View source for Sandhill

{{short description|Type of ecological community or xeric wildfire-maintained ecosystem}}
{{about|the type of ecosystem||Sandhills (disambiguation)|and|Sand Hill (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Sandhill at Austin Cary Forest.jpg|alt=|thumb|upright=1.15|Fire maintained sandhill community at Austin Cary Forest, near Gainesville, FL]]
A '''sandhill''' is a type of [[Community (ecology)|ecological community]] or [[xeric]] [[wildfire]]-maintained [[ecosystem]]. It is not the same as a sand [[dune]]. It features very short fire return intervals, one to five years. Without fire, sandhills undergo [[ecological succession]] and become more [[oak]] dominated.

[[Entisol]]s are the typical sandhill [[soil]], deep well-drained and nutrient poor. In [[Florida]], sandhills receive {{convert|130|cm|in|abbr=on}} of [[rain]]fall per year, just like the more [[hydric]] ecosystems surrounding them. Sandhills are xeric because they have poor water holding capacity.

Dominant vegetation includes [[longleaf pine]] (''Pinus palustris''), American turkey oak (''[[Quercus laevis]]''), and wiregrass (''[[Aristida stricta]]'').<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Canfield |first1=Susan Littell |last2=Tanner |first2=George W. |title=Observations of Pineywoods Dropseed (sporobolus Junceus) Phenological Development Following Fire in a Sandhill Community |journal=Florida Scientist |date=1997 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=69–72 |jstor=24320744 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24320744 |issn=0098-4590}}</ref> A number of rare animals are typical of this habitat including the gopher tortoise (''[[Gopherus polyphemus]]''),<ref name = "Herring">{{cite journal |last1=Herring |first1=Brenda J. |last2=Judd |first2=Walter S. |title=A Floristic Study of Ichetucknee Springs State Park, Suwannee and Columbia Counties, Florida |journal=Castanea |date=1995 |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=318–369 |jstor=4033806 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4033806 |issn=0008-7475}}</ref> [[red-cockaded woodpecker]] (''Picoides borealis''), Sherman's fox squirrel (''[[Sherman's fox squirrel|Sciurus niger shermani]]''),<ref name = "Herring"/> and striped newt (''[[Notophthalmus perstriatus]]''). [[Invasive species]] that are a problem on sandhills include Cogongrass (''[[Imperata cylindrica]]''),<ref name="Jose Cox Miller Shilling 2002 pp. 41–44">{{cite journal | last1=Jose | first1=S. | last2=Cox | first2=J. | last3=Miller | first3=D.L. | last4=Shilling | first4=D.G. | last5=Merritt | first5=S. | title=Alien Plant Invasions: The Story of Cogongrass in Southeastern Forests | journal=Journal of Forestry | publisher=Oxford Academic | volume=100 | issue=1 | date=2002-01-01 | issn=0022-1201 | doi=10.1093/jof/100.1.41 | pages=41–44 | url=https://academic.oup.com/jof/article/100/1/41/4612976 | access-date=2024-02-27}}</ref> camphor laurels (''[[Cinnamomum camphora]]''), and [[Natal grass]] (''Melinis repens'').

==See also==
*{{annotated link|Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park}}
*{{annotated link|Flatwoods}}, another ecological community in the coastal plain of North America
*{{annotated link|Florida longleaf pine sandhill}}
*{{annotated link|Monahans Sandhills State Park}}
*{{annotated link|Sandhills (Nebraska)|Nebraska Sand Hills}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.fnai.org/PDF/Natural_Communities_Guide.pdf Fnai.org: Natural Communities Definitions for Florida]
*{{url|https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/675gwk5jp7/1|The Bibliography of Aeolian Research}}

{{Earth's landforms}}

[[Category:Wildfire ecology]]
[[Category:Dunes of the United States]]
[[Category:Plant communities of the Eastern United States]]
[[Category:Plant communities of Florida]]
[[Category:Natural history of Texas]]