Maritime Forest Environments Develop under the influence of

Maritime Forest Environments • Develop under the influence of salt aerosols • Restricted distribution • Shear edge created by salt aerosols

Maritime Forests Maritime forest Tidal marsh and creek

Maritime Forest Environments • Species adapted to: – Low salt aerosols – low soil nutrients – sandy soils

Maritime Forest Environments • Salt aerosols control location and structure of the maritime forest

Maritime Forest Characteristics • Low height growth • Species “selected” for tolerance to salts

Maritime Forest Environments • Vines and lianas common • Tree leaves small, thick, evergreen

Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)

Bear oak (Quercus illicifolia) common along New England maritime-influence forests

Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata) Common in Mid-Atlantic maritime forests

Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) ocean Salt aerosol damage

American Holly (Ilex opaca)

Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) Loblolly pine is the most common pine in the maritime forest. It typically is successional and is replaced by live or laurel oak in the southeastern US.

Wax Myrtle (Myrica pennsylvanica) • Northern Bayberry is common in thickets and forests from Cape Hatteras northward into New England • Bayberry candles are made from the waxy coating on the berries

Red Bay (Persea borbonia) Grapes (Vitis spp. )

Woodbine (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) Dogwood (Cornus florida) Poison Ivy (Rhus toxicodendron)

Partridge Berry (Mitchella repens)

Resurrection Fern (Polypodium polypoidies) Fern with adequate moisture Fern during drought conditions

Development of Maritime Forests • Develop on coastal dune systems • Sterile sandy soils • Hummocky topography • Begin as scattered shrubs

Natural Impacts on Maritime Forests Impact of hurricanes on maritime forest vegetation. Pines are typically snapped off; cabbage palms survive. Live oak and magnolia have branches and leaves ripped off. Large migrating dunes are capable of overwhelming shrub and forest vegetation

Significant Human Impacts • Fragmentation occurs when development occurs within a continuous forest Forest opened to salt aerosol impacts when development occurs

Freshwater Wetland Environments • Ponds, swamps, marshes • Form where water table intersects ground surface

Freshwater Wetland Environments Water flows from adjacent dunes into slough between dunes • Receive groundwater input from adjacent dunes • Influenced by groundwater and rainfall

Freshwater Wetlands • Cattails (Typha spp. ) • Bulrush (Scirpus spp. )

Tidal Marsh Environments • Develop in areas protected from wave attack • Topographically flat, incised with drainage creeks

Tidal Marsh Environments • Alternately exposed and covered by tides daily • “Pulsestable environment s

Tidal Marsh Environment • Saltmeadow Cordgrass (Spartina patens) • Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora)

Zonation • Cordgrass dominant above and below mean tide level • Many other species dominant above average high tides

Black Needlerush (Juncus roemerianus) Black Needlerush is common at the upper edge of the tidal marsh where the tide floods only occasionally

Sea Lavender (Limonium carolinianum) Sea Ox-eye (Borrichia frutescens)

Glassworts (Salicornia spp. ) These succulent plants grow in the most salinr environments in the tidal marsh area

Batis (Batis maritima) This succulent, similar to glasswort, is common in the southern United States

Formation of Tidal Marsh • Sand mudflats colonized by smooth cordgrass – must reach critical elevation – seed falls on flats – spread by rhizomes Typical environments colonized by smooth cordgrass primarily by seeds

Formation of Tidal Marsh Colonization by Spartina alterniflora Sand flats are colonized by clumps of smooth cordgrass. Alternatively, the sand flats can be colonized by germinating seeds of smooth cordgrass.

Formation of Tidal Marsh • Sand flats may become uniformly vegetated in 25 years • Creeks become incised as community matures

Human Impacts • Finger canals (now outlawed in all states) • Point and nonpoint source runoff

Mudflats and Sandflats • No rooted aquatic vegetation • Significant infauna (clams, worms, etc. ) • Important habitat for organisms in intertidal environments