Tropical Hardwood Hammock Food Web

Strangler fig this plant starts out as an epiphyte and attaches to a host tree usually a cabbage palm.

Tropical hardwood hammock food web. Many birds use hammocks including migratory species. Subject to thin soils and a tropical climate hardwood hammocks form a dense canopy with a tangle of shrubs and. Sarah fischer matthew sorrells brett keeter. Tropical hardwood hammocks provide habitat food water shelter and space for a variety of wildlife.

There are very few animals that live exclusively in hammocks but many animals take advantage of the relatively cool interior and slightly higher elevation provided by hammocks. Still the strangler fig fills an important niche and food source to many tropical forest hammock creatures. The strangler fig sends out roots that tangle around the host and eventually strangles it. Vertebrate animal species typically found in tropical hardwood hammocks are found in table 1.

Tropical hardwood hammocks are threatened by invasive exotic species taking of native species by collectors water level changes conversion to agriculture and development.