A Climatic Change Impact Analysis of Peninsular Florida Life Zones

Dohrenwend, Robert; Harris, Larry

The Florida peninsula is unique to North America because of the major ecotone or transition zone between a subtropical Caribbean flora and a warm temperate flora characteristic of the southeastern United States. Each of these two types of vegetation defines a separate life zone, that is, a natural set of vegetation associations comprising a whole catena of responses to different soil conditions (Holdridge, 1967). The subtropical life zone occupies the southern third of the peninsula, while the vegetation of the warm temperate life zone occupies approximately the northern third of the peninsula. Between these two is a zone of transition where the vegetation reflects some of the characteristics of both. The close proximity of major vegetation formations on the Florida peninsula, formations closely defined by values of certain climatic elements, offers a unique opportunity to study probable shifts in vegetation zonation as a response to climatic change.