May is Wetlands Month
Salt Marsh Characteristics About the Park May is Wetlands Month Upper Tampa Bay Park opened in 1982. The park HYDROLOGY consists of 596 acres within the 2,144 acres of Salt marshes are estuarine wetlands often found Hillsborough County Preserve which was originally on low energy shorelines and in bays and a part of the 3,000acre Bower Tract. In the late estuaries. The hydrology is driven by daily tidal 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Bower Tract was fluctuations and wind events. Tides are water slated to become a large waterfront development level fluctuations that are driven by lunar cycles. called Bay Port Colony. However, it never came to Sediment accumulation ensures that marsh be, partly due to a burgeoning grassroots depths do not get too deep. environmental movement in the Tampa Bay area. The park and preserve properties were acquired by SOILS Hillsborough County through the 1970’s. Today, Soil types within salt marshes vary depending on the Park hosts both wetland and upland community tidal energy, proximity to channels, and external types as diverse as tidal marsh, high marsh, Salt Marsh and inputs. Soils can include muck, sand or limestone. mangrove swamp, freshwater marsh, pine The rotten egg smell of hydrogen sulfide is very flatwoods and coastal upland hammock. The park common here. contains an Environmental Study Center and Mangrove Swamp provides other activities such as picnicking, VEGETATION canoeing, and hiking on numerous trails or Upper Tampa Bay Park Salt marshes are treeless with a dense boardwalks. herbaceous layer. Vegetation is dominated by salt-tolerant grasses, rushes and succulent Week 4 Episode species which are sorted based on hydrology and salinity. Some common species in Upper Tampa Bay Park include saltmarsh cordgrass, hurricane grass, black needle rush, marsh elder, salt wort, glasswort, sea purslane, saltweed, Christmas berry and sea oxeye. Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County
• EPC was created through a special enabling act by the Florida State Legislature and was established
in 1967. Our mission is to protect the natural resources and quality of life in Hillsborough County. Wetlands, as defined in Section 373.019(25), F.S., means those areas that are • Our four main operational Divisions are Air, Waste, Water, and Wetlands. inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and a • Hillsborough County has experienced enormous growth in the last 50 years in both residential and duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do support, a commercial development, as well as increased industrial activities. The presence of an engaged, local regulatory agency like EPC has been key to ensuring that people who live, work and visit here can prevalence of vegetation adapted for life in saturated soils. enjoy all of the natural beauty we have to offer, while allowing the economy to grow and prosper.
Since the implementation
Wetlands of our wetlands rule in recharge the 1985 we have achieved no underground net loss of wetlands. Sea purslane aquifer Sea oxeyes Salt Marsh Sesuvium portulacastrum Borrichia frutescens
Salt Barren Mangrove Swamps Ask a Scientist!!
A rare and unique microhabitat called a salt barren, or saltern, Mangrove swamps are estuarine Q: What is that stinky smell? often forms in areas of the salt marsh where slight depressions wetlands dominated by mangrove exist. These areas form just above the highest high tides of the A: That rotten-egg smell that you often smell in these species. Three species of ecosystems is called hydrogen sulfide. It is the result of marsh where only the occasional storm event will push the tide mangroves dominate Florida: Red high enough. The salty tidal water pools inside the depression. bacteria breaking down all the plant material in the absence Rhizophora mangle, Black Avicennia of oxygen. Salt marshes and mangrove swamps often lack When the water evaporates the salt is left behind. Due to the lack germinans and White Laguncularia oxygen because the soil is under water during high tides. of flushing the salt continues to accumulate. Few plant species racemosa. Mangroves are sensitive
can tolerate such a high salt content and therefore, these areas are to freezing temperatures, so they Q: What are those sand balls I see on the beach? often barren. You may see some of the most salt-tolerant plants, thrive in the sub-tropical climate of Red mangroves (background) and such as salt wort and glasswort, creeping into the salt barren. A: Those sand balls are created by fiddler crabs! Some Florida’s peninsula. Black mangrove pneumatophores people think they are eating the sand, but they are just Importance of Mangroves eating the micronutrients in the sand brought in from the high tide. The sand balls are the left over, clean • Provide habitat and nursery areas for a wide diversity of wildlife such as juvenile fish and roosting birds. sand. • Protect shorelines from erosion by collecting and holding sediment around their roots. They also serve as storm protection by blocking severe winds and waves. • Filter pollutants and trap sediments for higher water quality. Adaptations Black mangrove leaves Saltwort creeping in salt barren Mangroves are halophytic trees, which means they are adapted to Batis maritima with salt Fiddler crab burrow with sand balls Uca spp. - Fiddler crab grow in salty conditions. Red mangroves exclude salts with special Wildlife of Salt Marshes and Mangroves root membranes that block salt from entering the plant. White and Q: Why are they called red mangroves? black mangroves excrete salt through glands on leaves. Salt marshes and mangrove swamps are home to a high diversity of A: The wood of the trunk is red wildlife. They are nurseries for approximately 70% of Florida’s Mangroves also have adaptations to low or no oxygen. Black underneath the bark! Red recreational and commercial fishes, shellfish and crustaceans. mangroves have modified roots called pneumatophores that stick up mangroves are also known for
Many bird species can be found between the two ecosystems above the surface and act like snorkels. Red mangroves also have a their spider like appearance. including White Ibis, Egrets, Herons, Cormorants, Roseate special root called a prop root that connects with the atmosphere to These roots are called prop Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Brown Pelican and Osprey. The park has exchange oxygen. roots and not only help to nesting box for cavity-dwelling birds such as screech owls and Protection stabilize the tree in the soft swallows, as well as bat houses for insectivorous bats which feast ground, but they also help on the salt water mosquitos. Mammals such as marsh rabbits, Because of historic destruction of mangrove ecosystems and their them breathe. Special pores opossum, raccoons, foxes and bobcats come to feed. You may see importance to the environment, mangroves are now protected under used for gas exchange are Red mangroves reptiles such as the Diamondback Terrapin (turtle), pygmy the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. called lenticels. Rhizophora mangle rattlesnakes and the nonvenomous salt marsh water snake. A Helpful Riddle For Mangrove Identification Megascops asio “Red, red pointed head. Drop and prop roots that’s
what I said. Black, black silver back. Snorkel roots I do not lack. White, white screws on tight. Normal
roots I have in sight.” - Author Unknown Osprey with fish prey Screech Owl baby peeking Pandion haliaetus out of a nesting box