Click to enlarge photos below

Marine and estuarine consolidated substrate
These areas consist of isolated outcrops of limestone or dolomite, bedrock that may be exposed on the seafloor or covered by sand only a few inches thick. Point of Rocks off of Siesta Key is the most well-known example of this habitat type in the county.

Beaches
The Beach is the area between the Gulf of Mexico and the Dune System. It is open and sandy and provides habitat for shorebirds, marine turtles, crustaceans, and mollusks.

Dune Systems
Landward of the open beach is the Dune System. Dunes are generally low-lying areas vegetated with salt-tolerant plants that hold and trap wind blown sands. Dunes are home to plants such as sea oats, bitter panicum, and beach sunflower.

Coastal Hammocks
Coastal Hammocks and Indian Mounds form the spine of the barrier islands. Coastal hammocks are the coastal forests located between the dune area and mangrove swamps. This habitat consists of an overstory of generally live oaks, cabbage palms and cedars. Understory vegetation includes wild coffee, Florida privet, coontie, and marlberry among others.

Mangrove Swamps
Mangrove swamps and tidal marshes are located between the uplands and the brackish water bays, creeks, bayous, and along the Myakka River. Sometimes called “walking trees”, mangroves play a vital role in the tropical and sub-tropical climates. Specifically, they help to build the shoreline by trapping sediments, buffer uplands from storms, provide extensive habitat for birds, and are the nurseries for many fish species.

Tidal Marshes including salterns
Generally characterized as expanses of grasses, sedges, and rushes along the coastline of low wave energy and river deltas, tidal marshes may also be called “salt marshes”. They are found in the area between the freshwater coming downstream from rivers and creeks into the brackish water bays. The best examples of tidal marshes in Sarasota County are along the Myakka River.

Seagrass Beds
Seagrasses are flowering underwater plants found at shallow depths in protected bays and lagoons. There are several different species of seagrasses found in Sarasota County including: turtle grass, manatee grass, widgeon grass, and shoal grass. Seagrass habitat is incredibly important in the marine system since it stabilizes bottom sediments, provides food for manatees and sea turtles, and refuge for young shrimp, crabs and fish.

Oyster Bars
As the name implies, oyster bar consists of a community of oysters and other benthic species. As filter feeders, oysters filter suspended particles in the water column, ingest them, and extrude them as pellets that settle to the bottom of water. This filtration process improves water quality, but simultaneously concentrates contaminants in the oysters making them unsafe to eat in many parts of the world.

Bay Waters
In Sarasota County and throughout the world, bay waters, also sometimes called estuaries, are some of the most productive habitats in the world. Bay waters are the nurseries of the oceans providing nutrients and shelter for fish, shellfish, crustaceans and marine mammals.

Coastal streams
Coastal streams include rivers, creeks, canals and other linear water bodies. The water in coastal streams is usually dark blue to brown to a medium gray tone. There are a number of different creeks throughout Sarasota County including: North Creek, Alligator Creek, Forked Creek and Phillipi Creek among others.

Myakka River
The Myakka is the principal Blackwater Stream in Sarasota County. The tea-colored waters of the Myakka are laden with tannins and dissolved organic matter from drainage through swamps and marshes. The Myakka is a critical habitat for manatees, alligators, freshwater fish, otters and waterfowl.

Springs
Springs are the surface expression of the important water resource known as the Floridan and Intermediate Aquifer systems. A spring is formed when ground water under pressure flows out of the ground through a natural opening. Examples of springs in Sarasota County include Little Salt Spring and Warm Mineral Springs.

Swamps
This native habitat includes forested wetland areas that are often referred to as bottomland or stream hardwoods when contiguous wetlands form this community. The isolated wetlands form of this community is often referred to as basin swamp. Swamps are dominated with woody forested species that are adapted to growing in saturated soils. An example of a swamp found in Sarasota County is a “maple swamp”.

Marshes and Sloughs
This habitat is characterized by herbaceous vegetation and low shrub species that occur on sites where surface water is present for extended periods during the growing season, but is mostly absent during the dry season. These communities are mostly confined to low-lying areas exhibiting seasonally flooded basins or meadows.

Wet Prairies
This class of wetland includes vegetation that is both floating-leaved and partially above the surface of the water. Wet prairies usually occur in low-lying areas adjacent to slow moving streams, along edges of lakes or ponds.

Heads
This habitat occurs as relatively small communities found on hillsides, in depressed areas of pine flatwoods, or as strips along creek edges. They are densely forested, peat-filled depressions with open understory at the base of sandy slopes. One example of a head habitat is a willowhead.

Mesic Hammock
Hammocks are generally clusters of cabbage palms and/or oak trees forming an overstory. Conditions including moisture (flooding as well as drought) and fire frequency contribute to their formation. The tree canopy must become dense and block light from the forest floor. Shade tolerant plants associated with hammocks include ferns, orchids and epiphytes such as bromeliads and Spanish moss.

Xeric Hammock
Xeric hammocks usually do not have as dense of a canopy as mesic hammocks. This habitat type can occur anywhere in uplands such as in pine prairies where fire has been excluded for long periods of time. Without fire, these habitats are invaded by shrubby wax myrtles, heaths and oaks. Sand live oak is a common upland hammock indicator species.

Pine Flatwoods
Pine flatwoods are the most abundant habitat in Sarasota County. This habitat is dominated by slash pines, saw palmetto and wax myrtle. Wildlife species often found in pine flatwoods included deer, quail and rabbit.

Dry Prairie
Dry prairies are commonly regarded as flatwoods without the trees. Many original dry prairies were once true prairies of grasses and other herbs, notably wire grass. The natural fire frequency in this habitat is about once every one to four years.

High Dry Scrubs
The high dry scrubs are often the home for the threatened Florida Scrub-jay. This crestless relative of the blue-jay is found only in peninsular Florida. Scrubs are dominated by pines and dwarfed, tangled looking oaks. Sarasota County’s scrubs are near the coast and major natural waterways.

Sand Pine Scrub
Sand pine community grows on deep infertile deposits of marine sands and clay. There are few areas in Sarasota County where this habitat is found given the lack of soils that support this community type (Orsino and Pomello fine sands). As the name of this habitat describes, it is dominated by scattered pines, as well as sand live oak, myrtle oak, Chapman’s oak, rosemary and ground lichens and others.

Scrubby Flatwoods
This habitat is characterized by an open canopy of widely scattered pine trees with a sparse shrubby understory and numerous areas of barren white sand. Typical plants in scrubby flatwoods include longleaf pine, slash pine, scrub oaks, saw palmetto, staggerbush, wiregrass, gopher apple, rusty lyonia and others.

Turkey Oak Ridges
Like sand pine scrub, turkey oak ridges are a rare habitat in Sarasota County. Common in this community are longleaf pines, scrub oaks, saw palmetto, rosemary, rusty lyonia, ground lichens, scrub hickory and staggerbush, and others.