Abstract
Urbanization is a leading cause of species loss in the United States because of habitat destruction and fragmentation. Wetlands can be affected by urbanization and the condition of wetlands can be compared across land use categories. Cypress domes are isolated wetlands dominated by cypress (Taxodium distichum) and often remain in urban areas. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of urbanization on cypress dome number, size and spatial pattern through two decades of rapid urbanization in Orlando, Florida, a large city in the southeastern US. Over 3,000 cypress domes, in a region typical of urban growth in the cypress range, were identified in images from 1984. Over a 20-year period, 26 % were destroyed or degraded (i.e., no longer cypress-dominated) and almost half in managed forests were degraded, destroyed, or became surrounded by urban or agricultural land uses. The smallest and largest cypress domes were lost, leaving only medium-sized wetlands and decreasing landscape-level diversity. Despite the fact that these wetlands are common and partially protected by legislation, cypress in isolated wetlands may be at risk from urbanization.
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Acknowledgments
We thank K.A. Medley for reviewing this manuscript and K.C. Ewel for advice and support. We would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their assistance and advice while reviewing this manuscript. This project was partially funded by the Florida Native Plant Society Endowment Research Grant. We thank the Ying Family Foundation for their continuing support.
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Online Fig. 1
A cypress dome outlined in yellow on a color-infrared photo. (PDF 656 kb)
Online Table 1
Table of original land use classifications and the re-categorized land cover groups. (PDF 199 kb)
Online Fig. 2
Habitat degradation shown in photos from 1984 (a) where grey cypress domes are easily distinguished from pink upland vegetation. By 2004 (b) the same wetlands could not be readily distinguished from the upland vegetation. (PDF 225 kb)
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McCauley, L.A., Jenkins, D.G. & Quintana-Ascencio, P.F. Isolated Wetland Loss and Degradation Over Two Decades in an Increasingly Urbanized Landscape. Wetlands 33, 117–127 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-012-0357-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-012-0357-x