Natural Area Teaching Lab

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Natural Area Teaching Lab
Erica Van Etten NATL graduate TA
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60 acre natural area on campus
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4 ecosystems
Wetlands
NATL east
NATL west
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Upland Pine
Upland pine ecosystem restored (1995-date)As
illustrated and described elsewhere, NATL's
upland pine ecosystem was choked with laurel oaks
in 1995. By 2004, after six prescribed burns and
the cutting or killing of hundreds of the
invading oaks, the ecosystem was once more
hospitable to the germination of the seeds of
longleaf pines and the growth of their seedlings.
15 acres 13 being restored since 1995 2
left unburned
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Old Field Plots
Old-field succession must be periodically
interrupted to prevent the succession from
reaching its endpoint, i.e., a self-sustaining
community (hammock or upland pine in this case).
The succession area is subdivided into plots (see
map) that will be cleared and cultivated at 1-,
10-, or 40-year intervals. Units with the same
period of rotation will be cleared and cultivated
out of phase. For example, every five years one
of the two 10-year plots will be cultivated. The
1-year plot will be cultivated only during years
that none of the other plots is cultivated. This
schedule will produce five representative
successional states at all times.

• 6 acres
• 3 tilling schedules
• 1, 10, 40 year rotations
• 5 succession stages

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Hardwood hammock
21 acres in NATL west
Ephemeral ponds
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SEEP Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project

• Retention basin re-contoured for SEEP (1998)

BEFORE
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SEEP restoration
1998
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SEEP today
Boardwalk trail completed 2008
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Nature trails kiosks
Basic advanced trail guides
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Teaching facilities
Academic pavilion
Natural Area Park
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NATL west academic area

• 22 acres closed to public
• guidelines available online
• Student projects
• Short long term
• Research

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NATL EAST

• added in 2005
• 11 acres
• ALL academic use only

Central marsh
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50-meter grid photos
NATL west photos 1997 2007 NATL east
photos 2008
Grid-based photographic record of vegetation
(1997, 2007-08)In January 1997, a photographic
record was made of NATL by taking pictures to the
north, east, south, and west at each grid
intersection. This was repeated for NATL-west in
2007 and NATL-east in 2008.                       
                                                  
                                                  
                   
Looking north from C10
N-S-E-W grid photos
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GIS Maps photos all online
All pines mapped!
Aerial photos

• Grid-based record of soils (2000)Dr. Mary E.
  Collins

LIDAR Elevation Contours
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Species lists online

• Surveys of biota (1995-date)Higher plants,
  vertebrates, and many groups of invertebrates
  that occur in NATL have been surveyed and the
  results posted.

Gryllus firmus
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Mini-grant program

• Two 500 grants available
• Individuals or groups
• Enhance informational infrastructure
• Research projects

Species surveys
Vegetational history
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Questions?
http//natl.ifas.ufl.edu/ericavanetten_at_gmail.com