Resolution of the clonal nature of scrub oaks is important both to manage tracts of this ecosystem at the Kennedy Space Center and in conducting long term ecological studies where the study area must substantially exceed the area occupied by any single clone. The results showed that there is significant genetic diversity within the experimental plots and microsatellites provide a powerful noninvasive tool for distinguishing individual genotypes and determining an adequate area for long term studies.
Category Archives: Genetics
Barnard, E. L., G. M. Blakeslee, J. T. English, and S. W. Oak. 1985. Pathogenic fungi associated with sand pine root disease in Florida. Plant Dis. 69(3):196-199.
Eight known or suspected pathogenic fungi were isolated from roots of diseased sand pine from planted and natural stands in Florida.
Bostater, C. R., C. R. Hall, and D. R. Breininger. 1997. High-resolution optical signatures and band selection techniques for endangered species habitat management. Proc. Int. Symp. Spectral Sensing Research 1:556-569.
This paper studies the use of high-resolution spectral reflectance signatures to identify six scrub habitat components for the Kennedy Space Center.
Branch, L. C., D. G. Hokit, B. M. Stith, B. W. Bowen and A. M. Clark. 1999. Effects of landscape dynamics on endemic scrub lizards: an assessment with molecular genetics and GIS modeling. Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Comm. Final Rep., Tallahassee, FL. 88 pp + vi.
The effect of landscape dynamics in the Florida scrub was studied on 3 species of endemic lizards. Declines in habitat quality, loss of landscape connectivity, and reduction of patch size in scrub all pose problems for scrub lizards.
Burns, R. M. 1972. Choctawhatchee sand pine, good prospect for Georgia-Carolina sandhills. J. For. 70(12):741-742.
Choctawhatchee sand pine appears to be a good prospect for converting sandhill sites dominated by hardwoods to pine. In five years, it outgrew loblolly, slash, longleaf, and Ocala sand pines in the presence or absence of regrowth by hardwood sprouts.
Burns, R. M. 1975. Sand pine: fifty-year survival and height on prepared and unprepared sandhill sites. USDA Forest Serv. Res. Note SE-217. 5 pp.
Survival of Choctawhatchee sand pine was higher and tress were taller 5 years after planting on sandhill sites prepared by double-chopping than on adjacent wooded sites. Planting on unprepared sites also lowered survival and reduced height growth of Ocala sand pine, but time of lifting and length of seedling storage affected their survival as well.
Burns, R. M. 1978. Evaluation of a Choctawhatchee sand pine plantation at age 35. USDA Forest Serv. Res. Pap. SE-183. 13 pp.
Detailed measurements (trees per acre, height, dbh, specific gravity, reproduction, pulpwood volume, extractives, and soil organic matter) were made for a 35 year old sand pine plantation on Elgin Air Force Base, Okaloosa County. See dispersal and establishment of sand pine into the adjacent scrub hardwoods was also reported.
Clark, A. M., Bowen, B. W. and L. C. Branch. 1999. Effects of natural habitat fragmentation on an endemic scrub lizard (Sceloporus woodi):an historical perspective based on a mitochondrial DNA gene genealogy. Molecular Ecology (1999)8:1093-1104.
The Florida scrub lizard is endemic to central and coastal scrub habitats. To assess the population structure and phylogeography of this species, 135 samples of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b were collected from 16 patches on five major ridges in Florida. The genetic data indicate that scrub lizard populations in isolated scrub patches are demographically independent, and that lizard populations on the major ridges have been disjunct for millions of years.
Connery, C. B. 1984. Factors that influence plant species richness on habitat islands of sand pine scrub. Masters thesis, Univ. Central Florida, Orlando. 92 pp.
Evidence is presented which suggests that there is no relationship between sand pine species and area, isolation of scrub communities and species, soil types and species or fire and species. The date indicates that the equilibrium theory of island biography does not apply to the sand pine scrub community in Florida because most plant species reproduce vegetatively and rarely undergo extinction even following catastrophic fires.
Cooper, R. W. 1951. Foresters finding how to reproduce seed-hoarding sand pine. For. Farmer 10(9):14.
A practical way of getting seed dispersal of sand pines without fire has been devised. Branches are cut from the crowns of harvested trees and scattered over the area so as to place the seeds near the soil layer. As summer soil temperatures approach 160