Characterization of Southern Florida Marsh Vegetation

Jennifer H. Richards1

Tom Philippi1P. Kalla2 and D. Scheidt3

1Dept. of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 2U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Science and Ecosystem Support

Division, Athens, GA 3U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Water Management Division,

Athens, GA

Characterization of Southern Florida Marsh Vegetation Using a Landscape

Scale Random Sample: R-EMAP Phase III Vegetation Sampling.

• Sampled 111 sites in spring 2005, 119 sites in fall 2005, 230 total

• Parameters sampled at each site, where possible:– Biogeochemical (soil,

surface and pore-water nutrients/mercury/physical parameters)

– Plant species presence and vegetation mapping

– Fish (fall only)– Invertebrates (fall only)– Periphyton (fall only)

R-EMAP Sampling Design

Plant Species Sampling• Plant Community

Analysis• Exotic Plant Species

Surveys– Survey on fly-in– Survey from

helicopter pontoons

Plant Community Analysis:

• Species presence in 20 (¼ m2) quadratsdistributed along 10 m N-S transect 5 m west of sampling point

• Additional transect to reflect additional diversity within 50m radius at site

• Sawgrass density counted and l x w of longest leaf measured in 3rd m2

Transect 1 Transect 2

20 (0.25) m2 quadrats

Sawgrass density

S N

• 230 sites visited (111 spring, 119 fall)– 114 sites had transect 2

• 187 species encountered (including 4 unknowns)– 173 on transect 1– 106 on transect 2– 14 species present on transect 2 but not on

transect 1

Plant Community Analysis

Species Occurrence, Transect 1

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Species

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These 133 species (77%) occurred at10 or fewer sites

Sawgrss (Cladium jamaicense)

Two species of Utricularia

173 taxa distributed among 230 sites (111 spring, 119 fall)

Agglomerative hierarchical clustering of primary transect data:5 groups recognized

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Muhlenbergia Cladium Typha Eleocharis Nymphaea(muhly) (sawgrass) (cattail) (spikerush) (water lily)

Species IV % pMuhly group

Muhlenbergia capillaris 89.1 89 0.0002Panicum tenerum 59.1 75 0.0002Centella asiatica 52.4 54 0.0002Symphyotrichum bracei 48.5 50 0.0002Pluchea rosea 44.6 54 0.0002Rhynchospora microcarpa 36.7 57 0.0002Solidago stricta 35.7 36 0.0002Cassytha filiformis 35.6 36 0.0002Schizachyrium rhizomatum 35.3 36 0.0002Polygala grandiflora 32.1 32 0.0002

Muhly group is most species rich:

28 sites, 47 species, 41 significant indicator species;But note, also, sawgrass is present at 100% of these sites

Sawgrass group is most common but is species poor:

102 sites, 7 species, 2 significant indicator species;

Species IV % pSawgrass group

Cladium jamaicense 34.8 100 0.0002Cephalanthus occidentalis 13.3 19 0.0206

Species IV % pSpikerush group

Eleocharis cellulosa 68.8 92 0.0002Bacopa caroliniana 60.9 75 0.0002Rhynchospora tracyi 35.8 44 0.0002Panicum hemitomon 34.3 60 0.0002Sagittaria lancifolia 20.4 48 0.0094Paspalidium geminatum 15.0 37 0.0194Rhynchospora inundata 10.8 13 0.024Justicia angusta 13.5 27 0.0344

Spikerush group is next most abundant and diverse:

52 sites, 18 species, 8 significant indicator species;

Species IV % pWater lily group

Nymphaea odorata 74.0 100 0.0002Utricularia purpurea 55.0 90 0.0002Utricularia gibba 43.7 79 0.0002Eleocharis elongata 35.6 41 0.0002Nymphoides aquatica 25.4 34 0.0002Utricularia foliosa 31.3 72 0.0004

Water lily group has floating-leaved and submerged or free-floating aquatics

29 sites, 10 species, 6 significant indicator species, including 3 rootless, aquatic bladderwort species

Species IV % pCattail group

Typha domingensis 88.8 95 0.0002Polygonum hydropiperoides 43.3 47 0.0002Salix caroliniana 25.1 26 0.0002Sarcostemma clausum 12.6 16 0.0056Salvinia minima 9.0 11 0.0172Pontederia cordata 16.1 26 0.02

Cattail group is least abundant

19 sites, 10 species, 6 significant indicator species, including exotics, shrubs and vines

Muhly groupSawgrass groupCattail groupSpikerush groupWater Lily group

NMS Ordination of Sites:

3Dimensions with 80% of information; groups separate but with overlap

• Muhly group is very distinct;

• Cattail group is dispersed;

• Sawgrass, spikerush and water lily groups overlap but occupy different sectors of ordination space.


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Species distributions among clusters reflectboth overlap and distinctions among groups

Cladium

Muhlenbergia

Nymphaea

Eleocharis


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• Soil Variables• Thickness• pH• Bulk Density*• Ash Free Dry Weight*• Total P• Total N*• Total C*

• Hydrology Variables• Wet Season Water Depth*• Dry Season Water Depth*• Average Hydroperiod• No. Week-long Drydowns

Four environmental variables, r2 > 0.20, correlate most strongly to a single axis

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(Scheidt andKalla 2007)

(Scheidt &Kalla 2007)


• Soil Variables• Thickness• pH• Bulk Density• Ash Free Dry Weight• Total P*• Total N• Total C

• Hydrology Variables• Wet Season Water Depth• Dry Season Water Depth• Average Hydroperiod• No. Week-long Drydowns

But Total P in soil correlates to another axis, r2 = 0.309

TP

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Combined correlations for the environmental variables are seen in the third dimension

TP

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• Soil Variables• Thickness• pH• Bulk Density*• Ash Free Dry Weight• Total P*• Total N*• Total C*

• Hydrology Variables• Wet Season Water Depth*• Dry Season Water Depth*• Average Hydroperiod• No. Week-long Drydowns

Removing outliers removes TP as a significant correlate, reduces axes to 2D, changes species composition of the cattail group and classifies

more sites in the water lily group

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• Soil Variables• Thickness• pH• Bulk Density*• Ash Free Dry Weight*• Total P• Total N*• Total C*

• Hydrology Variables• Wet Season Water Depth*• Dry Season Water Depth*• Average Hydroperiod• Maximum Hyrdroperiod• No. Week-long Drydowns

Species Distributions Across the Landscape

The Everglades is the River of (Saw)Grass

Sawgrass Leaf Length vs. Density by Region

Culms per m2

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R2y = 0.6973x + 107.15= 0.0359

R2y = 0.0929x + 186.78= 0.0013

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Sawgrass, ENPSawgrass, north

Sawgrass morphology and culm density have unimodal (not bimodal) distributions;

morphology but not density varies across the landscape

Sawgrass Leaf Length by Region

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ENP WCA2, 3LOX

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Other common species are unevenly distributed

White water lily is sparse in ENP1999 2005

Conclusions• Everglades marsh plant associations can be broadly

delimited into 5 communities that separate out along a hydrologic gradient

• The muhly and water lily groups are distinct and form the end-points of this environmental gradient; muhly and water lily make good indicator species for these groups.

• The other species associations show lots of overlap and grade into each other along the hydrologic gradient

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Conclusions• A cattail association varies along a

separate environmental gradient that correlates with soil TP; this association has sites that are both natural and nutrient impacted.

• Sawgrass shows broad tolerances of hydrological and biogeochemical conditions and is present and abundant throughout the entire Everglades, whereas other species have more restricted distributions.

• Both water lily distribution and sawgrass morphology reflect on a landscape scale the drier, shallower environment in ENP as compared to the WCAs; these conditions should change with restoration.

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Acknowledgements• Paul Groff, Diana Van Dillewijn, Ana

Castellanos, Walter Zagarra, Marlene Dow• Morris Flexner, Chris Decker, and the rest

of the EPA plant sampling team• The Institute for Regional Conservation

Documents

Characterization of Southern Florida Marsh Vegetation