FAR FROM THE SCENES OF HORROR portrayed by Hollywood, Florida's swamps are dynamic wonderlands that display a wide range of ecological diversity. Swamps are wetlands with trees, having saturated soils and standing water for at least part of the year. A unique recipe of multiple groundwater sources, frequent natural fires, and flat karst topography allows Florida to have the most diverse mosaic of swamp habitats of any place in the world.

SWAMP TYPES
Hydrologically speaking, there are two major swamp categories: river swamps and stillwater swamps. They differ by their water source, period of saturation, and flow rate.

River swamps depend on rivers as a source of water and can be part of a river, or located along side of one. River swamps are primarily located in northern Florida. They serve as the floodplains for "whitewater rivers" that carry colloidial clay, blackwater rivers that carry suspended organic matter, and clear spring runs.

Stillwater swamps depend on groundwater seepage and rainfall as a primary water source, and retain water for at least six months a year. Stillwater swamps generally occupy peat-filled depressions and are drained by small blackwater streams. Plant diversity is lower in acidic stillwater swamps than in river swamps and diversity increases near the edge of the swamp where the soil is more aerated and more sunlight is available. Stillwater swamps include cypress stands and bay swamps, as well as shrub bogs and gum ponds in the Panhandle.

river swamp	stillwater swamp

However, swamps may be classified into other categories as well. Many dynamic swamplands change dramatically throughout the year, such as coastal swamps that may be affected by tidal changes, and cypress swamps that are stillwater swamps but have occasional water flow.

Major swamp types in Florida include:

bottomland forest

flatland; occasionally inundated

floodplain forest

alluvial floodplain; seasonally inundated

floodplain swamp

floodplain with organic substrate; usually inundated

freshwater tidal swamp

river mouth wetland, organic soil; inundated

strand swamp

broad, shallow channel; seasonally inundated, flowing

basin swamp

large basin; seasonally inundated, still water

dome swamp

rounded depression; seasonally inundated, still water

tidal swamp

intertidal area; salt-tolerant trees

Swamp water quality is dependent on the source of water: rain, rivers, or groundwater (springs). Generally, rain-fed swamps have poor water quality and water levels that fluctuate throughout the wet and dry seasons. River-fed swamps have higher oxygen levels. The flow of riverwater removes organic debris and prevents natural fire occurences. The water quality in spring-fed swamps varies according to the quality of groundwater and the depth of the originating aquifer. Shallow and deep groundwater has different nutrient and mineral compositions, resulting in different plant communities.

DEP SURFACE WATER CLASSIFICATION
Like all surface waters in Florida, the state's swamps are classified according to their designated uses, and are arranged in order of the degree of protection required. For information about Florida's "surface water quality standards", go to this web page on our web site.

SWAMP FLORA
Few plant species can tolerate the low oxygen and high iron, manganese, and hydrogen sulfide levels associated with the long term flooding of swamps. The plant community within a swamp depends on the type of swamp and climatic temperatures.

Swamp plant communities include conifers such as cypress trees (Taxodium spp., the most common wetland tree in Florida); certain palms; hardwoods such as tupelo; and epiphytes (plants that live on trees) such as orchids and bromeliads (many of which are considered rare or endangered because of habitat loss or alteration). Also, more than twenty species of woody or herbaceous vines, most commonly greenbrier vines (Smilax spp.) and poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), are prevalent in swamp environments.

Protruding beyond the water surface, pneumatophores, above, enable cypress, tupelo and black gum trees to adapt to the persistent flood environment of a swamp.

Tall trees such as cypress, water tupelo and black gum trees have adapted to the persistent flood environment by developing "knees", or pneumatophores, that protrude above the water surface. Biologists speculate that the knees act as buttressing agents and/or areas of gas exchange. Cypress and tupelo also have buttressed, or swollen, trunk bases where the tree is submerged.

Because so little sunlight reaches the understory of swamps, few herbaceous plants (soft-stem and leafy) live in swamps. However, some herbaceous plants do occur around the edges of the swampland canopy. Insectivorous plants (insect-eating plants) are a notable feature of swamp flora. Four common genera that grow around the edges and in the sunnier parts of the swamps are bladderworts (Utricularia), sundews (Drosera), butterworts (Pinguicula), and pitcher plants (Sarracenia).

River swamps generally have more diverse plant communities than stillwater swamps. For more information about Florida's aquatic plants, visit another page of this web site.

INVASIVE PLANTS in FLORIDA'S SWAMPS

The newly-introduced Old World climbing fern is invading Florida's swamps

Unfortunately, aggressive exotic plants, such as newly introduced non-native vines, are invading Florida's swamps. Here is Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum) growing on cypress trees in a swamp in Palm Beach County. Besides smothering the trees they're on, the climbing ferns also provide direct paths for fire to reach the most sensitive tops of neighboring trees.

Additional common invaders are the Brazilian pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolius), introduced to Florida as an ornamental in the mid 1800s, and Melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia), large trees introduced in the 1920s that are forming impenetrable monocultures in the Everglades.

Invasive plant management in swamps is especially challenging because of the difficulty in getting workers and equipment to swamps, and then working in their watery, mosquitoy environs.

During the past ___ years, plant management efforts in swamps have increased ___%.

SWAMP FAUNA
Swamps provide food and shelter for a wide variety of native Florida animals. Wildlife production is especially high in swamp areas that include a mixture of wetland and upland habitats, such as San Pedro Bay and Green Swamp. Most animals merely visit the swamp regions and spend most of their days in the drier regions. Consequently, animals play a major role in transporting nutrients from nutrient rich wetlands to nutrient poor uplands.

Invertebrates (animals without backbones) such as leeches, worms, insects, crustaceans, and molluscs comprise the foundation for the swamp food chain. Swamps fed by rivers and lakes are likely to have more diverse fish populations. Anadromous fish (fish that migrate from the sea to freshwater) use swamps as spawning sites. Larger swamps may have deep pools that allow fish to survive even during periods of drought. Vertebrates (animals with backbones) such as amphibians and reptiles predominate in most stillwater swamps. In river swamps, with high flow rates, amphibians and reptiles are not as common. Swamps provide vital reproduction sites for many of the state's native reptile and amphibian species.

Swamps provide a reliable water source for a variety of wading birds and mammals. Birds are more abundant in swamps during migration and summer. Endangered Florida mammals such as the Florida panther, mangrove fox squirrel, black bear and mink depend on large swamps and other wild habitats for their survival.

HUMAN IMPACT
Despite their high ecologic and economic values, Florida's swamps remain threatened by human activities: draining, pollution, logging, mining, flood plain alterations, and introduced invasive plants. Read about human impacts on Florida's wetlands and waters on this page of our web site.

For examples, Corkscrew Swamp was purchased by the Audubon Society which in turn established an ecosystem research unit. Everglades National Park , both swamp and marsh, and Big Cypress National Preserve also offer tourists and residents the opportunity to explore the magestic beauty of Florida's swamplands.