Evening Social & Poster Session at
The International Center for Tropical Botany

Tuesday October 29, 6:30pm to 8pm

Poster session abstracts

What a Difference Two Years Makes!
Megan Clouser, U.S. Coast Guard, Civil Engineering Unit Miami, Megan.L.Clouser@uscg.mil

Two years ago, the USCG came to the symposium asking for ideas/suggestions on how to manage a pine rockland that had suffered through years of benign neglect. To date, we have come so far due to a surprise grant, a surprise fire and the removal of over 1000 lbs of hurricane debris left over from Hurricane Andrew. Yes, that Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Now we have to come up with a laundry list of what will happen in the next two years.     

--------------------------------------------------------------

Fire and flooding interact to affect survival of Croton linearis, a rare pine rockland plant
Raelene M. Crandall, Ph.D., School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, University of Florida, raecrandall@ufl.edu, Aerin Land, Everglades National Park, Ben Baiser, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Jennifer Fill, School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, University of Florida, Owen Schneider, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida

Hydrologic regimes strongly influence plant population dynamics over time in seasonally flooded environments, such as those in Everglades pine rocklands. Aspects of the hydrologic regime, such as the seasonal timing, magnitude, and frequency of flooding, should be considered when managing populations of endangered plant species with prescribed fires. The hydrologic regime can modify fire regimes (e.g., frequency, intensity, and severity) and postfire recovery of plants. It is unknown how human-induced changes in fire-flooding interactions affect rare and sensitive species along hydrologic gradients in pine rocklands. For instance, Croton linearis populations have significantly declined after some fires but not others, which concerns Everglades National Park ecologists because C. linearis is the host plant for two endangered butterfly species. We used plant monitoring data collected by Everglades National Park from 2005-2018 to determine how the timing of fire and flooding affects the population viability of C. linearis. The Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN) was used to determine daily water surface levels for each plant population, and fire effects data was used to estimate fire severity. For the five fire and flooding events we examined, C. linearis survival was high when fires occurred well in advance or at least a month after the wet season onset. When C. linearis was burned shortly after the wet season onset, its survival declined significantly. As the wet season began, water depth increased drastically and then fluctuated until rains became more frequent and consistent, moving into late June and July. Thus, C. linearis populations burned shortly after the wet season onset might have experienced large and immediate fluctuations in water depth, likely inundating the resprouting individuals. Flooding events soon after fires have caused mortality in other species, such as sawgrass, particularly if the plants could not begin regrowing before their meristems became inundated. Our results demonstrate that the interactive effects of human-modified fire and hydrologic regimes can have unanticipated impacts on rare plant populations along hydrologic gradients.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Characterization of a Pine Rockland fragment adjacent to BioTECH school
Allie García, 0404482@students.dadeschools.net, Arisai Rodríguez, 0425915@students.dadeschools.net, Camila Recalde, 0725990@students.dadeschools.net, Cristopher Rozas, 0540785@students.dadeschools.net, Fabio Fernández and Cristina Whelan, 0418126@students.dadeschools.net, Biotech High school teacher, cristinawhelan@dadeschools.net

Biotech prides itself as the only conservation magnet school in the US. Adjacent to our campus is a 1 ha pine Rockland fragment at ZooMiami which has not been burned in at least 30 years.   The close access to our campus, and student participation in research courses allow teachers the opportunity to teach authentic projects that encourage hands on experiences. The goals of our project were to introduce students to using forestry techniques and learn about our native pine rocklands; but ultimately assess certain forest parameters such as frequency of plant species (native and exotic), leaf litter depth, percent canopy cover, and pine tree DBH. These factors can provide land managers a baseline of this parcel of forest. We sampled 120 points systematically along 12 50 m transects, sampled every 5 meters.  At each point we identified the plant species intercepting the line, vegetation height, canopy cover at 4 compass points using a densiometer, and leaf litter depth.  If pine trees occurred along the transect, we measured the DBH at 1.4 meters.  We found 34 species.  The most common species were Saw and Sabal palmetto, followed by Dade County Pine, and Poisonwood.  Although a few exotics were found, most of the species found were native. The Leaf Litter Depth, primarily of pine needles ranged from 0 to 65 cm.  Canopy cover ranged from 0 to 90%.  The Subcanopy dominated by palms was quite dense.  DBH ranged from 10-27 cm, No seedlings or saplings were found, perhaps due to the dense canopy cover.

This fragment is going to be burned this summer.  This provides Biotech students the opportunity to learn authentic ecological techniques and their applications in a critically endangered ecosystem before and after a fire.  We hope measuring these variables can also inform land managers on the health of this small parcel. By maintaining a healthy pine rockland we preserve habitat for a variety of plants and pollinators.  Involving students helps make them more aware of our natural areas and why and how we should preserve them. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Effects of Smoke water on Germination and Growth of Ipomoea microdactyla
Sarahi Suarez, Biotech@Richmond Heights High School, 0440573@students.dadeschools.net  and Cristina Whelan, Biotech@Richmond Heights High School, cristinawhelanAdadeschools.net

Ipomoea microdactyla, is a state endangered vine that grows in the critically imperiled Pine Rocklands of South Florida.  Because this species grows in a fire dependent ecosystem, I wanted to investigate if smoke water would increase the seed germination and growth. My experiment is to see how different concentrations of smoke water will affect germination and the growth after germination of  Ipomoea microdactyla. I grew nicked and unnicked seeds under 0% 2.5 % (2.5 g/1000 ml water) and 5% (5 g/1000 ml) smoke water. The smoke water was made using ash from Dade County Slash Pine needles.  I expected to see more germination when using a higher concentration of smoke-water on the Ipomoea seeds.  I also continued measuring growth for over two months of the same plants.  I expected the plants with higher concentrations of smoke water will grow faster than the ones with a lower concentration and no smoke-water because of its natural habitat being in the Pine Rocklands. I found the most germination occurred with nicked seeds grown with smoke water compared to the control (unnicked /nicked 0% smoke water). Most growth occurred under 5% smoke water.  If smoke water improves germination, this may be useful for conserving this species.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Camp Choee Preserve, A Case Study of Conservation Through Regulation
Christina Stocking, Miami-Dade County -DERM, Christina.Stocking@miamidade.gov, Brian Diaz, Miami-Dade County -DERM, Brian.Diaz@miamidade.gov  

Miami-Dade County’s Tree and Forest Resources Section (TFRS) at DERM has long been involved in preserving pine rockland habitat on private properties through regulation, specifically though its Natural Forest Community (NFC) and Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Covenant programs. For the first time, however, TFRS has recently acquired a 12.8-acre parcel of pine rockland called “Camp Choee” by utilizing funds from the Miami-Dade County Tree Trust Fund (TTF). TFRS has assumed the responsibility for its restoration and management. This presentation will detail the process by which the Camp Choee preserve was acquired as well as the plans for its restoration.

 --------------------------------------------------------------

Development of Habitat Protection Plans for Miami Dade County’s Natural Areas
Lauren Trotta  PhD, lbtrotta@gmail.com, Jennifer Possley, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, James Duncan, MDC EEL, DERM, RER, Joy Klein, MDC MDC EEL, DERM, RER, Janet Gil, MDC MDC EEL, DERM, RER

Habitat management plans are an essential tool for clearly defining goals and objectives as well as communicating standards and expectations for the cooperative processes of managing and restoring natural areas. Natural area management and restoration does not occur in isolation, so well-crafted plans need to consider both the ecological and social context of the area of focus.  Miami Dade County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands Program has recently undertaken a process to update Natural Areas Protection Plans for many parks that are essential pieces of the pine rockland habitat outside of Everglades National Park. This effort has focused on comparing and harmonizing information from multiple existing pine rockland habitat management plans as well as global standards for adaptive management best practices. The result of this process is a generalized adaptive management structure that can be tailored to the diverse needs of individual habitats and parks. Tropical Park Pineland Preserve – 5 acres of remnant pine rockland habitat that exemplifies many of the multifaceted challenges faced by urban fragments of native habitat – is the first natural area to receive an updated Natural Area Protect Plan following the new framework. Here we will review the process we undertook to draft an updated Natural Area Protection Plan, and discuss our application of this plan to the Tropical Park Pineland Preserve.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Sabal miamiensis: New Insights and Discoveries
Daniel A. Tucker, FIU & Montgomery Botanical Center, Dtuck019@FIU.edu 

Sabal miamiensis (Arecaceae) is a critically endangered, Florida endemic palm species found exclusively in the Pine Rockland and Pine Scrub habitats of Southeastern Florida. Since its discovery, it has been theorized to be nearly extinct in the wild. To pinpoint any remaining wild populations, we developed a protocol that utilizes open-source citizen science, remotely sensed imagery, and LiDAR to generate a map of sites to search that have the highest probability of containing extant populations. Additionally, historical collections, observations, and maps were used to define the historic range, lending further confidence to the selected sites. The outcome revealed numerous promising discoveries, including an area on the fringes of its range that harbors a thriving, albeit small, population of this remarkable palm species. This intersection of technology and botany offers a renewed sense of optimism for the conservation of S. miamiensis and the importance of Pine Rockland conservation. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Understanding the Genetics and Morphology of Casuarina (Australian Pine) Species and their Interspecific Hybrids
Danielle Wahl, PhD student in Biological Sciences (soon to be PhD candidate), Florida International University, dwahl006@fiu.edu

My research aims to investigate the ecological impact and proliferation of the highly invasive tree genus, Casuarina, commonly known as Australian Pine, within the ecosystems of Florida, specifically C. equisetifolia, C. glauca, and C. cunninghamiana and their interspecific hybrids. Casuarina’s fast growth rate, salt tolerance, and nitrogen-fixing capabilities, combined with its resilience to grow in diverse soil types, have facilitated its widespread colonization, particularly in coastal and disturbed environments. These traits contribute to Casuarina’s ability to invade and dominate various regions, especially in coastal and disturbed areas. I seek to understand how Casuarina populations are changing over time genetically, morphologically, and spatially to determine key environmental factors and historical disturbance events are contributing to the vigor and spread of Casuarina species and their interspecific hybrids and how it impacts native ecosystems. My project seeks to describe the genetic population of Casuarina species in South Florida, describe the morphological traits of these different genotypes and their hybrids, and determine whether these novel interspecific hybrids are colonizing in a more aggressive manner than the genotypes that were originally introduced in the late 19th century through the mid 20th century.