Water Depth Tolerances of Dominant Tree Island Species: What do We Know?

Common woody species growing on tree islands in the Water Conservation Areas of South Florida include redbay, sweetbay, coastal-plain willow, wax myrtle, dahoon holly, cocoplum, pond-apple, red maple, cypress, gumbo-limbo, strangler fig and buttonbush. Very little is known about the flooding tolerance of most of these species. In this paper, we review flooding impact studies, describe the most common species and discuss two methods that might be used to examine woody plant growth response to water level fluctuations. Although tree coring has been used effectively in many areas, the general lack of discernible rings and poor quality rings observed in these species makes this method of questionable use. Dendrometer bands, however, work well in any environment with any species and are recommended for further studies on tree islands.