BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 38 PT. I(3)


UPLANDS


POND BASIN


ORGANIC LAYER


UPLANDS


 ZONES

HP= High
 Pine

 Xeric
XH=
XH- Hammock


 Evergreen
E=
 Shrub


D= Dry
 Meadow

A Bluestem
 Grasses

H Sandweed

S= Sedge
 Prairie

W= Water Lily


Figure 1. Plant community structure in temporary pond basins.



each study pond varied depending on water depth or, if ponds were dry, on how
recently ponds had held water. Rhynchospora spp. and members of the family
Eriocaulaceae were the most common plants in the Sedge Prairie Zone after
Panicum hemitomon. These species were co-dominant in flooded ponds and those
recently dried (ANF and WREC ponds, OS) and less common in ponds that had
been dry longer. Rhexia mariana var. mariana occurred as part of the Dry
Meadow Zone. Two shrubs, Ilex glabra and Cephalanthus occidentalis, were also
"constant" species in the study ponds. They are typical members of the Evergreen
Shrub Zone and are indicative of a lack of fire in at least part of the basin.
 The most common species, and their representative patterns of zonation, have
been described from other ponds with fluctuating water levels in similar habitats
on the lower coastal plain (Huffman 1982; Abrahamson et al. 1984; Lynch et al.
1986; Botts and Cowell 1988; Bridges and Orzell 1989). The most common
overlap between the study ponds and the literature were the grasses, sedges and
herbs of the Water Lily and Sedge Prairie Zones such as species of Panicum,
Rhynchospora, Xyris, and the Eriocaulaceae. Other dominant species frequently
mentioned in the literature were Hypericum fasciculatum and H. myrtifolium