Longleaf+Habitat

Emily, Liz & Duncan


 * **Stands of longleaf pine offer more diversity, visual appeal, wildlife habitat, and higher value products than other pine species. **
 * ** Over 30 plant and animal species associated with longleaf pine ecosystems are threatened or endangered, including the red-cockaded woodpecker and gopher tortoise. **
 * **Longleaf pine, when managed properly with fire, provides excellent bobwhite quail habitat. **
 * **Longleaf pine is relatively wind firm and is resistant to many diseases, insects (including southern pine beetles), and other damaging agents. **
 * ** L ongleaf pine can grow and survive well on poor, sandy soils, but can also grow as well as other pines on good sites. **
 * **The wood of longleaf is dense and strong, with an inherent resistance to rot and decay. Its growth form, with long, straight boles yields high-value wood products. **
 * ( **www.fws.gov/southeast/partners/pfw**pine**.html)

Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) > -Originally found in upland mineral soils, but today found largely on droughty, sandy or sandy loam sites. > -Well-drained sandy soils of flatlands and sandhills; often in pure sands > -Nutrient poor > - Grows in grass stage for the first 1-10 years (extremely resistant to fire while in grass stage) > -While in grass stage the stem grows in thickness and taproot develops fast > very valuable commercially. Used for timbers, lumber, plywood, railroad ties, posts, poles. Sold as southern yellow Pine > -Intolerant of shade. > - Reaches maturity in 160-180 years. > - Wind firm with deep taproot system > -**foraging by hogs, fire suppression, brown spot disease > - Brown spot needle blight of seedlings and lightning strikes to large trees cause the most damage** > -Trees over 60 years old with stem decay provide the best habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker. > -bobwhite quail = -National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees--E: Eastern Region (Imitation Leather), Elbert L. Little = = -North American Trees Fifth Edition, Richard J. Preston, Jr. and Richard B. Braham = = = = = = - [] :  Endangered species such as red-cockaded woodpeckers and indigo snakes are threatened by the loss of the longleaf pine habitat. The seeds are an excellent food source for squirrels, turkey, quail, and brown-headed nuthatches. = = = = = **__ Flatwoods and Savannah Longleaf Pine __** **Habitat Description:** characterized as high density, longleaf pine dominated forests. The surface is very level, poorly drained and often intersperesed with frequent and (sometimes large) swampy patches or wet prairies. Flatwoods can start just above the tidewater and extend inland to about 130 feet above sea level. Productivity is high and longleaf pines can reach heights in excess of 120 feet tall. This longleaf pine habitat type has the highest diversity of ground cover of herbs and shrubs. Since the soils are relatively poorly drained and typically have low reserves of available nutrients, numerous orchids and carnivorous plants are common in the ground cover. Found in seven of the eight states of the longleaf pine range. Often described as both the Atlantic Coastal Flatwoods and the Gulf Coastal Flatwoods.
 * HABITAT:
 * GROWTH:
 * WOOD:
 * CHARACTERISTICS:
 * SUSEPTABILITIES:
 * POTENTIAL HABITATS:
 * Soils:** moderately to poorly drained terrain. The soils are typically acidic, have low reserves of available nutrients, are low in organic matter content and maintain an ash-colored silty clay appearance.
 * Mammals** - bobcat, fox squirrel, gray fox, eastern cottontail rabbit, hispid cotton rat, white-tailed deer, skunk, raccoon, opossum, marsh rabbit.
 * Birds** - red-shouldered hawk, Bachman's sparrow, Bobwhite quail, brown-headed nuthatch, eastern meadowlark, piliated woodpecker, pine warbler, red-bellied woodpecker, rufus-sided towhee, night jars, yellow-throated warbler, yellow-rumped warbler.
 * Reptiles and Amphibians**: pine woods snake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, pine snake, pygmy rattlesnake, yellow rattlesnake (canebrake), eastern king snake, coral snake, water moccasin, oak toad, Southern chorus frog, Florida chorus frog, barking tree frog, pine woods tree frog, cricket frog, little grass frog, squirrel tree frog, Brimley’s chorus frog, ornate chorus frog, dusky gopher frog, Florida gopher frog, Carolina gopher frog.
 * Common Plants** - tarflower, wiregrass, toothache grass, bluestems, silk grass, hatpins, muhly grass, pineweeds, pitcher plants, sundews, flytraps, Catesby's lilly, white star grass, morning glory, milkweeds, quail pea, butterfly pea, goat's rue, lespedezas, iron weed, deer tongue.
 * Common Trees and Shrubs** - water oak, sweet gum, red maple, ash, saw palmetto, gallberry, fetterbush, wax myrtle, yaupon, ilex, dwarf live oak, sweet bay, titi, southern magnolia, persimmon, black gum, creeping blueberry, blackberry,
 * Rare/Endangered Species:** gopher tortoise, American chaffseed, Chapman's rododendron, roughleaf loosestrife, cooley's meadowrue, Canby's dropseed, Eulophia ecristata Ames, sandhill crane, Henslow's sparrow, southeastern kestrel, red-cockaded woodpecker, sandhill crane, loggerhead shrike, southern hognose snake, eastern indigo snake, mimic glass lizard, flatwoods salamander, black bear, Florida panther, red wolf
 * Fire Frequency:** every 2 - 5 years. Since most the shrubs in these flatwood/savannas contain volatile chemicals in their leaf structure, fires after a period of exclusion can be quite intense
 * Without Fire:** succeed into a thicket of everygreen shrubs (such as saw palmetto and titi) or closed canopy hardwood/mixed pines.
 * Causes for decline:** Exotic plant pests (e.g., cogon grass, privet and kudzu), fire suppression, urban development, forest conversion (mainly to loblolly and slash pine).

Information from: [|http://www.auburn.edu/academic/forestry_wildlife/longleafalliance/ecosystem/habitat/flatwoodssavanna.htm#]