Distribution and Ecological Associates of Pond Pine

Pond pine (Pinus serotina) grows in the southeastern Coastal Plain from New Jersey southward through central Florida and west into southeast Alabama (Bramlett 1990).

Natural communities in which pond pine occurs include pocosins, pond pine woodlands, wet flatwoods, savannas, bay forests, shrub bogs and swamps. (Bramlett 1990, FNAI 1990, Harms 1996). Pond pine acreage is extensive in the Carolinas in pocosins and associated pond pine woodlands. Throughout the rest of its range it occurs where hydrologic and soil conditions favor pond pine.

Pond pine often grows in places with a high water table and acid soils. Of the southern pines, this species is dominant on the wettest pine sites (Bramlett 1990, Harms 1996). Pond pine grows on better-drained mineral sites, but other faster growing pines dominate on drier sites (Bramlett 1990). Sites on which pond pine occurs often have long hydroperiods. Pocosins and pond pine woodlands are saturated or seasonally flooded for 6-9 months per year (Sutter and Kral 1994). Shrub bogs are permanently or semi-permanently saturated and wet flatwoods are flooded for 1 or more months per year (FNAI 1990).

Pond pine commonly grows on organic soils (Histosols), particularly in pocosins, pond pine woodlands, bay forests and other swamps. It also grows on mineral soils, Entisols, and Spodosols within flatwoods and savannas (Harms 1996, Schafale and Weakley 1990). Soils are often nutrient poor and strongly acidic. In Florida flatwoods, pond pine grows on the most acidic sites (pH 3.5 to 4.1) whereas other pines grow where soils are neutral or basic (Edmisten 1965). Pocosins are likely the most nutrient limited sites on which pond pine grows. On sites with mineral soils or only shallow organic deposits, vegetation can root in mineral soils where nutrients are less limiting than in organic soils (Sharitz and Gresham 1998).

Pocosins and pond pine woodlands are often found in association with one another. Pond pine woodlands are located on the outer portions of large peat domes where peat deposits are less thick than in central portions where pocosins are located. Nutrient and water inputs to pond pine woodlands are augmented from inputs from surrounding communities unlike pocosins that are fed strictly from rainfall.

Vegetation

Pond pine often grows in association with a dense vine and shrub layer, especially in communities such as wet flatwoods, pocosins, pond pine woodlands bay forests and shrub bogs.

Pond pine woodlands have shrub layers that are often dense and grow up to 5 m tall. The tree canopy is open or closed. Tree species that may occur in the canopy or shrub layer include loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus), sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana), red maple (Acer rubrum), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides). Shrubs include titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), and gallberry (Ilex glabra), dangleberry (Gaylussacia frondosa), large gallberry (Ilex coriacea), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), and maleberry (Lyonia ligustrina) in addition to high pocosin species (Weakley and Schafale 1991). Some pond pine woodlands are dominated by switch cane (Arundinaria gigantea). Herbs are uncommon except in the fire maintained ecotone where pond pine woodlands border wet flatwoods or pine savannas (Weakley and Schafale 1991).

Pond pine flatwoods typically have a fairly open canopy. The shrub and vine midstory is often dense. They have a similar suite of understory shrubs as pond pine woodlands, however shrub stature is typically lower that that of pond pine woodlands (Schafale and Weakley 1990). Typical shrubs include fetterbush, gallberry, huckleberry, and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens). Laurel leaf greenbrier (Smilax laurifolia) is a common vine (FNAI 1990). Where shrubs and vines are dense, herbs are sparse. Pond pine flatwoods sampled by Edmisten (1963 in Abrahamson and Hartnett 1990) were less floristically rich than flatwoods dominated by other pine species.

Common tree associates in many pond pine communities include loblolly bay, swamp tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora), sweetbay, red bay (Persea borbonia), bald cypress (Taxodium disichum), pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens), water oak (Quercus nigra), red maple, and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). Pond pine can be found with other pine species; principally loblolly pine on deep peat and pocosin sites, and with longleaf pine and slash pine on flatwoods sites (Harms 1996, Schafale and Weakley 1990).

Pond pine occasionally grows in association with herbs. Pond pine can be co-dominant or dominant with longleaf pine in very wet pine savannas in the Carolinas. A defining characteristic of pine savanna is the dominance of herbs in the groundcover layer (Schafale and Weakley 1990). Pine savanna with pond pine as a dominant or codominant is not widespread. In more southerly regions pond pine may also grow in association with herbs and hydrophitic shrubs on the wettest sites associated with frequent fire (FNAI 1990).

See the sections Distribution and Composition of Pocosins, Distribution and Composition of Shrub Bogs, Longleaf Pine, and Slash Pine for more information about communities in which pond pine may grow.

Animals

Very little specific information is available on animal use of pond pine. Animals tend to be typical of the communities in which pond pine occurs.

Pond pine can reach a size, age and physical state that can serve as habitat for the federally listed red cockaded woodpecker (RCW), particularly in extensive pond pine woodlands associated with pocosins (Sharitz and Gresham 1998). The propensity of pond pine for becoming infected with red heart rot (Bramlett 1990), a fungal infection that makes heartwood soft, may encourage RCW use of pines for cavities. For more information, see Longleaf pine, the species most commonly used as RCW habitat.

See the sections Distribution and Composition of Pocosins, Distribution and Composition of Shrub Bogs, Longleaf Pine, and Slash Pine for more information on animals associated with pond pine communities.