The Everglades
Massive & Quiet Ecosystem
The human factor
Originally the Greater Everglades ecosystem had a large diversity of habitats connected by wetlands and water bodies. Since the 1800s, humans have been altering the Everglades landscape. Water diversions and flood control structures restrict the flow of water across the sensitive landscape. Combined with agricultural and urban development, the size of the Everglades has decreased dramatically, affecting the quality of habitats in the area.
People
The Everglades is surrounded by human development, including the cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Its wetlands and wildlife draw large numbers of birders, anglers, boaters, and other outdoor enthusiasts. The Everglades also provides critical, and often undervalued, benefits to people, called ecosystem services. For example, the Everglades ecosystem provides drinking water for one-third of Floridians and irrigation for much of the state’s agriculture. The wetlands improve water quality by filtering out pollutants and absorbing excess nutrients, replenish aquifers, and reduce flooding.
Wildlife
The Everglades is internationally known for its extraordinary wildlife. More than 360 bird species can be found in Everglades National Park alone. The Everglades is known for its many wading birds, such as white and glossy ibises, roseate spoonbills, egrets, herons, and wood storks. It also hosts huge numbers of smaller migratory birds. Some birds, such as the snail kite, wood stork, and Cape Sable seaside sparrow are threatened or endangered species.
The Everglades’ most endangered animal, a mammal, is the Florida panther. Fewer than 100 individuals now survive. Other well-known Everglades mammals are water-dwellers, such as the West Indian manatee, which is also endangered, and the bottlenose dolphin.
Both alligators and crocodiles live in the Everglades and are sometimes mistaken for each other. American alligators like deep, freshwater channels of water (called sloughs) and wet prairie, where they dig out ponds for nesting. The American crocodile lives in the coastal mangroves and Florida Bay. In addition to these reptiles, Everglades National Park alone has 27 different kinds of snakes.
The diversity of Everglades’ habitats means there’s also a great diversity of plants. In wetland prairies and marshes, plants range from salt-loving sawgrass and bladderwort to cypress and mangrove trees. Pine trees and hardwoods are found on “tree islands”, or hardwood hammocks. The Everglades is also home to a high diversity of beautiful orchids, some of which spend their entire life up in the trees, getting their nutrients through aerial roots from the air, rain, and organic matter around them.
Source: National Wildlife Federation