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The National Wildlife Federation. The Everglades. People The Everglades is surrounded by human development, including the cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Wildlife The Everglades is internationally known for its extraordinary wildlife.
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National Wildlife Federation is a c 3 non-profit organization. You are now leaving The National Wildlife Federation. The rates of evapotranspiration vary greatly with the seasons, with higher rates occurring during the hot, sunny summers and fueling the frequent thunderstorms.
In the last few million years, the Everglades was repeatedly inundated or covered by shallow ocean waters. This inundation process was repeated five times during the glaciation periods of the Pleistocene epoch, approximately 1. During these periods of sea-level rise, deposits of sediments settled onto Florida's bedrock base.
When sea levels fell, these deposits experienced erosion. Much of the current geography of Florida and the Everglades resulted from these changes. Today the Everglades resembles a flat but gently tilted limestone plate covered with peat and marl. It is upturned on the Atlantic coast by the rocky Atlantic Ridge and at its western Gulf coast by a mangrove and marl dam. Early Florida settlers believed if sufficient breaks could be created in the walls of the natural geologic basin, the center part of Florida would drain and become useful for human enterprises.
But during the development of Florida, the Everglades and surrounding areas were ditched and diked , altering the flow of water and its seasonal fluctuations. Much of Florida's early development was based upon draining and removing excess water from wetlands as quickly as possible.
Wetlands, specifically the Everglades, were seen as worthless, and it was thought if drained, the land could be put to better use. Initially, agriculture was the main human endeavor conducted in what is known as the Everglades Agricultural Area EAA. The EAA is one of the major producers of vegetables, sugar cane, sod, and rice.
Yet it also is blamed for contributing massive amounts of nutrients and other pollutants into the Everglades system. However, the EAA is not entirely to blame for contamination of the Everglades: bordering urban areas also contribute significant amounts of pollution. As a result of massive drainage projects, mild weather, and beautiful beaches, South Florida is the most densely populated region of the state, surrounding the Everglades with large urban areas.
And still, development continues. Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward was elected in based on a platform to drain the Everglades; subsequently, development of one of the world's most extensive "plumbing" systems began. This system includes more than 2, kilometers of levees and canals, gates and other water-control structures, and 16 major pump stations. This engineering success altered the quantity, distribution, and timing of fresh water entering the Everglades.
Beginning in the s and continuing through the s, an increased awareness of the importance of wetlands fostered a movement to protect and preserve this unique ecosystem.
In , Florida Governor Layton Chiles signed the Everglades Forever Act, which ended a 6-year lawsuit brought by the federal government against the State of Florida for failing to protect the Everglades. This act addressed the issue of fertilizer runoff from sugar and vegetable farms by creating filter marshes to absorb fertilizers, particularly phosphorous. In July , the U. If implemented, CERP will rework the massive Everglades drainage system to mimic natural functions of the system.
Only time will tell whether these efforts will be successful in rescuing the Everglades, one of the most threatened ecosystems in the United States. Lodge, Thomas E. The Everglades Handbook, Understanding the Ecosystem. DelrayBeach, FL: St. Manatees, also known as sea cows, are large aquatic mammals that live in the slowly moving, often murky waters of some regions of the Everglades.
Manatees swim very slowly as they graze on seagrass and cannot quickly move out of the way of boats. To watch manatees in action, view a USGS manatee video here. While once common in the region, now there are fewer than one hundred Florida panthers living in the wild in south Florida. The main threat to their survival was once bounty hunters leading to near extinction by the mids, but now the primary threat is habitat reduction.
Top predators of the region, panthers are strictly carnivores with their diet mainly consisting of feral hog, white-tailed deer, racoon, and armadillo.
Panthers prefer mature upland forests over other habitat types. Upland forests include hardwood hammocks and pinelands which provide dry ground for panthers to rest and have higher prey density than lower habitats that are prone to flooding.
Since the Everglades are mainly wetlands, the panthers in the park are smaller and fewer. This has been particularly true for the non-native Burmese python which has been linked with severe mammal declines in the park.
Large Argentinian reptiles called tegus , are nesting just six miles from Everglades National Park. The USGS works with the National Park Service to track the movement of these reptiles and uses traps to keep them out of the park because their broad diet, including land snails, small mammals, and bird and reptile eggs, endangers native species within the park.
Invasive black and white tegu lizards Salvator merianae. USGS is working on development of tools for the detection and capture of invasive reptiles in Florida.
The Everglades require continual protection and conservation efforts as humans alter the ecologically significant landscape. Conservation efforts are being used to tackle park concerns including water quality and irrigation management as well as control rates of invasive species and helping to improve the overall wildlife habitat. Everglades waterway through a fresh marsh with scattered hardwood hammocks of live oak surrounding the water.
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