The open sandy beach is one of the hardest habitats to live in on a barrier island. There is no where to hide and almost nothing to eat. Add to this the direct wind and waves from the Gulf of Mexico and you have a barren landscape with continuous climate and ocean energy. But creatures do live here.
The beach is void of plant life and takes a well adapted animal to reside here.
Phot: Rick O’Connor
Before we go further let’s define a few terms. The beach is actually the dry sandy portion of this environment. The area where the sand squeaks as you walk through it, the place where you set your chairs, umbrellas, and lunch for your day at the beach. The berm is the harder packed sand near the waters edge. The place where you like walk when you walk the beach (it’s easier) and the waves wash over every few seconds. Living in these two would be very different. Second, we will define resident and transient. A resident is a creature who actually resides there. A transient is just passing through but lives somewhere else.
As you look across the beach you will notice there is NO WHERE to hide from the elements… except beneath the sand. One of the more common creatures who lives beneath the is the ghost crab (Ocypode quadrata). This crustacean digs burrows down to the water table where they can keep their gills wet and this can be as deep as four feet. On these flat beaches they are easy target for predators. They have several ways to deal with the problem. (1) Their compound eyes are on stalks above their head to give them a wider, and longer, range of view. (2) They are white in color and blend in with the quartz sand well. (3) They are more active at night, nocturnal. (4) They are very fast.
The trick to speed is to break contact with the ground. If you were to ask someone “what is the fastest way to get to Los Angeles?” They would answer “flying”, and this would be correct. Birds are some of the fastest creatures around. They fly. They lift off the ground and do not touch again until they reach their destination. It does not get any better than that. Cheetahs are very fast as well. But if you watch them in slow motion, you will see they are basically leaping from one point to the next. They touch the ground very few times over a certain distance. They are trying to fly but cannot. If look at video of a human, or centipede, or slug. Not sot good. Crabs are crustaceans and by definition they have 10 legs. When they move across the surface, they usually use eight of those (two being their claws). The same is true for the ghost crabs. But when they decide to run, they only run on three of them. They raise the other five above their heads. This means fewer legs touching the sand which means they are faster.
The common ghost crab. Photo: Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences
Food is another issue. Due to direct high wind (filled with salt), plants do not grow on the beach. Hence the classic food chain (plant – herbivore – carnivore) cannot exist. So, what do ghost crabs eat? They are scavengers. They emerge from their burrows, usually at night, to seek what dead creatures the tide may have washed in. Post storms are particularly good feeding times. Surf fishermen along the Gulf beach often catch hardhead catfish and, not liking them, often toss them on the beach to die. In the evening the ghost crabs will drag these to the entrance of their burrows where they feast for quite a while. They eventually clean to fish to the bone leaving their “hard head” (the skull). When you look at the skull from underneath it appears to be Jesus on the crucifix. These skulls are often collected and sold in novelty stores as “crucifix fish”.
The bones in the skull of the hardhead catfish resemble the crucifixion of Christ and are sold as “crucifix fish”.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
Another prize for ghost crabs are sea turtle eggs. Sea turtles are obvious transients to the beach environment, coming here only during nesting season. The females usually approach the beach close to where they were born at night. She will labor her way across the beach to the first dune line, though some will lay theirs in the open beach area. She could spend several hours digging a hole three to five feet deep. Loggerhead Sea Turtles (the most common on our beaches) simply dig a hole. The Green Sea Turtle will use her flippers to dig a form for her body before digging the nest. She will deposit about 100 eggs before burying them and returning to the Gulf. Ghost crabs, and other beach transients like coyotes, fox, and raccoons, will find and raid these nests.
Tracks left by a nesting Green Sea Turtle. Courtesy of Gulf Islands National Seashore.
The wrack (a line of debris that includes seaweed, shells, and other flotsam from the Gulf) offers a variety of food for ghost crabs. Another who is often found scavenging the wrack are shore birds. There are numerous species of terns, gulls, pipers, and plovers that will pick through the wrack for food.
The berm is a tougher place to make home. You are in the surf zone and must deal with breaking waves every few seconds. As you might expect, there are no plants here, and very few animals. Those that do reside here bury in the sand knowing that the surf will most likely expose them and could carry them to another location. The two most common animals in this zone are the mole crab and the coquina.
The mole crab is often called a “sand flea”.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
The mole crab (Emerita talpoida) is also known by surf fishermen as the “sand flea”. It is a small oval shaped crab that has a hard paddle like telson to dig into the wet sand tail first. With its head exposed it will extend antenna that are covered with small hair-like structures designed to collect plankton from the water that covers it when the waves come in. The surf often exposes them, but they flip over and dig back in very quickly.
The coquina (Donax variabilis) is a small clam that comes in a variety of colors (hence it’s species name). Like all clams, it has a fleshy foot which it uses to quickly dig into the wet sand covering most of its body. Like the mole crab, it exposes its head into the surf extending two fleshy tubes called siphons that draw water into the clam where it can collect planktonic food.
Coquina are a common burrowing clam found along our beaches.
Photo: Flickr
Predators do exist here, but they are not residents. They would include transient fish that come close to shore waiting for the surf to wash these small animals into the Gulf. One of the more common is the Florida Pompano. Surf fishermen like to use “sand flea” baskets, dragging them through the sand near the waters edge to capture the mole crabs for bait seeking these tasty fish. Others would include an assortment of shorebirds like sand pipers and plovers who run to the wet sand when the surf recedes back into the Gulf probing for the mole crabs and coquina, then quickly running back towards the beach when the surf returns.
A variety of shorebirds utilize the wrack. Photo: Rick O’Connor
The diversity of life in the beach-berm zone is not high, but this is a tough place to make a living. Ghost crabs, mole crabs, and coquina clams have all adapted to living here and have done quite well. But more wildlife prefers the dunes. It is a little easier there and the next stop in Part 5 of this series.
The habitats of a barrier island are defined and driven by the plant communities there. Seeds from the mainland must first reach the new island and they can do so using a variety of different methods. Some come by wind, some by water, some by birds and other wildlife. Some of these germinate, some do not. Those that do, do so on a sandy island with little or no relief and must deal with the winds off the Gulf, which has salt spray. Many of these mainland plants cannot tolerate this and never make it. But some can… and do.
The dune fields of panhandle barrier islands are awesome – so reaching over 50 ft. in height. This one is near the Big Sabine hike (notice white PVC markers).
These early plant communities are known as the pioneer community – meaning the earliest settlers. In the process of succession pioneer communities are made of creatures that can tolerate the harshest conditions, the early days of ecosystem development. There are usually few nutrients, extreme climatic conditions, and for the animals, few prey to select from. But these pioneers are adapted to survive in these conditions and over time alter the conditions so that other creatures can move in.
For the barrier islands, grasses seem to be the plants who do best in the early stages of succession. Though small shrubs and trees may reach the island, the high winds and salt spray will not allow growth. There are numerous species of grasses that can live here, the most famous are the sea oats (Uniola paniculata). This grass can be found on the smallest of barrier islands. Their fibrous root system runs beneath the ground sprouting new grasses all over. Their seed heads blow with the wind starting new populations of plants on other locations and the landscape is soon dominated by them. However, there are other species as well. Panic grass (Panicum amarium), salt hay (Spartina patens), and beach elder (Iva imbricata) to name a few. All these grasses can tolerate the wind and salt spray as well as the low nutrient, low rainfall often found on these islands. They also all have fibrous roots systems that not only connect grasses across the land scape but also trap blowing sand – forming dunes.
The primary dune is dominated by salt tolerant grasses like this sea oat. Photo: Rick O’Connor.
The dunes closest to the Gulf are dominated by grass due to the higher winds and salt spray there. These are called the primary dunes and create one of the first habitats on the island for wildlife. The primary dunes vary in height and how far from the Gulf they range but they do form a wind break for portions of the island landward of the Gulf.
Here smaller shrubs and plants like seaside golden (Solidago sempervirens) and seaside rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides) can grow. With less wind their seeds will germinate and survive. What wind is still there forces the plants to grow in a round shape resembling green sheep on a white field, instead of white sheep on a green field. My professor referred to them as “beach sheep”. This area of the barrier island is called the secondary dune and includes other species such as false rosemary (Conradina canescens), square flower (Odontonychia corymbosa), and sandhill milkweed (Asclepias humistrata). Though they cannot tolerate the high winds as grasses do, they do have to tolerate climatic extremes and low rainfall.
Small round shrubs and brown grasses within the swales are characteristic of the secondary dune field.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
These secondary dunes vary in elevation and can become taller than the primary dunes. In the low areas between dunes are areas where freshwater water can collect and form ephemeral ponds. These areas are known as swales and create unique habitats much sought after by some wildlife. More bog like plants grow here such as water dock (Rumex orbiculatus) and marsh pink (Rhexia nashii) but also includes the carnivorous plants like the sundew (Drosera rotundifolia). There are many insects who used these ephemeral ponds and many spiders and sundews to take advantage of this.
Behind the larger secondary dunes, the wind is even less, and the dune wind breaks higher. Here trees can germinate, if they can tolerate the climatic conditions, and grow. Though the species that grow out there are some of the same you find on the mainland, here they grow differently. Barrier island trees tend grow out, not up, to avoid direct contact with wind and salt spray. And, when they do reach the wind the portion of tree directly facing the wind tends to be stunted in growth, giving it the appearance that someone has “combed” the tree back towards the bay – something they call wind sculpting. Trees that seem do well in what they call the tertiary dune include sand live oak (Quercus geminata), pine (Pinus sp.), and magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora). Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) and even cactus like the prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa) and the devil’s joint (Opuntia pusilla) can be found growing here.
The top of a pine tree within a tertiary dune.
Photo: Molly O’Connor
Tertiary dunes are some of the largest on the island, with elevations reaching 50 feet or more. These provide excellent wind breaks from the Gulf and allow the formation of salt marshes along the bay side shoreline. Marshes are habitats dominated by grass, but these grasses must be able to tolerate periods emersed in salt water, at least at high tide. Close to the dunes the marsh is dominated by dense stands of black needlerush (Juncus roemerianus). In some locations within the needlerush marsh are areas of bare sand known as salt pans. These are low areas within the marsh where water remains when the tide recedes. These small marsh ponds begin to evaporate in the intense sunlight and the salinity increases to a level where it kills off much of the plant life leaving an area of bare sand. These salt pans are used by some wildlife on the islands. Eventually you will reach the waters edge where smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) grows. This marsh grass can tolerate water for longer periods than needlerush and supports both island wildlife and estuarine fisheries.
A finger of a salt marsh on Santa Rosa Island. The water here is saline, particularly during high tide. Photo: Rick O’Connor
As you can imagine, the process of establishing the pioneer community of grasses on a new, small sand bar, to an island filled with dunes and vegetation takes time – years, decades, maybe centuries – but eventually it will reach what we call the climax community and provides a variety of habitats to support wildlife.
In part 3 we will begin to look at how animal species colonize the islands as these habitats form.
There are a lot of cool and interesting creatures that live on the barrier islands of Northwest Florida. The conditions out there require they make changes and adaptations different from what they would do in a more upland or wetland environment. Some creatures are unique to these beach and dune systems and found nowhere else. But to begin this series lets first look at the islands themselves.
The white beaches of the Florida panhandle are primarily quartz. Photo: Rick O’Connor.
The name barrier island comes from the fact that they do serve as a barrier between the open Gulf of Mexico and the mainland of the Florida panhandle, protecting coastal communities from storm surge and waves of the all too frequent hurricanes and tropical storms. They are basically sandbars formed with sands from the Appalachian Mountains. There the wind, rain, and temperature erode the granite rock into its mineral components and wash them downstream. First in the fast-moving mountain streams, then into creeks, into rivers which eventually discharge into the Gulf. The different minerals settle out based on their size, type, and densities. Quartz is one of the less dense and is the dominant mineral forming the coastal barrier islands, making them some of the whitest beaches on the planet.
When these quartz sands reach the Gulf, they encounter longshore currents that are formed from the winds blowing across the open water. In this part of the Gulf of Mexico these currents tend to move from the east to the west in most cases. As the rivers reach the passes that connect the estuaries to the open Gulf and the longshore currents move the sand into long thin spits at the mouth of the bays running parallel to the coastline. In some cases, the sand bars form perpendicular to the coastline, and we call them capes. Initially still connecting to land, many creatures can venture out on these sand spits searching for food. Some of the sand spits are very small and seem to come and go as the winds and waves move them. At times these smaller spits may actually close off the opening into the bay as they once did on Perdido Bay and still do with the Walton County dune lakes. In other cases, the spits accumulate more sand, become long and can eventually break contact with the mainland forming an island.
From the Pensacola Lighthouse you get a great view of the open Gulf and the eastern end of Perdido Key. Here the pass separates Perdido Key (on the left) and Santa Rosa Island. Photo: Molly O’Connor.
At first these islands can be nothing more than sand bars. Barely above sea level, moving and changing very quickly, sometimes disappearing and reappearing in slightly different locations after storms, such as Sand Island off Dauphin Island Alabama. In others they are larger, harder to move quickly and may be vegetated so that movement is slower and the island more established, such as Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola. The creatures on any of these islands will need to be able to adapt to the new conditions. Some will be able to leave and return the mainland when they need or want to. Birds are very common on all forms of barrier islands due to the fact they can fly. In some cases, the distance from the mainland is not a far swim for those who can, such at Indian Pass near St. Vincent Island. In some cases, the distance may not be as close and the currents between very swift during tide changes making crossing more difficult. In these cases, the creatures who find themselves on these islands must adapt to the new conditions or risk losing their populations entirely.
Island conditions can be tough. There is a lot of wind, and this wind carries salt spray. There is little cover from the intense sun during the summer months. Needed freshwater can be hard to find. Some islands will develop freshwater systems, but others will not. And then there is the fact that it is an island. Thus, a finite amount of resources and space for each species, and, at times, fierce competition for those.
In Part 2 we will explore the different habitats that developed on these islands that available for the different wildlife that exploit them.
The wind sculpted plants of the tertiary dunes. Photo: Rick O’Connor.
The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is the only resident brackish water turtle in the United States. Ranging from Massachusetts to Texas. This estuarine turtle spends much of its time in coastal wetlands such as marshes and mangroves but have been found in seagrasses. They feed primarily on bivalves, have strong site fidelity, and live to be 20-25 years in the wild. Studies on their basic biology and ecology have been published throughout their range with the exception of the Florida panhandle.
In 2005 the Marine Science Academy at Washington High School (MSA) was asked to survey coastal estuaries within the Florida panhandle to determine whether diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) existed there.
Methods – Presence/Absence
To determine presence/absence MSA identified boat ramps near suitable terrapin habitat. “Wanted” signs were placed at these ramps with our contact information and beach walk surveys were conducted seeking terrapins or terrapin sign. Since the best time to conduct beach surveys is May and June (not suitable for high school), that part of the project moved to program director and his family.
Surveys were conducted and terrapins were found in each of the six counties between the Alabama state line and the Apalachicola River.
Methods – Relative Abundance
The next question was to assess their relative abundance. To do this the team followed a protocol used by Tom Mann with the Mississippi Department of Natural Resources we call the “Mann-Method”. There are recognized assumptions with this method.
Every sexually mature female within the population nests each season.
Each female will lay more than one clutch per season but never more than one in a 16-day period.
You know where all nesting beaches are located.
The sex ratio to males is 1:1.
Going on these assumptions, every track, nest, or depredated nest on the nesting beach within a 16-day window is equivalent to one female. If the sex ratio is 1:1, then each female is equivalent to one male, and you have a relative abundance of the population. That said, there are publications suggesting the female: male ratio could be 1:3 or even 1:5 in the Florida panhandle. We would report the relative abundance as 1:1 – 1:5 for each nesting site.
Another method of estimating relative abundance is conducting a 30-minute head count. From a fixed location, or drifting in a kayak across the lagoon, every head spotted in a 30-minute period is logged. The assumption here is that if the average number of heads / 30-minutes increase or decreases over time, the relative abundance within the population is increasing or decreasing as well.
Trained volunteers conducted these surveys at least once a week at each nesting beach from April 1 to June 30 each year.
2022 Data Update
47 volunteers were trained in March of 2022; 21 (45%) participated in surveys.
173 surveys were conducted; 346 hours were logged.
Terrapins (or terrapin sign) were encountered during 43 of the surveys – Frequency of Encounters = 25% of the surveys.
Surveys occurred in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Bay counties. Encounters occurred in all counties except Bay.
Beach Surveys – 2022
County
# of Surveys
# of Encounters
Frequency of Encounters
Escambia
29
4
.14
Santa Rosa
58
15
.26
Okaloosa
43
25
.58
Bay
43
0
.00
TOTAL
173
43
.25
Head Count Surveys – 2022
County
# of Surveys
Range of Heads/30-min
Mean of Heads/30 min
Escambia
0
ND
ND
Santa Rosa
2
0-49
24
Okaloosa
17
0-32
11
Bay
0
ND
ND
Estimated Relative Abundance Using the Mann-Method
County
Nesting Beach Surveyed
Ratio 1:1
Ratio 1:3
Ratio 1:5
Relative Abundance for the County
Escambia
1
4
8
12
4-12 terrapins
Santa Rosa
1
12
24
36
2-48 terrapins
2
2
4
6
3
16
32
48
Okaloosa
1
24
48
72
2-72 terrapins
2
4
8
12
3
2
4
6
Bay
1
ND
ND
ND
ND
2
ND
ND
ND
Year
County
Relative Abundance
2008
Santa Rosa
14-35
2009
Santa Rosa
14-35
2010
Santa Rosa
32-80
2011
Santa Rosa
10-50
2015
Santa Rosa
12-30
2018
Santa Rosa
16-40
2021
Santa Rosa
4-12
Escambia
8-24
Okaloosa
4-70
2022
Santa Rosa
2-48
Escambia
4-12
Okaloosa
2-72
Terrapins Captured – tagged – and tissue samples collected
County
# of Terrapins Captured/Tagged/Tissue Collected
Escambia
1
Santa Rosa
2
Okaloosa
2
Bay
0
TOTAL
5
Results
At the beginning of this project Objective 1 was to determine whether diamondback terrapins existed in the Florida panhandle. That objective has been met – they do, we have at least one verified record in all six counties between the Alabama state line and the Apalachicola River.
Objective 2 is to determine the relative abundance within these counties. The first step in addressing this objective is to determine where terrapins are nesting in each. Nesting beaches have been identified in Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties – but we are not sure whether ALL of the nesting beaches in those counties have been identified.
Known nesting beaches in Escambia County have changed over time. Two of the three nesting locations have become inactive in recent years and other potential beaches have not been adequately surveyed to determine whether they are being used or not. Based on one active nesting beach, the relative abundance of terrapins in Escambia County is low. Estimations using the Mann-Method suggest that there are between 2-24 terrapins present.
There are numerous potential nesting locations in Santa Rosa County but only a few have been adequately surveyed. Currently there two active nesting beaches being surveyed and the relative abundance at these has run between 30-80 animals at one location, 6-36 at the other. Going with this, there are between 6-80 terrapins present.
Okaloosa has only recently been surveyed. There are currently three active nesting beaches being surveyed and most of the nesting is occurring at one of those. The location of these beaches suggests that these are all animals of the same group or clad and part of the same population. Based on the results there are between 2-72 terrapins present.
Surveys are JUST getting underway in Bay County and no surveys have been conducted in Walton.
These data suggest that the relative abundance in each county is less than 100 and small when compared to other locations within their range.
Discussion
The results are only as good as the data being used. The volunteers participating in this project are doing an excellent job, but the frequency of nesting beach visits and head counts surveys are lower than needed to make accurate assessments. Several of the nesting beaches are in difficult places for volunteers to reach frequently and thus not surveyed as frequently as we would need. More volunteer participation could help this. Keep in mind that the Mann-Method also focuses on nesting females and males, immature females are not accounted for so the population would be slightly larger than estimated using this method. That said, we do believe that the populations in this part of their range are most likely smaller than other parts of their range. These surveys will continue. Questions or comments can be directed to Rick O’Connor, Florida Sea Grant, University of Florida IFAS Extension, roc1@ufl.edu.
¿Está interesado en hacer algo que beneficie a su comunidad marina local? ¡Disfruta de días al sol, como un “Scallop Sitter” (cuidador de las vieiras)!
“Scallop Sitters” (cuidador de vieiras) es uno de nuestros programas de voluntariado cooperativo con Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC, por sus siglas en inglés). Históricamente, las poblaciones de vieiras de la bahía eran muy numerosas y podían sustentar las pesquerías en muchas bahías del norte de Florida, incluidas la bahía de San Andrés, la bahía de San Juan y el Puerto de los Caimanes (Condado de Franklin). Años consecutivos de malas condiciones ambientales, pérdida de hábitat y “mala suerte” en general resultaron en una escasa producción anual y provocaron el cierre de la pesquería de vieiras. La vieira de la bahía es una especie de corta vida que pasa de ser una cría a adultos que desovan y muere en un año aproximadamente. Las poblaciones de vieiras pueden recuperarse rápidamente cuando las condiciones de crecimiento son buenas y pueden disminuir drásticamente cuando las condiciones de crecimiento son malas.
En 2011 se presentó la oportunidad de poner en marcha la restauración de las vieiras de la bahía del norte de Florida. Con la financiación del derrame de petróleo de Deepwater Horizon, se propuso un programa de restauración de vieiras en varios condados, que finalmente se estableció en 2016. Los científicos de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC, por sus siglas en inglés) utilizan vieiras criadas en criaderos, obtenidos a partir de progenitores o reproductores de las bahías locales, para cultivarlas en masa y aumentar el número de adultos reproductores cerca del hábitat crítico de las praderas marinas.
La Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC, por sus siglas en inglés) también creó otro programa en el que los voluntarios pueden ayudar con la restauración llamado “Scallop Sitters” en 2018 e invitó a UF/IFAS Extension a ayudar a dirigir la parte de voluntarios del programa en 2019, lo que llevó a esfuerzos específicos en los condados del Golfo y la Bahía.
Para ayudar a las vieiras, los “Scallop Sitters” trabajan con UF/IFAS Extension, Florida Sea Grant y los científicos de restauración de la Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC, por sus siglas en inglés) limpiando las vieiras y comprobando la salinidad una vez al mes desde junio hasta enero. Foto de Tyler Jones, UF/IFAS Extension y Florida Sea Grant.
Después del hiato de 2020 debido a COVID-19, el programa presumió de casi 100 voluntarios para la campaña de 2021. UF/IFAS Extension se asocia de nuevo con Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC, por sus siglas en inglés) en los Condados de Bahía y Golfo y Franklin. A pesar de los retos que suponen las lluvias, la escorrentía de las aguas pluviales y la baja salinidad, nuestros voluntarios de Scallop Sitter han proporcionado información valiosa a los investigadores y a los esfuerzos de restauración, especialmente en estos primeros años de nuestro programa. Los “Scallop Sitters” recogen información útil sobre la salinidad en las bahías de destino. Pero la mayor parte del impacto se produce al observar de cerca sus vieiras. Las vieiras que mantienen sus cuidadores tienen más posibilidades de desovar con éxito cuando sea el momento adecuado.
Una jaula “Scallop Sitter” lista para ser colocada cerca de las praderas marinas. Las jaulas son herramientas de restauración utilizadas para producir crías de vieira durante el ciclo anual de crecimiento. Foto de L. Scott Jackson.
¿Qué hace un cuidador de vieiras? Los voluntarios dirigen jaulas de exclusión de depredadores de vieiras, que quedan colocadas en la bahía o junto a un muelle. Los “Scallop Sitters” (cuidador de vieiras) vigilan la tasa de mortalidad y recogen datos sobre la salinidad que ayudan a determinar los objetivos de restauración y el éxito en las zonas seleccionadas.
¡Está invitado! ¡Cómo convertirse un “Scallop Sitter” (cuidador de vieiras)!
Las fechas de entrenamiento para 2023 se anunciarán en breve. Por favor, envíenos un correo electrónico si está interesado en ser voluntario o en recibir información adicional. Chantille Gooding, Coordinadora de Recursos Costeros del Condado de la Bahía. c.gooding@ufl.edu
Una institución con igualdad de oportunidades. UF/IFAS Extension, Universidad de Florida, Instituto de Ciencias Alimentarias y Agrícolas, Andra Johnson, Decana de UF/IFAS Extension. Las copias individuales de las publicaciones de UF/IFAS Extension (excluyendo las publicaciones de 4-H y de los jóvenes) están disponibles gratuitamente para los residentes de Florida en las oficinas de UF/IFAS Extension del condado.
Coastal plain honeycombhead blooms through the summer on local beaches. Photo credit, Bob Pitts, National Park Service
Over my years of leading people on interpretive trail hikes, I have learned it is particularly important to know the names of whatever happens to be in bloom. These flowers are eye-catching, and inevitably someone will ask what they are. In fact, one of my favorite wildflower identification books is categorized not by taxonomy, but by bloom color—with a rainbow of tabs down the edge of the book for easy identification.
Wildflower identification can be tough, but color-coded guidebooks are really helpful! Photo credit: Carrie Stevenson, UF IFAS Extension
In our coastal dunes right now, several plants are showing off vibrant yellow blooms. Seaside goldenrod, coreopsis, and other asters are common. Rarer, and the subject of today’s post, is the Coastal Plain Honeycombhead (Balduina angustifolia). It has bright yellow flowers, but often gets more notice due to its unusual appearance when not in bloom. The basal leaves are bright green and similar in shape and arrangement to a pine cone or bottlebrush (albeit a tiny one), sticking straight up in the sand. The plants are typically found on the more protected back side of primary dunes or further into secondary dunes, a little more inland from the Gulf.
When not in bloom, the plant resembles a green pinecone planted in the sand. Photo credit: Carrie Stevenson, UF IFAS Extension
The plant plays a special role in beach ecology, as a host plant for Gulf fritillary butterflies and the Gulf Coast solitary bee (Hesperapis oraria). The bee is a ground-dwelling pollinator insect that forages only in the barrier islands of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The species is currently the subject of a University of Florida study (they’re out at Ft. Pickens right now), as the endemic bee’s sole source of nectar and pollen is the honeycombhead flower. As of publication date, no bee nests have been discovered. Researchers are interested in learning more about the insect’s life cycle and nesting behaviors to better understand and protect its use of local habitats. Based on closely related species, it is believed the Gulf Coast solitary bee builds a multi-chambered nest under the soft sands of the dunes.
Adult female Hesperapis oraria foraging on coastal plain honeycombhead (Balduina angustifolia). Photograph by John Bente, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Park Service.
While the honeycombhead plant is found in peninsular Florida and coastal Georgia, the bee has been identified only in a 100 km² area between Horn Island, MS, and St. Andrews Bay, FL. Luckily for the bee, large swaths of this land are preserved as part of Gulf Islands National Seashore and several state parks. Nonetheless, these coastal dune habitats are threatened by hurricanes, sea level rise, and development (outside the park boundaries). Due to its rarity and limited habitat, a petition has been submitted to the Fish and Wildlife Service for protection under the Endangered Species Act. 0
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