ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY


 NO. 24 SAWGRASS MARSH


OCCURRENCE

The Sawgrass Marsh ecological community occurs south of Lake Okeechobee in the
area known as the Everglades. Individual communities vary widely in size.
The large communities are many thousands of acres in size. Smaller sawgrass
marsh areas outside the Everglades are included in Ecological Community No.
25 Freshwater Marsh and Ponds.

DESCRIPTION

This community appears as an open expanse of sawgrass in an area where the
soil is saturated or covered with surface water during part of the year.

1. -Soils

 Soils commonly associated with this community are nearly level and very
 poorly drained with marly or organic surfaces underlain by limestone.
 Representative soils are Hialeah, Loxahatchee, Ochopee, Pahokee and
 Plantation. Appendix A contains information on correlation of soil series
 with the appropriate ecological community.

2. Vegetation

 The natural vegetation of this community is dominated by sawgrass. Muhly
 grass increases and become obvious when the sawgrass is repeatedly exposed
 to fire and the hydroperiod is shortened. With natural conditions, the
 vigorous sawgrass is 6 to 10 feet tall and of such density that few other
 plants can survive. Other marsh plants invade the sawgrass where marginal
 conditions occur for sawgrass growth. These conditions include shallow
 organic soils and areas where the period of water submergence is short.
 Trees are not characteristic of this community, but a few may occur on the
 banks of gator holes.

 Plants that characterize this community are:

 GRASSES Gulf muhly, Muhlenbergia capillaris var. filipes; Jamaica
 sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense; Plume grass, Erianthus spp.

 HERBACEOUS Pickerelweed, Pontederia cordata and Pontederia lanceolata

 Information about plants which occur in specific ecological communities is
 in Appendix B.

 3. Animals

 Numerous birds use this community for wintering or year round. Frogs,
 snails, and crayfish are common and serve as food for larger animals.
 Animals that commonly occur in this community include:

 MAMMALS Deer