Transitional habitats transform into forests
Sometimes, things are not always as they seem. At
rst glance, this area may look like a grassy prairie.
Indeed, this habitat does seem to be devoid of trees;
the legacy of the widespread harvest of the valuable
longleaf pine timber that once covered much of the
Southeast. In the fall, it will be lled with brilliantly
bushy lopsided Indian grass and chalky bluestem
swaying their uffy tops in the breeze. Brilliantly hued
wildowers pop up, with splashes of yellow and pink
attracting colorful butteries. Indeed most of the plants
here grow low to the ground and, with the exception of
the pointy palmettos mixed in, few trees can be found.
But return in a few years and the landscape may
tell an entirely different story. The habitat here is a
transitional one, moving from one type of system
and transforming into another. Historically, much of
Duette Preserve’s lands were either scrub, mixed
hardwood forest, or atwoods. This particular area
was atwoods up until the 1920s, and part of the site’s
restoration is to return it to that habitat. While this area
may currently look like a grassland, closer inspection
will reveal baby pine trees pushing up and ready to
reclaim the area as a full atwoods. Before the trees,
and the land, fully mature though it will move through
a succession of habitats as it undergoes growth
toward its nal form.
As the trees become more dominant, the land will
take on the appearance of a savanna, or a habitat
that is a mix of both grasses and trees. Succession,
the process of change in the species structure of
the ecological community over time, can happen
due to a variety of changes. Disturbances, such
as natural events like re and weather events, or
human driven like logging, drive the change. Here
at Duette, succession happens most often after
prescribed re has been applied to the land. In this
area, re will clear the way for new trees to grow,
providing space and activating seeds that are heat
dependent. Because re is part of the land’s natural
cycle, many species depend upon it to grow. Species
are adapted to survive re; as the baby pines sprout
and then slowly grow, their grass stage has thick
needles to protect them from the re. As they get
older, thick bark serves the same purpose. Since the
re moves through the system in a mosaic pattern,
not everything is burned, insuring that resources
are left for the wildlife that inhabit the system. Over
time, regular use of prescribed re, mimicking the
natural cycle of re that would normally occur here,
will help to transform this area back to its original
atwoods state.
Lopsided Indian Grass
Photo by Mary Keim
Photo by Shirl Hamilton