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Coastal scrub communities are found along stable dunes landward of coastal strand communities. Coastal scrub occurs on deep, well drained, white sands and shows evidence of salt spray pruning, particularly along the seaward edges. Coastal scrub is very similar in general appearance to the oak scrub community found inland. The major difference between coastal scrub and oak scrub is that pines do not occur in coastal scrub communities. Vegetation typically includes various oaks, tough bumelia, and other woody species. Saw palmetto may be sparse to locally abundant in the understory. The ground cover stratum is generally sparse or absent (K. Fisher, personal observation). The animal of special interest present in coastal scrub communities is the Florida scrub-jay (Prusak, personal observation).
As with oak scrub, fire plays an important role in the maintenance of coastal scrub communities. Without the periodic occurrence of fire in Brevard County coastal scrub (every 5-20 years), this community may succeed into xeric or maritime hammock and lose its ability to support populations of the Florida scrub-jay (Schmalzer et al., 1994).
The Florida scrub-jay is ranked as Threatened both in Florida as well as nationally. In order to prevent the Florida scrub-jay from declining to extinction, the habitat in which the jay lives must be managed. Many land managers manage coastal scrub communities for optimal Scrub-jay habitat. In Brevard County, there are four stages of coastal scrub. Stage 2 contains optimal habitat conditions around which coastal scrub should be managed for Scrub-jay survival. This stage probably represents the conditions of the maturity of coastal scrub in Brevard County that existed during pre-settlement times (pre-1943). For instance, lightning fires probably burned though scrub on an interval of 2-20 years. For optimal Scrub-jay habitat, however, coastal scrub should be burned on an interval of 2-10 years. This frequent burning provides the short shrubs and the open spaces Scrub-jays need in order to survive. But since scrub conditions differ from site to site, many coastal scrub features should be taken into consideration to determine burning strategies (Breininger et al., in press).
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