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The pine rocklands are a critically imperiled ecosystem located in southern Florida, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Cuba.Its location in south Florida and throughout the Caribbean Archipelago straddles the southern and northern ends of the temperate and tropical flora ranges, respectively. [4]
The globally imperiled pine rockland community, which also encompassed the Florida Keys and The Bahamas, supported numerous endemic plant species; 20 percent occur nowhere else in the world. [7] The communities of the Miami Rock Ridge are maintained by wildfires, including natural fires caused by lightning strikes; this affects the vegetation ...
The most significant feature of the pine rockland ecosystem is the South Florida slash pine (Pinus elliotti var densa; also called Dade County pine) that reaches a height of 22 feet (6.7 m). Pine rockland communities require fire for maintenance; they have adapted to promote and resist fire at the same time. [50]
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Miami-Dade County was once covered in 186,000 acres (290.6 sq mi; 752.7 km 2) of pine rockland forests, but most of it was harvested by the lumber industry. [30] Pineland ecosystems (or pine rocklands) are characterized by shallow, dry sandy loam over a limestone substrate covered almost exclusively by slash pines (Pinus elliottii var. densa).
The Key deer is restricted to pine rocklands and tropical hardwood hammocks on Big Pine Key. Both the Key Largo cotton mouse and the Key Largo woodrat are endemic to tropical hardwood hammocks on Key Largo in the upper Florida Keys. The Stock Island tree snail is historically known only from hammocks on Stock Island and Key West.
While pine rocklands are maintained by fire, Burma reed can reach 12 feet (3.7 m) tall and burns so hot and high—flames can reach 30 feet (9.1 m)—that it can eradicate the native Pinus elliottii var. densa or slash pine. It spreads prolifically; one plant can produce 120,000 seeds. [21] [24] [30] [31] Hydrilla verticillata
In southern Florida, in Miami-Dade County, including Everglades National Park, it is a serious threat to the globally imperiled pine rocklands community whose pine canopy was largely destroyed in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew. Burma reed is a highly combustible fuel source because of its high overall plant mass, its large feathery flower plumes, and ...