An ecosystem is a community of species that live together and interact with each other and their physical non-living environment. Florida’s natural ecosystem is extremely important to the diverse mixture of species throughout the entire state of Florida. Florida is surrounded by two oceans on three sides of Florida, the oceans are the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Florida has a diversity of species and this include vascular plant, fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal species that are found nowhere else in the world. In Florida’s mainland, it consists of many bodies of water and several of them are freshwater. The freshwater biome is made up of lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers. Most freshwater biomes consist of moving water and …show more content…
Freshwater fish are the most diverse type of fish but also the type of fish that is studied the most (Ross 2013). Lakes are one of the biggest bodies of water that freshwater fish succeed. Fish thrive in lakes because the water is high quality, no infestation of nonnative weeds or exotic fish. The environment is perfect for freshwater fish, these include the popular largemouth bass and many species of sunfish. Some other species that live in lakes are Catfish, Gars, Bowfish, Minnows, Perch and Bass (Whitney et al. 2004). Rivers and streams are bodies of water that are important for freshwater to thrive. Streams vary in the topography of their banks and the soil of the band and also the amount of light and shade they receive. The variation brings diversity of fish species. Florida’s stream provides habitats for about one hundred species of freshwater fish. Rivers also have a diverse array of freshwater fish. The Apalachicola River has 83 species of freshwater fish. Many rivers contain many freshwater species that are rare, endangered and …show more content…
In the 1940, Mead Gardens began as a 50 acres of low wetland with streams, lakes and ponds. The Mead Gardens was named after Theodore L. Meads. He was a horticulturist who was well known for growing orchids and many other plants. His two friends decided to name a botanic garden in his name and in his memory. They picked an area that Howell Creek connected Lake Sue and Lake Virginia, the area had a lush habitat with a diverse range of animals and plants. Howell Creek was deepened and widened. They also drained the wetland so they could build a three-mile trail that observed the beauty of the Mead Gardens. In 1953, the garden was giving to Winter Park, but with strict instructions that the garden continued to be a botanical garden. In 1982, Winter park decided to work on the garden to help maintain the original beauty of the garden. They built a map around the garden to help visitors direct themselves around. In 1991, the Mead Garden Preservation Association, Inc. was formed to continue the work of the garden. Finally in 1993, improvements of the garden started to arise. This included two new boardwalks, bike and walking paths, parking and restrooms. In 2003, Winter Park wanted to focus on enchaining the garden further. A master plan to restore the Mead Gardens was accepted in 2007. The same year, the Mead Gardens sponsor the first Duck Derby in 2007 and the derby has continued every year since.
Floridians lives on top of a limestone foundation that was once upon a time was a shallow coral sea and is now riddled with caves. In the film Water’s Journey: Hidden Rivers of Florida there were divers tracking the path of water through underground caves, specifically Florida’s aquifers. They were navigating through the complicated system of undergrounds rivers from where water disappears underground to where it resurfaces in the springs of Florida.
What is a biome? Biomes are major life zones characterized by vegetation type or by the physical environment. Climate plays a role in determining the nature and location of Earth’s biomes. Texas has 10 different ecosystems with lots of diversity. Minnesota has 4 different ecosystems which are also quite diverse. Regardless of the size of the biomes or the number of biomes in each state, they are all important not just to the locate environment but on a global level because of the life they support. We are going to take a look at the different biomes, comparing climate and rainfall, as well as vegetation fauna.
The effect of the Everglades in water supply is wildlife. One effect of this is, the water is dirty and unclean with mercury, phosphorus, and other hazardous waste. As a result of that, the water is killing the animals. In passage one it states,”Quantity and diversity of the wetlands wildlife
Nature designed Florida to be one large marine ecosystem. Florida is one big sand peninsula located below the 40th longitudinal North American line. Three bodies of salt water (Gulf of Mexico, Strait of Florida and Atlantic Ocean) surround three out of four directions of Florida. Man-made canals, natural lakes, rivers and estuaries are confined within the State of Florida’s physical boundaries. All of these form an interlocking system of waterways that impact the interconnected marine environment (marine ecosystem). All of Florida’s waterways are connected back to the surrounding bodies of water while passing through Florida’s sub-tropical and temperate zones and impact the delicate marine ecosystem balance. Man and nature are causing a negative impact to this region like never before. Hurricanes, lack of green initiatives, garbage, pollution and the stripping of natural resources for population growth are decimating Florida’s natural ecosystems.
1. Alden, Peter, Rich Cech, and Gil Nelson. 1998. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida. New York: Knopf.
Within the state of Florida there are dozens of individualized, non-profit organizations making an effort to help the local wildlife. The local land and marine wildlife includes birds, geckos, frogs, snakes, panthers, manatees, sea turtles, fishes, sharks, corals, lizards and many, many more. Florida State is located on the Southeastern tip of the United States providing a unique opportunity for conservation of salt-water animals. While there are animal conservation efforts taking place all over the world, this essay will focus on two animal species that humans are specifically trying to save in Florida State. The two main animal species of focus are manatees and sea turtles.
Maintaining ecological diversity is necessary for the survival of a biological community. In the United States, American citizens are on the verge of irrevocably damaging one of the country's most unique and diverse treasures - the Florida Everglades. This national park is now the only remaining patch of a river that used to span 120 miles from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Dikes and levees created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1940's drained this river to reduce flooding and increase useable water for the development of the region. This major diversion of water lead to a trickle down effect causing the continual decline of the environmental state of the Everglades. Since then, debates over the Everglades' future have silently raged on for years about how, why, and when the restoration will begin. This ongoing, but virtually unproductive effort has cost taxpayers a great deal without any apparent benefits. Recently, this debate has been amplified by the voices of the sugar industry in Florida, which was attacked for its major contribution to pollution of the Everglades. Now debates rage on with a new effort called the Restudy. Backed by the Army Corps of Engineers, this effort would change the flow of the Everglades, potentially restoring it into the viable community of life that it used to be. The question now is, will this latest attempt to restore the Everglades ever be realized (thus ending the cyclic Everglades debate) or will it simply add up to one more notch on the bedpost of inadequate and failed attempts to save this national treasure. The world is watching to see how the United States will handle this unprecedented cleanup.
The Florida Everglades have been slowly and steadily diminishing in size for over many decades. Throughout the years, the Everglades have had an abundant, healthy environment. The massive swamps were once rich with marshland, and had ecosystems chock-full of wildlife. However, due to large corporations, natural disasters and most importantly, the growth of the human population, the Everglades are 50% smaller than they were hundreds of years ago. The destruction of the Florida Everglades includes not only a diminishing number of the marshland, but also the lessening of wild life, such as alligators, herons, and exotic plants. While there is a government plan set for the restoration of the everglades, it will take many years to make up for the
The Florida Everglades is very valuable to the environment. The Everglades helps the food chain continue and keep plant and animal life safe. Many different kinds of species that live in the Everglades. If someone destroyed the Everglades, then a lot of plants and animals would die and have nowhere to go and possibly go extinct. The Everglades provides many habitats for different types of plants and animals that only can survive in it. The Everglades provides a healthy ecosystem for plants and animals to work in harmony.
The Everglades, also known as the River of Grass, is one of South Florida's most treasured areas. It is an area still full of wonder and mystery. The Everglades is lined with a specific type of limestone bedrock formed by tiny organisms called byrozoans. These animals, though not related to coral, act like coral by extracting dissolved limestone from the sea water around them and using it to construct protective chambers in which to live. They then attach to various kinds of sea grasses on the ocean floor and coat them as well. Individual chambers combine together to form rock-like structures. Over thousands of years, when South Florida was completely submerged, a vast amount of this limestone combined with other ocean sediments and was laid down over the area now covered by the Everglades. Prior to the draining activities of humans and its use as an agricultural area, the Everglades was flooded about nine to eleven months of the year. It also lost only about 0.03 inches of soil per year. After the drainage the Everglades began losing soil at approximately 1 inch per year. Now, however, it is only losing 0.56 inches per year.
Species of fish in streams and lakes in the Hudson Plains include northern pike, walleye, and brook trout.
Florida became a state in 1845 and almost immediately people began proposing to drain the Everglades. In 1848, a government report said that draining the Everglades would be easy, and there would be no bad effect. Canals and dams were dug to control seasonal flooding. Farmers grew vegetables in the rich soil of the drained land, Ranchers had their cattle graze on the dry land, and new railways lines were constructed to connect communities throughout south Florida; but the ecosystem of the Everglades was not suited for either farming or ranching. The natural cycle of dry and wet seasons brought a devastating series of droughts and floods. These had always been a p...
Abiotic factors are things that are nonliving that influence an environment and it's inhabitants. Some of the abiotic factors that are attributed to coastal erosion in Louisiana are hurricanes, tropical storms, elevation, sunlight, overnutrition, sea-level rise, and deposition. Hurricanes bring about larger waves which cause dune erosion or beach erosion (Clark et al., 1998). This is significant because beaches and/or the dunes of the beach serve as buffers to the coastline and the ecosystem. As the beach or dunes recede from the erosion caused by these large waves and an increased sea-level the flora and fauna that help sustain the area die off or retreat to a more habitable zone leaving the wetlands in a critical state often resulting in a total loss of the area (Stockdon et al., 2012). Due to the nature of the Gulf of Mexico large destructive storms such as hurricanes or tropica...
Freshwater fish and saltwater fish are very similar in a lot of ways, but also have differences between them so you can tell them apart. Marine water (saltwater) equals over 96 percent of the water on Earth and over 70 percent of Earth’s total surface. Freshwater is less than four percent of Earth’s total water and is about one percent of Earth’s surface (Freshwater Fish). Interestingly a few species of fish can live in either freshwater or saltwater, but for the majority, they must live in a specific environment. All species of fish used to live in a saltwater environment until certain geological events (earthquakes, volcanic activity, etc.) occurred, creating conditions that isolated groups of fish. The new habitats, included freshwater, and new food sources caused fish to either adapt, or to die (Lohrey).
The branch of science that deals with how living things, including humans, are related to their surroundings is called ecology . The Earth supports some 5 million species of plants, animals, and microorganisms. These interact and influence their surroundings, forming a vast network of interrelated environmental systems called ecosystems. The arctic tundra is an ecosystem and so is a Brazilian rain forest. The islands of Hawaii are a relatively isolated ecosystem. If left undisturbed, natural environmental systems tend to achieve balance or stability among the various species of plants and animals. Complex ecosystems are able to compensate for changes caused by weather or intrusions from migrating animals and are therefore usually said to be more stable than simple ecosystems. A field of corn has only one dominant species, the corn plant, and is a very simple ecosystem. It is easily destroyed by drought, insects, disease, or overuse. A forest may remain relatively unchanged by weather that would destroy a nearby field of corn, because the forest is characterized by greater diversity of plants and animals. Its complexity gives it stability.