scrub be totally shut out by the citrus or will we be able to save this rare habitat for the future?”
