Hammock (ecology)

Hammock is a term used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them. The term hammock is also applied to stands of hardwood trees growing on slopes between wetlands and drier uplands supporting a mixed or coniferous forest. Types of hammocks found in the United States include tropical hardwood hammocks, temperate hardwood hammocks, and maritime or coastal hammocks. Hammocks are also often classified as hydric (wet soil), mesic (moist soil) or xeric (dry soil). The types are not exclusive, but often grade into each other.

Unlike many ecosystems of the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, hammocks are not tolerant of fire. Hammocks tend to occur in locations where fire is not common, or where there is some protection from fire in neighboring ecosystems. Hammocks have begun developing in historic times in areas where fire has been suppressed through human intervention, or where elevations above wetlands have been created by dredging, mining, road and causeway building, and other human activities. On the other hand, many hammocks have been destroyed by development, as they often occur on higher land in desirable locations, such as barrier islands and other waterfront locations.

The etymology of the term "hammock" is obscure. Dictionaries usually give it as an archaic form of "hummock" ("hammock" appeared in print earlier than "hummock"). "Hammock" is first attested in English in the 1550s as a nautical term for a tree-covered island (a mound of trees) seen on the horizon. "Hammock" is used to refer to stands of hardwood trees on the coastal plain from North Carolina to Mississippi.

In the United States, tropical hardwood hammocks are found in southern Florida. Sub-types of hammocks in southern Florida include rockland hammocks on the Miami Rock Ridge and in the Big Cypress National Preserve, Keys rockland hammocks in the Florida Keys, coastal berm hammocks in the Florida Keys and along the north shore of Florida Bay, tree island hammocks in the Everglades, shell mound hammocks, coastal rock barren hammocks in the Florida Keys, and sinkhole hammocks on the Miami Rock Ridge.

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