Exploring Scrub Communities- Animals and Interdependence. Edited by V. Bourdeau

Transcription

1 Exploring Scrub Communities- Animals and Interdependence Edited by V. Bourdeau

2 N. Deyrup Now let s look at some of the animals of the scrub. How do they survive in Florida s little deserts? They must have good ADAPTATIONS.

3 L. Rojas On the day when you visit the Archbold Biological Station, you may not see many animals. Just as in most deserts, many scrub animals come out at night when it is cooler. They are NOCTURNAL which means they are active at night.

4 J. Layne This is the Florida Mouse, which you may never see unless you study the scrub at night.

5 The mouse makes a burrow to hide in. Many animals in the scrub use burrows for protection. J.Layne

6 L. Rojas The mouse has to be alert, or it may become a tasty snack for this Gray Fox.

7 You may not see many animals, but you will know they are there. How? N. Deyrup N. Deyrup They will have left their tracks.

8 Many scrub animals survive by digging. N. Deyrup Just a little way down the sand is cool.

9 When you walk through the scrub you will be stepping on the nests of ants. N. Deyrup The ants don t mind very much! Most of them are deep in the cool sand.

10 M. Deyrup A Scrub Wolf Spider lives in a hole in the sand, and when it comes up it is hard to see against white sand.

11 This one was photographed on bark so you would be able to see it well. H. Wallace

12 This looks like someone drew an S in the sand. M. Deyrup Actually, the line was made by a Sand Skink, a shy little lizard. It wiggles along, as if it were swimming, just below the surface of the sand.

13 There are insects and spiders to eat in the sand, and air and water pass easily through the loose sand, so the Sand Skink seldom needs to come up. J. Layne Here is what the Sand Skink looks like. This lizard lives only in the Florida Scrub.

14 This is a Gopher Tortoise. N. Deyrup

15 N. Deyrup N. Deyrup Did you know that the gophers with their strong front legs are the world champions of digging turtles?

16 The Gopher Tortoise makes a comfortable burrow in the sand. N. Deyrup There it can stay protected from heat, cold, fire and predators.

17 N. Deyrup It eats tender leaves and flowers that grow in the scrub, and especially loves to eat these soft, white gopher apple fruits that grow close to the ground where it can reach them.

18 J. Layne J. Layne This Florida Scrub Lizard waits for delicious ants and spiders to come by for lunch. There are plenty of larger animals that would also like to eat the scrub lizard.

19 J. Layne J. Layne The pattern of dark splotches and lines on the scrub lizard makes it hard to see on the light-colored sand that has dark bits of leaves and stems. Every living thing has many ADAPTATIONS to help it survive.

20 For instance, let s take a look at the Gopher Tortoise, champion digger of the scrub. R. Bowman Do you remember how big his burrow is?

21 Up to 10 feet deep and thirty feet in length from entrance to the very end... There s room for more than a turtle in there! R. Lavoy Scientists have put little cameras into Gopher Tortoise burrows to see who else is at home there.

22 J. J. Layne They have often found snakes, such as this rare and beautiful Indigo Snake,

23 or this Coachwhip Snake. J. Layne R. Lavoy

24 J. Layne N. Deyrup N. Deyrup This kind of frog lives in a Gopher Tortoise burrow where it stays safe and cool inside the burrow. Camel Crickets live at the bottom of the burrow.

25 The Florida Mouse doesn t need to dig if it can move in with a Gopher Tortoise. J. Layne Scientists have found more than eighty different kinds of animals that use Gopher Tortoise burrows!

26 N. Deyrup These burrows are the perfect place to hole up on a cold winter day, or when the sun is hot, or at the hottest time of all, during a scrub fire!

27 J. Layne If the Gopher Tortoise were not in the scrub to dig its deep cool burrow, think of all the animals that would lose their home and their emergency fire escape.

28 J. Layne This acorn is the seed of a Sand Live Oak tree.

29 Florida Scrub- Jays eat acorns during fall and winter. But the scrub-jays need the oak tree for more than just a food supply! G. Woolfendon

30 The tangled thicket of branches is the prime building site for a shady nest. How do you think a scrub-jay might help the oak tree? Answer R. Plockelman

31 Here is a scrub-jay burying an acorn. N. Deyrup When the jay runs low on fresh food he ll come back to dig up this acorn and eat it. Each scrubjay buries thousands of acorns every fall what memories they must have to find those acorns again!

32 But the scrub-jays do miss some of the acorns they buried; what do you think happens to those acorns? Sure... they re the ones that may grow into new oak trees. M. Deyrup

33 N. Deyrup Without the scrub-jay, the acorn would just fall from the branches onto the ground below. That wouldn t be a very good place for a seed to grow, where the leaves of the grown up tree are taking all the sun, and the roots are taking all the water.

34 L. Rojas Animals, like squirrels, also move plant seeds.

35 T. Eisner The Prickly Pear Cactus has a beautiful flower.

36 T. Eisner Many insects, such as this beetle, come to the flower to eat nectar and pollen.

37 T. Eisner They carry pollen from one flower to another; you can see all the pollen on this beetle.

38 We hope you have enjoyed meeting the REAL Florida, and some of its plants and animals that live together and need each other to survive. They need us too. N. Deyrup

39 F. Lohrer Without the help of people like you, we could lose forever rare scrub flowers like this Pygmy Fringe Tree,

40 N. Deyrup R. Bowman and this Blazing Star,

41 T. Eisner and this Scrub Mint,

42 M. Deyrup F. Lohrer and this Scrub Pawpaw,

43 and special animals like this Sand Skink, and J. Layne Scrub Lizard J. Layne

44 and this Florida Scrub-Jay, N. Deyrup and this Scrub Firefly. T. Eisner

45 N. Deyrup Soon your group will be coming to Archbold Biological Station.

46 See you soon! M. Deyrup

47 Continue learning about the Big Scrub If you haven t already done so, see the.pdf PowerPoint on Plants of the Scrub