Trip To Wekiva State Park

During the trip to Wekiva State Park we got to see some of the most dramatic habitat and hydrological changes yet. Starting out at the spring and watching the water being forced out from deep within the aquifer. The cavern where the spring is located is only approximately 20 feet deep and has been restricted to divers for many years due to the inherent hazard of cave diving. A constant 72 degrees year round, Wekiva Springs provides about 42 million gallons of some of the cleanest water you will find in Florida to the river on a daily basis.

Some additional history about the park that we did not discuss during the trip is its purchase and logging history. In the mid 1800’s the property that is Wekiva Springs State Park was owned by the Wilson

The soil had visibly changed from a moist black organic soil to a much dryer lighter in color sandy consistency. The canopy changed as well, more oaks and elm trees were present and the buttressing of the tree trunks was significantly reduced. The magnolia tree was also starting to be introduced into the area, another indicator that the habitat was moving away from the wetter locations. The cabbage palm, being the primary species of understory is fairly easy to locate in the temperate hardwood habitat. This plant covered the forest floor and seemed to act a divider between the pine flatwoods and other the

This was a very good example of how habitats change from a low elevation to a high elevation, even if the elevation is only a few feet in difference. It was neat to see the very abrupt habitat changes during the walk. I know typically determining the change from one habitat to another can be difficult sue to the overlap in canopy and understory species but in this case they seemed very well defined and easy to point out. This area and the habitats contained within were dramatically different than the Disney Wildlife Preserve even though many of the same species existed on both sites. Some interesting observations during the trip forced me to search for the answers such as the bubbles on the juvenile sand pine trees. As benign as the answer is, it was fascinating to learn that it was a symbiotic relationship with a bug that caused the bubble. The entire walk is interesting but it is the little obscure things that make it really interesting and force me to think and really search for the answer. That is what I truly enjoy about this type of field trip, being challenged to find the