Disney Wilderness Preserve NEON - United States of America

DEIMS.iD

https://deims.org/2f2ec7d7-b5f2-4aea-b1d0-d59fe8543330

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Basic Information
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Site Name
Disney Wilderness Preserve NEON
Short name
DSNY
Country
United States of America
Web Address
https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/dsny
Site Manager
Guy Fausnaught
Site Description
The Disney Wilderness Preserve (DSNY) is a terrestrial NEON site hosted by The Nature Conservancy. The 48.5 km2 (12,000 acre) preserve is situated at the headwaters of the Everglades ecosystem in south-central Florida between Polk and Osceola Counties. It is a patchwork of forest, grassland, and wetland communities embedded in a matrix that is increasingly dominated by a fast-growing human population. The site is encompassed within the NEON Southeast Domain that is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the west. The Domain hosts five other NEON field sites: three aquatic and two additional terrestrial sites, located in Florida and Georgia.
Last modified
2025-09-17 13:09:05

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2014
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
NEON✔ (DSNY)This site is a verified "NEON" member.
Photos
DSNY tower
DSNY tower
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 28.097935 Longitude: -81.415901

Size
ca. 4850.00ha
Elevation (average)
20.00msl
Elevation (min)
15.00msl
Elevation (max)
22.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
GEO-BON Biome
Terrestrial
Biome
Grasslands
Ecosystem Type
Grasslands
Flooded grasslands and savannas
Air Temperature: Average Annual
22.50°C
Precipitation Annual
1216.00mm
Geology
Geological characteristics of the Disney Wilderness Preserve are undifferentiated clay, mud, and beach sand.
Vegetation
The Southeast Domain is a patchwork of forest, grassland, and wetland communities. Dominant vegetation types within the Disney Wilderness Preserve include Pine Flatwoods, Southern Coastal Plain Non-riverine Cypress Dome and Florida Dry Prairie. The Disney site is composed of short gasses interspersed with pine saplings. The dominant perennial grass at the site is wiregrass (Aristida stricta Michx.), along with numerous other species of perennial grasses including Andropogon sp., Bottlebrush threeawn (Aristida spiciformis), and Broom sedge (Andropogon spiciformis).
Soils
The dominant soil type is Smyrna fine sand. These soils are sandy, siliceous, hyperthermic Aeric Alaquods. Major soil series are Immokalee, Hontoon, Smyrna, and Myakka; these are 59% of the area. These soils occur on the following landforms: Flatwoods, low broad flats, slough, drainageways, depressions, and low rises.
Hydrology
The Disney Wilderness Preserve site is on the Penholoway Marine Terrace. The Marine Terraces show former sea levels and are floored with sand, clay, silt, and shells. They are bounded along their inner margin by shoreline features (e.g., relict beach ridges, swales, inner lagoons, seaward facing wave-cut scraps or sea cliffs, and offshore and bay bars). It is located on the Kissimmee Watershed.
Site Type
Platform
Design of Experimentation
mainly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
beyond catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
entire catchment
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Accessible All Year
Yes
Permanent Operation
Yes