Miami Rock Ridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Miami Rock Ridge is a continuous limestone outcrop which formerly encompassed a large extent of far South Florida, including portions of the Everglades ecosystem. The traditional base of the elevation ranges from northern Miami-Dade County, Florida (the approximate latitude of North Miami Beach) southward to the upper Florida Keys, and it extends southwest into Everglades National Park.

The coastal ridge was traditionally a component of the endangered pine rocklands, which grew upon the length of the ridge.[1] The environmental community consisted of a large and continuous expanse of South Florida Slash Pines (Pinus elliottii var. densa), which was interspersed by tropical hardwood hammocks.[2] The globally imperiled pine rockland community, which also encompassed the Florida Keys and The Bahamas, supported numerous endemic plant species; 20 percent occur nowhere else in the world.[1] The communities of the Miami Rock Ridge are maintained by wildfires, including natural fires caused by lightning strikes; this affects the vegetation and its associated inhabitants, thus maintaining a diverse ecosystem.[3][4] The substrate—often consisting of marl—and climate also affects the height of vegetation; thus a mature subtropical hammock typically does not exceed 59 feet (18 m) on the Miami Rock Ridge.[5] Today the original communities have been largely removed by development, and the remaining pieces of the ecosystems are scattered into tiny fragments in extreme southeast Florida; they now encompass small fractions of their original range.[1] Simpson Park Hammock and Alice Wainwright Park contain small fragments of tropical hardwood hammock.

Gallery[]

  • Miami Rock Ridge at Alice Wainwright Park

  • View of Biscayne Bay and Key Biscayne from atop the ridge

  • Rock outcrop closeup

  • General view of ridge from below

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Pine Rocklands: A Disappearing Habitat". Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resources Management. Miami-Dade County. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  2. ^ Sullivan, Janet (1994). "Kuchler Type: Subtropical Pine Forest". United States Forest Service. Archived from the original on 2010-01-26. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
  3. ^ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Florida Brickell-bush (Brickellia mosieri)" (PDF). Southeast Region. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
  4. ^ Miami-Dade County. "Pine Rocklands: Born From Fire" (PDF). Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resources Management. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  5. ^ University of Florida (1999). "Tropical Hardwood Hammock". South Florida Multi-species Recovery Plan (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). Retrieved 2007-06-30.
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