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An essay on the florida everglades
An essay on the florida everglades
Introduction to florida everglades
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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 provides a healthy ecosystem for plants and animals but it has predators that endanger the wildlife that live there. Exotic pet owners often dump their invasive pet snakes that don’t normally have a habitat
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If the Everglades gets destroyed or too many invasive plants and animals get released into it, then all of the plants and animals that originally live there will have to find a new home or even die. Humans should keep the Everglades a special place and should not interfere with it. Scientists have started a plan to restore the Everglades to make it healthier called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan which will help restore a lot of water from the effects of the coast draining water from the wetlands to the sea.
The Everglades, classified as a wetland or a "transition zone" can support plant and animal life unlike any other place. Wetlands are an important resource for endangered species and "that more than one third of the United States' threatened and endangered species live only in wetlands." Says Elaine Mao, the author of Wetlands and Habitat Loss. People have started to notice the importance and the role of wetlands like the Everglades and how they are valuable and essential for ecosystems to live. Wetlands provide so many kinds of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds, and
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...
This can get expensive and unsanitary. These non-venomous snakes are tricky to care for and often illegally released into the wild. This dumping, importation for the exotic pet trade, and escaped snakes from Hurricane Andrew is resulting in an established wild population of Burmese pythons in South Florida. II. Facts Native to the jungles and to the grassy marshes of Southeast Asia, the Burmese pythons are said to have been first reported in the Everglades in 2000.
First of all, The snakes are destroying the ecosystem. According to, Burmese Python Not the Ideal Pet, " With no natural predators, these eating machines appear to be wiping out huge numbers of opossums, raccoons, and bobcats, as well as many bird species." This evidence shows that the pythons are eating and destroying all of these animals leading to early extinction which can affect all of the other species that rely on those animals the pythons are eating. Burmese python Not The Ideal Pet also states, "Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons are estimated to be living in the Everglades" This shows that thousands of snakes living on the everglades are destroying these poor animals that don’t deserve this.
This is a very critical situation that needs to be fixed urgently. The habitats of the Everglades depend on an annual water cycle which has been hindered by the development construction which was imposed on the farmland. Back in the 19th century, developers were keen on draining all the swamps in the Everglades for developmental purposes. Their intention was to grow sugarcane plantations on the land yet sugarcanes are highly destructive to the Everglades. They too disrupt the water cycle to which the wildlife has adapted. The Florida sugar industry built on the southern Shore of Lake Okeechobee directly clocks the water source for the remaining Everglades hence destroying the habitats of the wildlife existing in the affected areas.
Fifty percent of the original wetlands doesn’t even exist today. The water supply in the Everglades is changing and that has affected the Everglades in many ways. For one, population is decreasing and mankind needs to restore it somehow. Next, the Everglades are in need of some money to do that restoration, but where will they get it from? Last, the water supply is poisoning the humanity around it with much bacteria and many bad and dangerous elements. The Everglades water supply affected it in fixing the Everglades and wildlife.
...n, the Louisiana wetlands are an extremely valuable asset to the State of Louisiana and the United States. The continual loss of Louisiana wetlands has the potential to have an immensely negative effect on the economy at a state and national level. Over 2 million people live in the Louisiana coastal parishes (Field et al., 1991). The majority of people living on the Louisiana coast make their living from things that are directly related to the wetlands. The Louisiana wetlands make up the largest wetland community in America and is being lost at a rate greater than the other wetland communities in the country. The suggested strategies that are being taken into consideration could be helpful but it seems that the State of Louisiana is not as concerned as it should be given the future consequences and much like climate change coastal erosion is not being taken serious.
The invasive species, the Burmese Python has done irreparable damage to the Everglades National Park in Florida. A steady decline in mammals has been observed since the introduction of Burmese pythons occurred. Burmese pythons were first introduced into the United States as part of the pet trade which then led to the escape or intentional release out into the wild. The first notation of these species arriving was in the year 2000. However, within just eleven years this invasive species had done such a large amount of damage to Florida’s Ecosystem that many species had gone almost completely extinct.
There are invaders among us, they are not alien or human, but Burmese Pythons. Arguably one of the most beautiful and unique parts of nature remaining in the United States is rapidly being destroyed by the Burmese Python. It has enormously impacted the Everglades in a negative way. The beautiful indigenous animals have quickly disappeared and new predators surface as we dig deeper into the Everglades. This fierce animal is a constrictor, squeezing the life out of its prey. The Pythons tight grip sucks the life out of its prey and swallows it whole. “It sounded like a joke when news reported Burmese Pythons were invading the Everglades in 2000” states USA Today. Pythons are slithering their way through the Florida Everglades with a big appetite and a similar habitat as their original home in Asia. Now, they have marked their territory permanently and there may be nothing scientists can do in order to prevent this issue.
Exotic snakes such as the python, boa constrictors and anaconda as well as the Monitor and Tegu lizard are taking over central and southern Florida and pose an extreme threat to the eco- system and to the families that are residing there.
Destroying the habitat of different plants and animals, they no longer have a place to live. Their food source and nutrients are taken away and have nowhere else to go. These organisms will die out and there will be a loss in the diversity of that ecosystem. That ecosystem can then start to crumble as the habitats are taken away and the plants and animals have no home. With no habitat in which the organisms can live in, there is going to be very little diversity.
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.
(Sept. 23rd, 2011) Exotic Pets Turning Invasive, Threatening Florida. Tech Media. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.livescience.com/16204-florida-invasive-reptiles-amphibians.html. WYKC Channel 3 News (2014, February 14). Investigator: Exotic Animals Living in NE Ohio Neighbourhood [Video File].
Vacation is the one thing that people look forward to throughout the year. People usually think of it as a time to relax, unwind, and enjoy an amazing tropical getaway. Maybe it’s chilling at the beach or taking the night out, vacation is always something fun for anyone. Imagine yourself soaking in the sun, laying by the shore, breathing in the salty air, and laying under a palm tree. People can experience this all right along the island of Key West. Key West is an exciting vacation for the whole family to enjoy that includes snorkeling to amazing seafood.
This paper introduces the environmental concerns of the loss of coastal wetlands. The paper will discuss the significance of wetlands and the devastation that is occurring because of human activity. Wetlands are an essential element of our environment both ecological and societal; conservation will be essential for the preservation of these precious ecosystems.