Longleaf Pine

Pinus palustris

Cassidy Brittain, Ryan Muskal & Sam Mendicino

Introduction

Can you imagine a humble giant immune to the fiery wrath of mother nature? For most, a lightning strike and the ensuing walls of fire that sweep the forests would be the downfall of their being. But not for our hero, the longleaf pine. The longleaf pine forests used to sprawl continuously from the Carolinas to Florida. Although modernity has seen a recession of the dominant longleaf forests of yesterday, they still remain an important, almost essential part of many habitats in its range.

Longleaf pines are an evergreen conifer. When mature they can grow up to 80 - 100 feet tall with their trunk reaching up to three feet in diameter. They have a single trunk that is covered in a scaly, thick bark. Longleaf pines can grow almost perfectly straight but sometimes they can grow a little lopsided, no ones perfect. They got their name due to having the longest leaves among the eastern pine species. Their leaves are needle-like coming in bundles of three and can grow up to 18 inches long. (The National Wildlife Federation)

Longleaf pine are tall, fascinating trees that benefit many plants and animals that live with them. During its prime, their ecosystem was one of the most biologically diverse in North America. However, over the years their range has been reduced to just a fraction of what it used to be, threatening the many species that depend on them. Many conservationist have claimed that longleaf pine restoration is a major priority, but is it too late?

The National Wildlife Federation

Longleaf pine can come in all shapes and sizes.

Longleaf pine taken by Cassidy Brittain at Carolina Beach State Park

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Coniferophyta

Class: Pinopsida

Order: Pinales

Family: Pinaceae

Genus: Pinus

Species: palustris

Common name: longleaf pine

David Byres

What makes longleaf pines unique?

Out of all the other pines that accompany this species, such as loblolly pines or pond pines, longleaf pines tend to be dominant in their ecosystem. Many animals and other plants that live with longleaf pines use them for habitat or their seeds for food.

The properties of the lumber from longleaf pines were unique compared to other pines. Their lumber is of exceptional quality that was used for building ships and railroads (David Byres).

Longleaf pine taken by Cassidy Brittain at Carolina Beach State Park

Niche and Habitat

Historically longleaf pines had a massive range, today only a small portion still remain. Presently, they are found along the Atlantic and coastal plains in the Southeast of the United States. It's range stretches from parts of Virginia to central Florida and then west through Louisiana to parts of Texas. Longleaf pines thrive in warm, wet, temperate environments. They are commonly found on sandy, infertile, well drained soils. (Lincoln Moore, 2002)

In Carolina Beach State Park, longleaf pines are one of the flora that dominate its forest. At the park they can be found in the dry, coarse soil of sand dunes. They can be seen with other pines such as the pond pines.

Longleaf pines, like many other plants, are considered to be primary producers. Their seeds provide food for many mammals and birds that live with them. They tend to be abundant and dominant in the places that they exist and thus are a major source of food in their ecosystem (My Land Plan, 2016)

Lincoln Moore 2002

My Land Plan 2016

Evolutionary History

One of the most evidently important adaptations undergone by the longleaf pine is that of fire tolerance. Longleaf pine ecosystems are dependent on fire to prevent other species from taking over their habitats, and often times benefit from naturally occurring or regimented burns. Longleaf Pine trees are equipped with a thick outer bark that protects the more sensitive inner cambium containing the phloem and xylem (Wang et al., 2016) Without this thick outer layer, the more sensitive inner parts would not be able to survive fire events (longleaf alliance).

Another interesting adaptation that the longleaf pine has is that it displays several distinct life stages throughout its life history, each serving an important function. The longleaf pine begins with the seed and sapling stages. During both of these stages, the plant is relatively low to the ground and susceptible to fire. To be successful, the seed needs nutrient rich soil (longleaf alliance).

The longleaf pine then moves to the grass stage, wherein it resembles a chunk of grass more so than a pine tree. During the grass stage, the longleaf pine invests most of its biomass and energy in a stable root structure below ground. The grass stage offers high fire immunity by surrounding the terminal bud in a dense needle buffer that provides protection for the terminal bud growing on the top. If the terminal bud is destroyed, the plant will die as well (longleaf alliance).

The bottlebrush stage soon follows, and the tree begins to grow up rapidly to try and maximize access to sunlight. Unfortunately, this rapid growth upwards leads to a greater vulnerability to fire by exposing more area of tree without thick bark. The sapling stage that occurs after the bottlebrush stage is focused more on outward growth than upward. The closer this stage is to end, and the closer to the mature stage the tree reaches, the less vulnerable it is to fire. Outward growth leads to thicker bark and better protected cambium (longleaf alliance).

The final stage of life for the longleaf pine is the mature stage. Mature longleaf pines produce cones for reproduction and are almost completely immune to fire, thus completing their unique life cycle designed to prosper in fire (longleaf alliance).

It is also worth noting that while longleaf pine is a very famous pine tree, there are other pine trees that live in close proximity. One such relative is the pond pine, which is also within the genus "Pinus".

The Longleaf Alliance

Wang et al., 2016

Grass stage (right) photo taken by Dr. Taylor at Carolina Beach State Park

Longleaf pines in mature stage having already dropped their cones for reproduction photo taken by UNCW advanced island ecology

Longleaf pine on the left and pond pine on the right photo taken by Dr. Amy Taylor at Carolina Beach State Park

Bottlebrush stage longleaf pine taken by Cassidy Brittain at Carolina Beach State Park

Longleaf pine taken by Cassidy Brittain at Carolina Beach State Park

Environmental Impacts

The longleaf pine communities endurance to withstand difficult natural conditions increases their likeliness to live to old age. With the proper care and restoration these ecosystems provide important food and coverage for many birds, reptiles, mammals, and diverse plant life. These forests are an easy and inexpensive way to control flooding and improve water quality downstream. This is possible due to their soil acting as a sponge to absorb overflow. During hurricane season, this feature is extremely useful to help minimize damage. Due to their love of fire, they act as a great buffer for other ecosystems in close proximity in case of unexpected wildfires.

The prescribed burns are critical to the survival of this ecosystem, however the smoke can cause local issues for the nearby residential and commercial areas. This is where the planning of these burns accounting for wind, humidity, rainfall, and other factors is critical. These conditions need to be considered for a burn to be beneficial to the entire ecosystem including the human population. For the most part, these fires cause very little air or water pollution. Hand in hand with durability comes a stronger resilience to climate change. Forests have the ability to reduce the carbon dioxide pollution and serve as carbon sinks. The long leaf pines massive lifespan extends the opportunity to help mitigate the effects of climate change!

Tiffany Woods 2016

A very old longleaf pine taken by Dr. Taylor at Carolina Beach State Park

Conservation

Back in the day, longleaf pines were so abundant covering 90 million acres. Something that was once thought of as an infinite resource now covers less than 3% of its original range. As the years went on the desire for more development and agriculture grew. In order to do so they had to clear forest of longleaf pines for available space. Many used the lumber of longleaf pines to build new railroads and ships. By the 1920's most of them were gone because they were overexploited. Due to fire suppression many of the longleaf pines struggled to recover. To produce more short term economic benefits, foresters decided to plant faster growing pines instead of the longleaf pines that used to be there. (The National Wildlife Federation)

More recently the restoration of longleaf pine forest have become a major priority. Longleaf pines serve as a habitat for many endangered and threatened species such as the indigo snakes and red-cockaded woodpecker. Unlike the species that depend on them, longleaf pines are adapted to handle the effects of climate change pretty well; they can tolerate drought and wildfires, withstand serve windstorms, resist pest and capture carbon pollution from the atmosphere. Together, many government agencies, private landowners, and nonprofits are working together to improve longleaf pine forests. (The National Wildlife Federation)

In Carolina Beach State Park, longleaf pines dominate the forests. However, parts of the forest are managed by private landowners who have the intentions to sell the land. To prepare the land to be sold they have cleared many of the longleaf pines that were once there. The fate of the rest of the forest remains uncertain.

The National Wildlife Federation

Venus Fly Trap at Carolina Beach State Park taken by Sam Mendicino

Pitcher Plant at Carolina Beach State Park taken by Sam Mendicino

Friends or Foes?

Even Smokey the Bear would burn these trees!! In reality, during the era of his campaign the burning of these unique pines stopped and these habitats underwent degradation. The forests able to persist continue to flourish with a diverse population of plants and animals.

Coexist

The longleaf pine lives happily with like minded flora. The peaceful coexistence with other fire-loving plants allows this unique ecosystem to thrive. The best friend would be known as wiregrass. This grass forms in clusters and assists in the carrying of the fire along with the fallen pine needles. Carnivorous plants including the pitcher plants, venus flytrap, sundew, bladderwort, and liverwort all inhabit this ecosystem. Other flora such as bracken fern, sandhills roseling, and prickly pear cacti are abundant.

The tall longleaf pines create a habitat for many birds such as bobwhite quail, ground dove, and towhee. The endangered red cockaded woodpecker uses the cavities in old trees for their nests. Other animals such as the fox squirrel, skinks, and flatwoods salamander enjoy this environment.

Competition

Longleaf pines are generally intolerant of competition due to their personal requirements of survival. Without burnings, other species like hardwoods such as oaks, hickories, black cherry and loblolly pines can encroach. These create a closed canopy environment which allows the growth of a tangled understory of woody shrubs and vines to emerge. As previously stated, the human impact on these forests can be devastating. Humans have the conscious choice to be friend or foe to wildlife, the longleaf pines have sadly experienced negative interactions for the majority of history until more recent restoration projects.

Longleaf Pine Ecosystem

Longleaf pines at Carolina Beach State Park

Prescribed burning of longleaf pines

How to identify a longleaf pine

Websites to Explore

https://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_pipa2.pdf : provides description, distribution, establishment and management of longleaf pines

https://mylandplan.org/content/longleaf-pine-forests : provides information about longleaf pines as an ecosystem & much more

https://longleafalliance.org/what-is-longleaf/the-tree/life-stages : life stages, morphology, ecosystem & history of longleaf pines

https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinpal/all.html : longleaf pine background information and it's relationship with fire

http://www.landscope.org/explore/ecosystems/disappearing_landscapes/longleaf_pine/ : longleaf pine ecosystem and hopes for future conservation

Resources

Google Sites

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