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.
To let everyone know how the battle against this invasive plant in the panhandle is going
To encourage everyone along the coast to keep searching, reporting, and removing it.
Can you actually eradicate an invasive species?
MAYBE
But… you must find and begin to manage it early. What many call Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR) – and beach vitex is just that in the state of Florida.
For those not familiar with the plant, it is called beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia). It is native to the Pacific coast of Asia, extending from North Korea to Australia. This suggest that it can tolerate cold weather, something that has kept many south Florida invasive species at bay in the Florida panhandle, but not this one.
Vitex beginning to take over bike path on Pensacola Beach. Photo credit: Rick O’Connor
It likes dry sandy soils and open sunny areas – our beaches are perfect. It begins with a taproot and forms runners that cross the surface of the sand in all directions, ALMOST 360°, but not quite. The runners are herbaceous at first and form blueish-green ovate shaped leaves and a cluster of beautiful lavender flowers in the spring and early summer. As the plant grows it becomes more woody and can form a shrub growing between three and four feet high. In the fall, after the cold fronts begin, the flowers become small gray seed pods. Each pod contains four seeds, and the plant can produce up to one million seeds/m2. These are viable for several months and can tolerate salt water for that period as well.
The plant may have been introduced as early as 1955 but was certainly here by the 1980s. During that period the state of South Carolina decide to try it in dune restoration after a series of strong hurricanes. That is when it raised its ugly head and let us know that it is not a plant we want on our coast.
Beach Vitex Blossom. Photo credit: Rick O’Connor
It grows aggressively forming large monocultures within the dunes. It is allelopathic, meaning it releases chemical compounds that can cause the decline of plants around it, this would include our beloved sea oats. Being a taproot plant, not a fibrous one like the sea oat, the integrity of the dunes to protect from storms is weakened. Becoming a shrub, it can also shade the sand keeping other native plants from sprouting and could impact both the survival of sea turtle hatchings and the listed beach mice around the Gulf.
The plant was first reported to us in Pensacola around 2014 by a birding couple we know in Gulf Breeze, Florida. It was growing on Fair Point near their home. They told us they had it under control on their property but that it was most likely coming from Pensacola Beach on Santa Rosa Island – so, we took a look – and we found it.
Since that time, we have found it in other coastal counties along the Florida panhandle and are trying hard to (1) remove it as fast as we find it and (2) educate others so they can help.
We just completed our annual survey event we call HALLOWEED. We only surveyed Pensacola Beach and the portion of the Gulf Islands National Seashore called Naval Live Oaks in Gulf Breeze. Here are the results from the 2022 HALLOWEED…
12 volunteers worked between 2-4 hours logging 41 total hours last Friday.
We have updates on the Pensacola Beach Survey – Naval Live Oaks results coming soon!!
95 sites of beach vitex in the bay area
57 of those (60%) are on Pensacola Beach (surveyed)
25 (26%) are at Naval Live Oaks (will need to be updated)
6 (6%) are on Navarre Beach (were not surveyed)
3 (3%) are in Gulf Breeze (not surveyed)
2 (2%) are on Perdido Bay (not surveyed)
2 (2%) are on Perdido Key (not surveyed)
Of the 57 sites on Pensacola Beach…
30 (32% of the total; 52% of sites on Pensacola Beach) are on NE Pensacola Beach – north of Via DeLuna Drive – and east of Casino Beach
24 (25% of the total; 42% of sites on Pensacola Beach) are on SE Pensacola Beach
2 (2% of the total; 4% of sites on Pensacola Beach) are on NW Pensacola Beach
1 (1% of the total; 2% of the sites on Pensacola Beach) are on SW Pensacola Beach
All 3 sites on WEST Pensacola Beach are GREEN – have been removed and have not returned; no survey of the west end of the island was conducted today – but based on current log – there is no beach vitex on west end of Pensacola Beach.
Of the 54 sites on the east end –
34 (63%) are on private property
20 (21%) are on public lands
Of the private properties –
24 (71%) have been either completely removed or have been treated and in the process.
10 (29%) have not been removed or treated – it is not illegal to have beach vitex and is up to the homeowner whether they want to manage it or not.
Of the public lands –
15 (75%) have either been completely removed and have not returned; or have been treated.
5 (25%) have not been removed or treated – it is up to us to make this change – and we will next spring.
We do hope to get a survey of Perdido Key completed by the end of the year.
We are also planning another annual removal event we call WEED WRANGLE for early spring 2023. We will need volunteers help to do this. If interested in helping, contact Rick O’Connor (roc1@ufl.edu; 850-475-5230 ext.1111).
As for the rest of the panhandle here are the records in EDDMapS as of October 2022.
Escambia County FL – 44 records
Santa Rosa County FL – 4 records
Okaloosa County FL – 31 records
Walton County FL – 0 records
Bay County FL – 0 records
Gulf County FL – 1 record
Franklin County FL – 4 records
Wakulla County FL – 0 records
Jefferson County FL – 0 records
We are SURE this is under reported and we need your help to update these records as well as remove these plants before we are out of the EDRR phase and eradication is no longer an option. Again, contact me (Rick O’Connor) at the contact above if you would like to help.
In recent weeks there have been reports of large masses of jellyfish along the Gulf Coast. I have actually heard people state “I would rather be in the water with 100 sharks than 100 jellyfish”. Maybe that is true from some. Honestly, it seems dealing with sharks could be easier. Jellyfish are just there in a swarm. The more you try to move them away, the more they come towards you – it is like trying to avoid the smoke from a campfire.
But jellyfish exist and people sometimes have to deal with them. The thing they hate about them, of course, are their painful stings. As Jimmy Buffett puts it – “They are simple protoplasm – clear as cellophane – they ride the winds of fortune – life without a brain”. This is prreeettttyyyyy close.
Jellyfish are common on both sides of the island. This one has washed ashore on Santa Rosa Sound.
The “cellophane” jelly material is called mesoglea and it is a protein-based material that is 90% water. Lay a jellyfish on a deck and see what is left at the end of the day – not much. The bell undulates rhythmically controlled not by a brain but by a series of nerves – what some scientists call a “nerve net”. At the base of the bell is a single opening – the mouth. There are no teeth and whatever they swallow enters a simple gut where digestive enzymes do their work. But it is the only opening – so, waste material must exit through the same opening. Yes… they go to the bathroom through their mouth. Nice eh…
Then there are the tentacles – those lovely tentacles. These are armed with small cells called nematocysts that harbor a small dart tipped with a drop of venom. Each nematocyst as a small trigger which, when bumped, will fire the dart injecting the venom. When you bump a tentacle, you are literally bumping hundreds of these nematocysts and receive hundreds of drops of venom. Some species hurt, some do not. Those that hurt are no fun.
So, why SO many at one time in one place?
Most jellyfish feed on small food. Those food sources tend to multiple when the water is warm (and it is warm right now) and there are lots of nutrients in the water. When we have heavy rain (and we have had heavy rains this year) the runoff introduces large amounts of nutrients to the system. Warm nutrient rich water mean increase in jellyfish food, which in turn means increase in jellyfish. With winds and tides working together (and we saw this with the recent front that passed through), the jellyfish are shoved into smaller locations. In recent weeks that has been close to shore and the thick masses of jellyfish we have witnessed.
They do fly the purple flags when jellyfish are spotted. It us unusual for them to be a problem on both the Sound and Gulf sides. So, usually if they are bad on the Gulf side, you can move your beach day to the Sound and be fine. And remember – this too shall end. It won’t last forever.
This is an amazing animal – the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). A relic of an age before the dinosaurs, they have been plowing the sediments of our marine and estuarine waters for over 400 million years.
They are thick armored tanks, shaped like horseshoes with a long spikey tail giving them appearance of a stingray. They are usually a deep green color, though some have a brownish hue, and have two lighter colored eyes on each side of the head, though there is a third you cannot see. They crawl across the bottom of the Gulf and bays seeking smaller invertebrates to eat. Their armor protects them from most predators, but they do have a few, like the loggerhead sea turtle. Though harmless to people, they don’t appear that way with numerous spines running along their abdomen and the long spine extending from the rear on a ball and socket joint that allows them to swing it, albeit slowly, in circles. They are pretty cool actually.
This female is carrying a male on a beach in Big Lagoon within the National Seashore.
Photo: Bob Pitts
They are actually not crabs. They are in the Phylum Arthropoda, like crabs, but not in the Subphylum Crustacea, as crabs are. Rather they are in the Subphylum Chelicerata and more closely related to the arachnids like spiders and scorpions. There are four species of these creatures remaining on the planet, three of those live in Asia, one along the Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States.
Horseshoe crabs vary in size throughout their range but are typically between one to two feet in length and up to one foot across the head. This would be the size of a large female; males are much smaller.
They are benthic creatures exploring the bottom of both the bays and the open oceans searching for food.
Life for a horseshoe crab begins on the shore. Mom buries her eggs in the sand at the tideline during the spring high tide of either the spring or fall season. They young emerge between two and four weeks and begin life as plankton (though they resemble the adults at this stage). They eventually settle out as juveniles in the seagrasses near where they were born and begin their life as benthic creatures. The large adults eventually work their way out into the open ocean to feed before returning to start the cycle over.
A large horseshoe crab found in Little Sabine.
Photo: Amanda Mattair
When the females return, smaller males pursue her to shore in hopes of being the one to fertilize her eggs. Many times, a male will use a modified claw that resembles a hook to grab on to the back of the female and ride in with her. But several other males, called satellites, will continue across the bottom in pursuit. Once on the beach she will begin to deposit her eggs in the sand at high tide and the males rush in to fertilize. Studies show that more often than not it is one of the satellites who is successful. And so, it goes over their 20 year life span, and this has been going on for hundreds of millions of years.
Their range extends from the Gulf of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. Populations within this range have declined in recent years and there have been efforts throughout to manage this problem. Here in Florida the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has developed a citizen science project they call The Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch where volunteers visit nesting beaches to collect information from the animals and tag them. Here in Pensacola Bay, though we have seen horseshoe crabs, we have not identified any nesting beaches and that is the focus of our Pensacola Bay Horseshoe Crab Hunt… to find those nesting beaches.
In 2017 we began marking horseshoe crab sightings in the Pensacola Bay area on a map. The purpose of this was to determine if there were “hotspots” (locations that had repeated sightings) that we could use to search for nesting locations. Beginning in 2020 we trained citizen science volunteers to survey one of nine such hotspot locations. Each of these were laid out with beach walking transects that ranged from 0.30 to 0.95 miles in length (mean = 0.69 miles).
In 2022 we trained 14 volunteers in March to survey these transects. They were instructed to visit one of the nine locations ± 30 minutes of spring high tide during the spring months (April-June). All of the spring tides were provided to them, but they had to use an outside resource to determine what time high tide as their location. Each volunteer was provided an FWC data sheet to complete after each survey and submit these to the local Sea Grant Extension Agent.
This horseshoe crab pair was found on shore near Wakulla Florida.
Photo: Charles Pulley
12 of the 14 volunteers (86%) did conduct at least one survey. These surveys covered six of the nine transect locations (67%) and others surveyed nine new locations.
A total of 77 surveys were conducted during the spring of 2022 for a total of 23.7 miles and logging 77 hours. No horseshoe crabs were sighted, and no nesting beaches were found.
That said, the general public continued to call in sighting reports outside of the official surveys. Six residents sent the Sea Grant Extension Agent records of sightings at six locations around the bay area. Three of these were locations were transect locations we are currently surveying, further confirming these are good places to search. Those three were Big Sabine, Little Sabine, and Sharp Point on Pensacola Beach. The other three locations included Portofino and the point at Ft. Pickens on Pensacola Beach as well as Navarre Beach.
Locations that were surveyed and no sightings were reported included Park West and Morgan Park on Pensacola Beach, Naval Live Oaks in Gulf Breeze, Sanders Beach and Bayou Grande in Pensacola, and Galvez Landing, Perdido Key State Park, Big Lagoon State Park and Tarkiln Bayou out near Perdido Key.
We will continue to search these sites each year in hopes of finding nesting horseshoe crabs. We encourage everyone to continue to report sightings to the Sea Grant Extension Agent in Escambia County (850-475-5230; roc1@ufl.edu ) and consider becoming a volunteer in the spring.
Horseshoe crab molts found on the beach near Big Sabine.
Photo: Holly Forrester.
Most of you – okay… ALL of you who read this column like the outdoors. Some like it for its peace and beauty, some for recreation opportunities, some like it for both. One activity I have found many enjoy is seeking creatures from a list. A sort of “bingo” approach to observing nature.
For many, they have a list of birds they would like to see. I have a colleague who wants to see each species of turtle in the U.S. in the wild. I heard of a group that was trying to photograph a selected list of turtles in the wild. I have a list of animals I hope to see while camping out west. It is a lot of fun to do. Many like the challenge.
I am not sure how it started, but earlier this year I began asking people to report snakes they see while out and about. Again, it started as just a list but then I decided to see how many of the 40 species and subspecies that call the Pensacola Bay area home we might find in one year. The challenge was on.
I broke the types of snakes into size categories following a guide published by Dr. Whit Gibbons and others. In our area there are seven species of small snakes, eight species of mid-sized snakes, seven species of large snakes, 13 species of water snakes, and four species of venomous snakes. There is one species of introduced snakes. Here are the results so far –
Category
# Known species
# Seen
Small snakes
7
0
Mid-sized snakes
8
3
Large snakes
7
5
Water snakes
13
5
Venomous snakes
4
3
Introduced snakes
1
0
Snake sightings in the Pensacola Bay Area (Jan-Jul 2022)
Seeing no small snakes makes sense… they are small and are mostly nocturnal.
Seeing most of the large snakes also makes sense… they are large and easier to notice.
Not seeing a lot of water snakes also makes sense. First, you have to spend a lot of time on our rivers and lakes to see them. Second, they are not easy to tell apart. That said, we have seen almost half.
It is interesting we have seen three of the four venomous snakes. Cottonmouth encounters are quite common, but the two species of rattlesnakes (pygmy and eastern diamondback) are not. But… the one that is missing… is the eastern coral snake.
The eastern coral snake.
Photo: Ed Lewis
Seeing a coral snake is actually a rare thing. I bet if you asked 100 people “how many of you have seen a live coral snake in the wild?” very few would reply yes.
Why so few encounters?
Is this species declining?
I personally have only seen only two corals snakes in the wild in my life. Three if you count the time my dad said I was playing with one in the first grade – but I do not remember that. The two I saw were both at the Naval Live Oaks section of the Gulf Islands National Seashore near Gulf Breeze.
The first was when I was a Boy Scout camping there in the late 1960s. We came across the snake coiled around the base of a palmetto. We all knew what it was and did not get close, but all enjoyed watching it thinking how lucky we were. I remember how docile it was. No angry rattle. No nasty gaping white mouth. Just chillaxing and enjoying the day. Being boys, we had to see it move. We got a stick and nudge it. It just looked at us as if to say – “What are you doing? You know who I am? You know what I can do?” We left it alone, but it was an amazing experience.
The distinct black head of the coral snake.
Photo: Ed Lewis
The second encounter was also at Naval Live Oaks, but many years later. I was conducting a box turtle survey within the Seashore and following a transect I had set to search. I was moving slowly, looking hard, when I heard to some rustling in the leaves to my right. The type of rustling you hear when an armadillo is moving nearby. But there was no armadillo. I continued to hear the noise and searched for a small mammal when I realized it was coming from beneath the leaf litter. Using my hiking stick, I moved the leaves to find a large coral snake crawling. You can imagine my excitement. At this stage of my life, I had been a science educator for a long time and had taught about these snakes a lot, but only had seen one in my life.
The eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius fulvius) is found across much of the coastal southeastern United States. There are records in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. They do seem to be more common in Florida than other states. They can easily be recognized by their classic red/black/yellow banded colors. There are mimics who have this coloration but the old song “red on yellow will kill a fellow” does work with this subspecies. Also, the mimics in our region have red heads, where the eastern coral has a black one. The literature states they prefer dry sandhill environments but can be found in hardwoods (which where I found them) and wet flatwoods dominated by pines.
The best chance to find one is in the spring and fall and most often found during or after rain. As I found, they spend most of their time beneath the ground or under leaf litter but when they do move above ground, they seem to prefer mornings.
Coral snake found near Eglin AFB.
Photo: Carrie Stevenson
Their food of choice are lizards and snakes. They will grab their prey and chew releasing the venom. They do have their predators. Kingsnakes, notorious for eating other snakes, are one, but indigo snakes, and black racers will also consume them. When they encounter a potential predator their first response is usually to try and hide underground. If this does not work, they will flatten their bodies hiding their heads beneath a coil and sometimes raise their tails to appear as the head end. As I observed, they are not terribly aggressive snakes but anyone seeing one should keep their distance.
Coral snakes have a neurotoxin, different than the hemotoxins find in the pit vipers. They are more closely related to sea snakes and cobras, who have a similar toxin. Deaths from this snake are rare, but encounters and bites are also rare.
Do I encourage you seek out this snake for our project?
No… The bite from this animal can be very serious. Though the majority of venomous snake bites come from copperheads, and most fatalities from western diamondback rattlesnake, this is NOT a snake to mess with. If you do see one, let us know and consider yourself lucky. But keep a safe distance. It is amazing to see one.
