hi welcome to one of the highest
habitats in the Everglades the hardwood
hammock we're standing on a limestone
ridge known as the Miami rockridge or
the Atlantic costal Ridge that is a
mountain for the flat landscape of south
florida the hardwood hammock is one of
the few places that stays dry year-round
a hardwood hammock is like an island of
emerald forest that pops up around the
Everglades each hammock is unique
they come in different sizes and they
have different combinations of plants
hardwood refers to a broadleaf trees
it is also called tropical because most
hammock plants in Everglades National
Park are from the tropics
so there you have it a tropical hardwood
hammock but why is a kind of yannick oh
right
hammock is an old word that means high
ground small family groups of first
colusa Indians and later seminoles and
miccosukee Indians captain the hammocks
throughout the Everglades even planted
crops in there
let's go and check it out
ok I think wall of tangled vegetation
fringes the hammock because it gets so
much Sun on the outside
lucky for us that a few hammocks are
bisected with trails the trails over
here
so what do you think now that we're
inside it's a lot cooler in here from
all the shades there's so much canopy
cover here I look at the airplanes the
hammock can be a few degrees cooler
during the hot summer look up and you
can see why mature hammocks have big
tall trees that form a closed canopy
overhead the canopies like a sunshade
that reduces the amount of sunlight
inside the hammock if you look down
you'll see the life-form floor has quite
a few solutions the brown water in the
superbowl really turns up the humidity
in here remember that impenetrable wall
on the outside I remember that wall is
like a wind deflector winds will dry
everything out including the soil so
you're saying that the hammocks have
wind protection from the edge some
protection from the canopy and high
humidity from the groundwater right and
all that adds up to a very moist and
humid hammock the greatness of spongy
here
this spongy organic soil of of the
limestone creates these big trees burns
masses for media's and orchids all
thrive in this moist environment
what creates all the solution holes
those big holes are the result of the
tropical storms and hurricanes that
happen every summer wet season in the
Everglades fierce winds can rip out tall
canopy trees who shallow roots are
entangled with the limestone rock it's
like ripping out route cables from the
ground which also takes out chunks of
limestone
natural weathering from water and
chemical religion is also slowly
dissolving away the softer limestone
this whole will have water during the
wet season creating a home for small
fish prey fish and invertebrates these
moist hammock islands are also a fire
sensitive habitat which means they do
not like fire but hammocks are embedded
in fire dependent habitats like prairies
and pilots
fire generally stops that be hammock
adjudged because of the moist shady
conditions inside fire burns hammocks
only under very rare extremely dry
conditions fire can cook the hammock
tree roots and burn that rich soil you
learn more about fire later there are so
many cool implants but the ground looks
pretty open inside the hammock good
observation the ground underneath the
understory is very sparse to lack of
sunlight
here's a gumbo limbo look underneath the
bark and what do you see that green part
has chlorophyll to carry out
photosynthesis just like a leaf
and here is delightful aroma tree-filled
smooth bark
oh yeah it's really smooth oh not a
snail I you found the Florida tree snail
right now it's tucked inside its shell
and glued to the tree this is how they
conserve moisture during the dry season
soon when the wet season comes around
the tree snails will become active and
start grazing on tiny likens that grow
on the hammock trees
that reminds me of the strangler big the
strangler fig begin life as a small
seedling going on a tree branch or crown
the seedlings roots grow downward and
envelop the whole street at the same
time the seedling grows upward to reach
the canopy layer what happens to the
whole story sometimes in this but other
times it dies leaving just a hollow
memory that's pretty cool
who lives here besides tree snails and
solution whole creators tropical
hardwood hammocks provide great cover
for animals to avoid the intense heat of
summer wicked summer storms fires and
occasional winter freezes
most of the tropical plants provide
fruits for birds to eat who also
disperse the seeds
during spring and fall migration
migrating birds stopover in the hammock
to rest and refuel during their long
journey
the hammock day shift might include
lizards snakes and butterflies like the
zebra longwing
the night shift might include barred
owls small rodents bats and even the
endangered Florida panther
this hardwood hammock at royal palm is
part of the reason that everglades
national park was formed early explorers
were attracted and awed by the unique
tropical nature and plant diversity of
the hardwood hammock
they rallied to great royal palm state
park in 1916 this early conservation
effort led up to the establishment of
Everglades National Park in 1947
wow this is a fascinating mix of plants
animals and people all coming together
well you'll see more hammock trees in
the next habitat but there will be a lot
smaller
you've got lots to learn good luck
thank you for showing me around the
hardwood hammock it was my pleasure by g
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