There are 46 unique Habitats in South Florida.

Habitats: Description:
Alluvial Forest A short description of the Alluvial Forest community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “floodplain with alluvial substrate of sand, silt, clay or organic soil; inundated yearly during growing season; influenced by disturbance from ongoing floodplain processes (deposition of point bars, creation of “ridge and swale” topography); Panhandle to central peninsula; rare or no fire; closed canopy of mainly deciduous trees; water hickory, overcup oak, diamond-leaved oak, green ash, American elm, water locust, river birch.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Basin Marsh A short description of the Basin Marsh community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “basin with peat or sand substrate; seasonally inundated; statewide excluding Keys; occasional fire; largely herbaceous; maidencane, sawgrass, bulltongue arrowhead, pickerelweed, Baker’s cordgrass, white water lily, coastalplain willow.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida. The current concept of Basin Marsh includes the variant Lake Bottom, which is described as “marshes on former lake bottoms of “disappearing” lakes in northern Florida, areas that alternate between lake and marsh when the sinkholes draining them are plugged or re-opened; well-known examples are Lake Miccosukee and Paynes Prairie.”    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Baygall A short description of the Baygall community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “slope or depression wetland with peat substrate; usually saturated and occasionally inundated; statewide excluding Keys; rare or no fire; closed canopy of evergreen trees; loblolly bay, sweetbay, swamp bay, titi, fetterbush.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida. The current concept of Baygall includes the variants Bay Swamp, which is described as “large or small peat filled depression; mainly eastern Panhandle to central peninsula; forested; dominated by bay species,” and South Florida Bayhead, which is described as occurring “on tree islands in glades marsh on peat substrate; south of Lake Okeechobee in central and southern peninsula; open or closed canopy; swamp bay, sweetbay, dahoon, coastalplain willow, and/or coco plum.” Our concepts of Baygall and Bayhead remain distinct in South Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Bayhead A short description of the South Florida Bayhead community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “on tree islands in glades marsh on peat substrate; south of Lake Okeechobee in central and southern peninsula; open or closed canopy; swamp bay, sweetbay, dahoon, coastalplain willow, and/or coco plum.” It is considered a variant of the Baygall community. A full description of the Baygall community can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Beach Dune The Beach Dune community is the active foredune in the zone of the constant wind, salt spray and periodic inundation by ocean waves. A short description from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “active coastal dune with sand substrate; xeric; statewide; rare or no fire; marine influence; open herbaceous vegetation with no canopy; sea oats, railroad vine, bitter panicum, and/or mixed salt-spray tolerant grasses and herbs.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Blackwater Stream A short description of the Blackwater Stream community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “perennial or intermittent/seasonal watercourse characterized by tea-colored water with a high content of particulate and dissolved organic matter derived from drainage through swamps and marshes; statewide except Keys; generally lacking an alluvial floodplain.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Coastal Berm A short description of the Coastal Berm community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “old bar or storm debris with sand/shell substrate; xeric-mesic; southern peninsula and Keys; rare or no fire; marine influence; variable vegetation structure; mixed tropical herbs, shrubs, and trees.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Coastal Grassland Coastal grasslands are found landward of the foredune, in areas of stabilized sand. A short description from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is "coastal flatland behind dunes with stable sand substrate; mesichydric; statewide excluding Keys; occasional fire; marine influence; herbaceous vegetation with no canopy; salt-tolerant grasses and herbs; sea oats, bitter panicum, camphorweed, hairawn muhly, Gulf bluestem." A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Coastal Interdunal Swale A short description of the Coastal Interdunal Swale community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “linear wetlands between dunes on sandy barrier islands; inundated by local rainfall events; Panhandle to central peninsula; herbaceous or shrubby; sawgrass, hairawn muhly, broomsedge, seashore paspalum, Baker’s cordgrass, saltmeadow cordgrass, wax myrtle, coastalplain willow.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Coastal Rockland Lake A short description of the Coastal Rockland Lake community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “shallow basin influenced by recent coastal processes; predominantly barren oolitic or Miami limestone substrate; southern peninsula and Keys; salinity variable among and within lakes, and subject to saltwater intrusion, storm surges and evaporation (because of shallowness); slightly alkaline, hard water with high mineral content (sodium, chloride).” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Coastal Strand A short description of the Coastal Strand community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “stabilized coastal dune with sand substrate; xeric; peninsula; rare fire; marine influence; primarily dense shrubs; saw palmetto in temperate coastal strand or seagrape and/or saw palmetto in tropical coastal strand.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Depression Marsh A short description of the Depression Marsh community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “small, isolated, often rounded depression in sand substrate with peat accumulating toward center; surrounded by fire-maintained community; seasonally inundated; still water; statewide excluding Keys; frequent or occasional fire; largely herbaceous; maidencane, sawgrass, pickerelweed, longleaf threeawn, sand cordgrass, peelbark St. John’s wort.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Disturbed Upland Includes areas such as roadsides, agricultural fields, or thickets.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Disturbed Wetland Includes disturbed wet areas such as ditches, canals, and borrow pits.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Dome Swamp A short description of the Dome Swamp community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “small or large and shallow isolated depression in sand/marl/limestone substrate with peat accumulating toward center; occurring within a fire-maintained community; seasonally inundated; still water; statewide excluding Keys; occasional or rare fire; forested, canopy often tallest in center; pond cypress, swamp tupelo.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida. The current concept of Dome Swamp includes the variants Gum Pond, which is described as “underlain by a clay lens; generally occurs in upland pine; mainly Panhandle; longer hydroperiod and lower fire frequency than cypress-dominated dome swamps; dominated by swamp tupelo,” and Stringer Swamp, which is described as “narrow linear swamps; occur within a pyrogenic community along intermittent streams that only flow during heavy rainfall; Panhandle; dominated by pond cypress.”    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Dry Prairie A short description of the Dry Prairie community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “flatland with sand soils over an organic or clay hardpan; mesic-xeric; central peninsula; annual or frequent fire (1-2 years); treeless with a low cover of shrubs and herbs; wiregrass, dwarf live oak, stunted saw palmetto, bottlebrush threeawn, broomsedge bluestem.” A full description can be found in FNAI’s 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Flatwoods/Prairie Lake Generally shallow basin in flatlands with high water table; frequently with a broad littoral zone; still water or flow-through; sand or peat substrate; variable water chemistry, but characteristically colored to clear, acidic to slightly alkaline, soft to moderately hard water with moderate mineral content (sodium, chloride, sulfate); oligo-mesotrophic to eutrophic.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Floodplain Marsh Floodplain with organic/sand/alluvial substrate; seasonally inundated; subtropical; frequent or occasional fire; maidencane, pickerelweed, sagittaria spp., buttonbush, and mixed emergents.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Floodplain Swamp Floodplain with organic/alluvial substrate; usually inundated; subtropical or temperate; rare or no fire; vegetation characterized by cypress, tupelo, black gum, and/or pop ash.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Freshwater Tidal Swamp River mouth wetland, organic soil with extensive root mat; inundated with freshwater in response to tidal cycles; rare or no fire; cypress, bays, cabbage palm, gums and/or cedars.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Hydric Hammock Lowland with sand/clay/organic soil, often over limestone; mesic-hydric; subtropical or temperate; rare or no fire; water oak, cabbage palm, red cedar, red maple, bays, hackberry, hornbeam, blackgum, needle palm, and mixed hardwoods.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Keys Cactus Barren A short description of the Keys Cactus Barren community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “small openings on flatland with exposed limestone; xeric; restricted to Keys; marine influence; open, herbaceous vegetation with some cacti, agave, and stunted trees; three-spined pricklypear, erect pricklypear, barbed wire cactus, Yucatan fly mallow, Florida Keys indigo, skyblue clustervine, dwarf bindweed.” A full description can be found in FNAI's 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida. This community was formerly referred to as Coastal Rock Barren.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Mangrove swamp A short description of the Mangrove Swamp community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “estuarine wetland on muck/sand/or limestone substrate; inundated with saltwater by daily tides; central peninsula and Keys; no fire; dominated by mangrove and mangrove associate species; red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove, buttonwood.” A full description can be found in FNAI’s 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Maritime Hammock Stabilized coastal dune with sand substrate; xeric-mesic; subtropical or temperate; rare or no fire; mixed hardwoods and/or live oak.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Marl Prairie Flatland with marl over limestone substrate; seasonally inundated; tropical; frequent to no fire; sawgrass, spikerush, and/or mixed grasses, sometimes with dwarf cypress.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Marsh Lake Generally shallow, open water area within wide expanses of freshwater marsh; still water or flow-through; peat, sand or clay substrate; occurs in most physiographic regions; variable water chemistry, but characteristically highly colored, acidic, soft water with moderate mineral content (sodium, chloride, sulfate); oligo-mesotrophic to eutrophic.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Mesic Flatwoods Flatland with sand substrate; mesic; subtropical or temperate; frequent fire; slash pine and/or longleaf pine with saw palmetto, gallberry and/or wiregrass or cutthroat grass understory.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Mesic Hammock Flatland with sand/organic soil over a sand substrate; mesic; subtropical; occasional or rare fire; live oak and/or cabbage palm.    (Description by The Institute For Regional Conservation)
Pine Rockland Flatland with exposed limestone substrate; mesic-xeric; subtropical; frequent fire; south Florida slash pine, palms and/or hardwoods, and mixed grasses and herbs.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Prairie Hammock Flatland with sand/organic soil over marl or limestone substrate; mesic; subtropical; occasional or rare fire; live oak and/or cabbage palm.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
River Floodplain Lake Meander scar, backwater, or larger flow-through body within major river floodplains; sand, alluvial or organic substrate; colored, alkaline or slightly acidic, hard or moderately hard water with high mineral content (sulfate, sodium, chloride, calcium, magnesium); mesotrophic to eutrophic.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Rockland Hammock Flatland with limestone substrate; mesic; subtropical; rare or no fire; mixed tropical hardwoods, often with live oak.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Salt Marsh A short description of the Salt Marsh community from The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is “estuarine wetland on muck/sand/or limestone substrate; inundated with saltwater by daily tides; statewide; occasional or rare fire; treeless, dense herb layer with few shrubs; saltmarsh cordgrass, needle rush, saltgrass, saltwort, perennial glasswort, seaside oxeye.” A full description can be found in FNAI’s 2010 Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Sandhill Upland with deep sand substrate; xeric; temperate; frequent fire (2-5 years); longleaf pine and/or turkey oak with wiregrass understory.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Scrub Old dune with deep fine sand substrate; xeric; temperate or subtropical; occasional or rare fire (20 - 80 years); sand pine and/or scrub oaks and/or rosemary and lichens.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Scrubby Flatwoods Flatland with sand substrate; xeric-mesic; subtropical or temperate; occasional fire; longleaf pine or slash pine with scrub oaks and wiregrass understory.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Shell Mound Indian midden with shell substrate; xeric-mesic; subtropical or temperate; rare or no fire; mixed hardwoods.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Sinkhole Karst feature with steep limestone walls; mesic-hydric; subtropical or temperate; no fire; ferns, herbs, shrubs, and hardwoods.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Sinkhole Lake Typically deep, funnel-shaped depression in limestone base; occurs in most physiographic regions; predominantly without surface inflows/outflows, but frequently with connection to the aquifer; clear, alkaline, hard water with high mineral content (calcium, bicarbonate, magnesium)    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Slough Broad, shallow channel with peat over mineral substrate; seasonally inundated, flowing water; subtropical; occasional or rare fire; pop ash and/or pond apple or water lily.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Strand Swamp Broad, shallow channel with peat over mineral substrate; seasonally inundated, flowing water; subtropical; occasional or rare fire; cypress and/or willow.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Swale Broad, shallow channel with sand/peat substrate; seasonally inundated, flowing water; subtropical or temperate; frequent or occasional fire; sawgrass, maidencane, pickerelweed, and/or mixed emergents.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Swamp Lake Generally shallow, open water area within basin swamps; still water or flow-through; peat, sand or clay substrate; occurs in most physiographic regions; variable water chemistry, but characteristically highly colored, acidic, soft water with moderate mineral content (sodium, chloride, sulfate); oligo-mesotrophic to eutrophic.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Wet Flatwoods Flatland with sand substrate; seasonally inundated; subtropical or temperate; frequent fire; vegetation characterized by slash pine or pond pine and/or cabbage palm with mixed grasses and herbs.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Wet Prairie Flatland with sand substrate; seasonally inundated; subtropical or temperate; annual or frequent fire; maidencane, beakrush, spikerush, wiregrass, pitcher plants, St. John's wort, mixed herbs.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)
Xeric Hammock Upland with deep sand substrate; xeric-mesic; temperate or subtropical; rare or no fire; live oak and/or sand live oak and/or laurel oak and/or other oaks, sparkleberry, saw palmetto.    (Description taken from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory website at www.FNAI.org)