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publications > report > resource and land information for south dade county, florida > everglades national park > wildlife resources
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK
Everglades National Park contains expanses of sawgrass, pineland, small islands of hardwood forest, cypress and mangrove swamp, as well as island-dotted estuaries and bays. The connecting thread through this diversity is water. Water in some way and at all times of the year influences all the regions within the park.
Saw grass indicates that the land is low and covered with water much of the time. One vast saw grass area, the Shark River Slough, stretches from the lower water conservation area, through the park, to the southwest tip of Florida. When seen from a slight elevation, the Shark River Slough looks like a sea of grass with scattered, treecovered islands.
| A variety of scenic tropic habitats makes the Everglades National Park a unique area. |
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Ten Thousand Islands
Everglades National Park [larger image] |
These islands, locally called hammocks, are elevations or humps in this normally very flat land. The elevations never exceed a few feet but are enough to keep hammocks relatively dry. The amount of elevation determines whether each local habitat will be wet, damp, or dry, and, as a result, what kinds of plants and animals will occur there. Where the elevation is above water and has been unburned for several years, tropical hardwood hammocks grow--the only tropical hardwoods in the continental United States.
The eastern part of the park includes the southern tip of the Coastal Ridge. Originally covered mostly with pinelands and tropical hardwood forests, much of the ridge today is developed for agriculture and housing. The treelands have been reduced to scattered small patches.
Runoff moves slowly southward through the saw grass marshes and sloughs. In the estuaries where the fresh water mixes with coastal salt water, mangrove swamps form a rather abrupt zone between the grassy marshes and the marine bays.
During the wet season, the influence of freshwater reaches even out into the bays. Water moving southward through the sloughs and marshes spreads out through the mangrove swamp and mixes with the saline waters of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Wildlife Resources
Everglades National Park [larger image] |
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Everglades National Park [larger image] |
| Everglades National Park provides the last large sanctuary for several species of tropical plants and small animals which occur only in southern Florida and are rapidly becoming scarce as their native habitats are cleared for agriculture and urban development. |
Everglades National Park |
| Birds, both resident and seasonal, abound in the Everglades. Especially prevalent are large flocks of wading birds. [larger image] |
Just as the different kinds of plants have adapted to different water levels, so have the animals adjusted with habits or life cycles that can cope with both seasonal flood and drought. In the Everglades, fish are a critical link in the food chain. Although the habits and life cycles of the fish are not well understood, a few factors seem important. The varieties of fish living in the Everglades can survive in shallow water and often in very crowded conditions. During the dry season when the surface water recedes to small ponds and the deeper sloughs, fish congregate in these confined spaces until summer rains allow them to disperse again into the marshes and swamps. Other animals also congregate to take advantage of the concentrations of food and water.
The nesting activities of many wading birds coincide with the seasonal concentration of fish. At these times there is ample food for hungry young birds. But a severe drought that dries up the water holes and kills millions of fish, or the dislocation of a feeding ground too far away from the nesting site, jeopardizes a generation of birds. If droughts continue for several seasons an entire species or population is threatened by starvation.
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The alligator, once extensive throughout south Florida, has had its numbers and range greatly reduced by poachers and developmental pressure. They are essential, however, to the continuing life of the Everglades during the dry winter season. By clearing and maintaining water or survival holes they provide habitats necessary for fish and birds. (Photo by Barry Zuckerman) [larger image] |
During a drought, fish and birds may benefit from alligators. When the water level lowers, alligators retreat to low places in the underlying peat and by shoveling with their broad noses enlarge these holes into ponds, called "gator holes". Frequently these are the only bodies of water during drought that can supply the water and food for the animal population.
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| The American crocodile today is limited to the coastal areas south of Biscayne Bay. Much of his original habitat from north of Miami to the lower Keys has been destroyed by development, and the Park is now his only sanctuary. [larger image] |
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