LACLAIRE: UPLAND TEMPORARY POND VEGETATION IN FLORIDA


gopher tortoise burrows on site near the ponds (R. Franz pers. comm) but has not
been studied in its breeding habitat.
 The history of pond drying and re-filling at each site was obtained from
knowledgeable sources whenever possible. Unfortunately, hydrologic data were
only partially available for the study ponds. The ANF ponds had the longest
known hydroperiod and the OSMP ponds the shortest. Since the hydroperiod of
each pond could not be compared, inferences about hydrology are based on the only
variable known for each pond, months since the pond had held water when it was
sampled.

 Apalachicola National Forest.-- The Apalachicola study area is located in a
region called the Lake Munson Hills on the northwestern portion of the Woodville
Karst Plain and in the extreme northeastern corner of the ANF (USDA 1984). The
study ponds, ANF-1, ANF-3, and ANF-4, have formed on depressions located on
well-drained Ortega sands. These ponds are described in an article by Means
(1990). The surrounding forest is composed of native longleaf pine (Pinus
palustris) with some slash (P. elliotti) and loblolly pine (P. taeda) and is managed
for timber production by the USDA Forest Service. A few scattered oaks surround
the pond basins.

 Katharine Ordway Preserve-Carl Swisher Memorial Sanctuary.-- The
OSMP is located on the Interlachen Karst Plain at the southern flank of Trail
Ridge in western Putnam County (Franz and Hall 1991). This is an area of
extensive sandhills underlain by well to excessively drained Candler-Apopka soils.
The vegetation surrounding the five OSMP ponds and the adjacent RP consisted of
longleaf pine/turkey oak (Quercus laevis) forests and xeric oak hammocks that are
typical elements of sandhill communities.
 From the Soil Survey of Putnam County (Readle 1990), some discrimination of
soil types can be made in the pond basins. Gopher Pond, BP, and HP were mapped
as Placid fine sand, depressional. This soil is in depressional areas on the uplands
and has a high available water capacity in the surface layer. Gopher Pond and BP
are on the outer fringes of lake basins, and under extreme high water, perhaps a
hundred year flood, they would be contiguous with them (USGS map, circa 1935).
Harry Prairie Pond is at the outer edge of a wet prairie system but separated from it
by a low sand ridge. A connection with the prairie would be possible under
extreme high water. Dry Pond was mapped as Ona fine sand, a poorly drained soil
typical of ponded areas. One Shot Pond was the only pond in which the soil of the
pond basin was not specifically described, because it was improperly mapped as a
perennial pond by the Putnam County soil survey (Readle 1990).

 Welaka Research and Education Center.-- The WREC lies to the east of the
St. John's River valley on an isolated ridge of Candler-Apopka soils and sandhill
and scrub vegetation (Readle 1990). The study ponds, WE-5, WE-6, and WE-11,