What is the name of the species that has a reproductive cycle that coincides with the dry season?
Although The Big Cypress is the largest growth of cypress swamps in South Florida, such swamps—as well as portions of sawgrass marshes—can be found near the Atlantic Coastal Ridge and between Lake Okeechobee and the Eastern flatwoods. Hardwood hammocks and pineland are often interspersed with the cypress ecosystem. Much like tree islands that are colloquially referred to as "heads", cypress trees grow in formations that resemble domes, with the tallest and thickest trunks in the center, rooted in the deepest peat. As the peat thins out, cypresses continue to grow, but are smaller and thinner, giving the small forest the appearance of a dome. They also grow in strands, slightly elevated on a plateau of limestone and surrounded on two sides by sloughs. Other hardwood trees can be found in cypress domes, such as red maple (Acer rubrum), swamp bay (Persea palustris), and pop ash (Fraxinus caroliniana). If cypresses are removed, hardwoods take over, and the ecosystem is recategorized as a mixed swamp forest.
Because the cypress domes and strands retain moisture and block out much of the sunlight, plants such as orchids, bromeliads, and ferns thrive in cypress domes and strands. Orchids bloom throughout the year in cypress heads, and bromeliads appear in many varieties; on Fakahatchee Strand alone, thirteen species have been documented. Bromeliads collect moisture from rain and humidity in the bases of their leaves, which also nurture frogs, lizards and various insects. Wood storks (Mycteria americana) nest almost exclusively in cypress forests and in the past 100 years have seen a dramatic decline, probably due to lack of reproduction tied to controlled water. Wood storks' reproductive cycles coincide with the dry season, when small fish and amphibians are trapped in shallow pools and puddles. When water from canals or locks is released too soon or not at all, storks are unable to find enough food for themselves and their offspring. An estimated 20,000 wood storks nested in The Big Cypress in the 1930s, but by the 1990s less than 2,000 were counted.
Wood storks