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Along both coasts of southern Florida, scattered throughout the Everglades, and especially
in the Florida Keys, there exist dense, vine-entangled forests called tropical hardwood
hammocks. Geologists believe their origin dates back some 110-120 thousand years ago,
when coral reefs were exposed by receding ancient seas. Deprived of its life-giving
seawater, the living coral soon died, leaving slowly fossilizing limestone behind to
support some of Florida's - even North America's - rarest plant and animal communities.
Struggling for existence on the same rocky substrate as the tropical hardwood hammocks is
another rare plant community known as pine rocklands. Dominated by hardy south
Florida slash pines, the pine rockland community inhabits fossilized coral limestones
where frequent ground fires are the norm. The different burning frequencies of hammocks
and pinelands play a major role in maintaining the natural balance between these linked
but distinctly different habitats. Without fire, the hammock understory would eventually
take over the pineland and change it into a hardwood hammock.
The tropical hardwood hammock is a self-maintaining community that usually remains untouched by fire or flood. These tiny "islands" support over 20 species of broad-leafed trees, shrubs, and vines, most of which are native to the West Indies. Subject to thin soils and relatively low rainfall in a tropical climate, tropical hardwood hammocks form a low canopy beneath which is a dense, sometimes impenetrable tangle of shrubs and vines. Hidden in the hammocks are some of Florida's rarest and most beautiful animal life.
Historically, tropical hammocks were found as far north as Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic coast and to the mouth of the Manatee River on the Gulf coast. These more northerly hammocks had unique characteristics all their own. Today, most of the northern hammocks have been destroyed, leaving only remnant stands in south Florida, mostly in the Florida Keys.
This publication highlights a few of the many unusual aspects of Florida's tropical hardwood hammocks, with the hope that this special habitat will be around for future generations of Floridians.
The connection between wildlife and wildlands is finally being realized by many Floridians. The tropical hardwood hammock and its inhabitants are inseparably linked, just as all of Florida's wildlife depends on suitable habitat for survival.
To learn more, please read on and enjoy your adventure in Florida's tropical hardwood hammocks. Fascinating Wildlife of the Hammock
PLACES TO VISIT Southeast Florida Hammocks John D. MacArthur Beach State Park: (561) 624-6950 Gumbo Limbo Nature Center: (561) 338-1473 Hugh Taylor Birch State Park: (954) 564-4521 Fern Forest Nature Center: (954) 970-0150 Southwest Florida Hammocks Collier-Seminole State Park: (239) 394-3397 South Florida Hammocks Charles Deering Estate: (305) 235-1668 Crane Point Hammock: (305) 743-9100 Everglades National Park: (305) 242-7700 John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park: (305) 451-1202 Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park: (305) 664-2540 National Key Deer Wildlife Refuge: No Name Key (305) 872-0774 Bahia Honda State Park: (305) 872-2353
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