Terrestrial Habitat Research

Terrestrial Habitat researchers study the ecology and management of Florida’s forest, savanna, and ephemeral wetland ecosystems, which are essential to wildlife and biodiversity conservation.  Fire features prominently in nearly everything we do, as many of Florida’s most diverse terrestrial ecosystems are fire-dependent. Over the last century. the widespread practice of fire suppression caused the degradation of many of Florida’s fire-dependent terrestrial ecosystems, leading to the loss of both plant and animal biodiversity.  Our lab helps support conservation in Florida through applied research that improves our understanding of plant community ecology in fire-dependent terrestrial ecosystems, helps develop techniques for successfully and safely restoring Florida’s terrestrial ecosystems, and informs strategies for propagating and reintroducing native plant species to sites where they have been extirpated.

Johanna Freeman, PhD
Team Leader/Research Scientist

Amber Gardner, PhD
Assistant Research Scientist

Shawn Clemons
Lab Manager/Research Assistant

Lauren Trotta
Data Analyst/Research Associate

Clara Williams
Research Assistant

Courtney Carroll
Research Assistant

Peer-Reviewed papers

• Moreno-García, P., Freeman, J.E., Baiser, B., Campbell, J.W. and Li, D., 2025. Resource availability and competition shape pollinator trophic specialization in longleaf pine savannas. Basic and Applied Ecology, 83, pp.118-127.
• Freeman, J.E. and Trotta, L.B., 2024. Priority effects and competitive exclusion by C4 grasses on longleaf pine savanna restoration sites. Restoration Ecology, 32(4), p.e14089.
• Moreno‐García, P., Freeman, J.E., Campbell, J.W., Broadbent, E.N., Almeyda Zambrano, A.M., Prata, G., de Almeida, D.R., Gilb, S. and Baiser, B., 2024. Plant‐mediated effects of fire and fragmentation drive plant–pollinator interaction β‐diversity in fire‐dependent pine savannas. Oikos, 2024(1), p.e10212.
• Freeman, J., Kobziar, L., Leone, E., and K. Williges. 2019. Drivers of plant functional group richness and beta-diversity in fire-dependent pine savannas. Diversity and Distributions 25(7): 1024 – 1044.
• Freeman, J., Kobziar, L., Rose, E. and W. Cropper. 2017. A critique of the historical-fire-regime concept in conservation.  Conservation Biology 31(5): 976-985.
• Freeman, J., Williges, K., Gardner, A., and E. Leone. 2017. Plant functional group composition on restored longleaf pine – wiregrass (Pinus palustris – Aristida stricta) savannas with a history of intensive agriculture.  Natural Areas Journal 37(4): 434-456.

Plant List (Native Florida Species Found In Undisturbed Ecosystems)
The Terrestrial Habitat Plant List, complete with images, includes information such as each species' region, ecosystem type, interesting facts (including edibility, history, medicinal uses, etc), and plant family.

Contact Terrestrial Habitat
Contact information for the FWC's Terrestrial Habitat Research program.