A vast subtropical wetland covering the southern tip of Florida, known as the River of Grass for the slow sheet flow of water that moves almost imperceptibly from Lake Okeechobee south to Florida Bay through seemingly endless sawgrass marsh. Everglades National Park, established in 1947 and protecting roughly 6,100 square kilometers of the ecosystem, is the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles live side by side. Decades of drainage and diversion for agriculture and development have shrunk and altered the historic system, which once covered an area roughly three times the current park, and restoring its natural water flow is among the largest ecosystem restoration efforts ever undertaken.
Facts
Classification
Biogeographic Realm Protected Status Area (sq km) Connections
Demonstrates
Phosphorus pollution reaching the Everglades from upstream farmland is one of the best-documented disruptions of a natural phosphorus cycle anywhere.
Source Phosphorus Cycle (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Hosts
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source American Crocodile (Wikipedia)
Source American flamingo - Wikipedia
Source Wikidata: Red Mangrove
Additional Source Everglades (Wikipedia)Article text
Source Bobcat (Wikipedia)
Source Burmese Python (Wikipedia)
Source Zamia integrifolia (Wikipedia)
Source Wikidata: Red Mangrove
Additional Source Everglades (Wikipedia)Article text
Source Dendrophylax lindenii - Wikipedia
Source Marsh rabbit (Wikipedia)
Source Wikidata: Red Mangrove
Additional Source Everglades (Wikipedia)Article text
Source Wikidata: Red Mangrove
Additional Source Everglades (Wikipedia)Article text
Source Sandhill Crane (Wikipedia)
Source Smalltooth sawfish (Wikipedia)
Source World Wildlife Fund
In Biome
The Everglades is predominantly a freshwater sawgrass marsh and slough system, though its southern fringe grades into brackish mangrove estuary.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.britannica.com/place/Everglades, opening definition sentence
Everglades, subtropical saw-grass marsh region, a "river of grass" up to 50 miles (80 km) wide but generally less than 1 foot (0.3 metre) deep, covering more than 4,300 square miles (11,100 square km) of southern Florida, U.S.
- Biogeographic realm: nearctic (derived from location stated in entity description)
Protected status (stated plainly in the entity own recorded description)
Everglades National Park, established in 1947 and protecting roughly 6,100 square kilometers of the ecosystem, is the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles live side by side.
- Demonstrates: Water Cycle
- In Biome: Freshwater
View the Source Phosphorus Cycle (Wikipedia)
World Wildlife Fund
World Wildlife Fund- Hosts: American Alligator
- Hosts: West Indian Manatee
View the Source American Crocodile (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHosts: American Crocodile, Lead sectionQuote, Hosts: American Crocodile, Lead section
The IUCN lists the American crocodile as vulnerable, and is a federally threatened, flagship species and ecological indicator within the Florida Everglades World Heritage Site.
Dendrophylax lindenii - Wikipedia
Hosts: Ghost Orchid, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 285522, target E16322Quote, Hosts: Ghost Orchid, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 285522, target E16322
Much later, it was also discovered in the Everglades in Florida.
Burmese Python (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Burmese Python, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279933, target E16322Quote, Hosts: Burmese Python, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279933, target E16322
Python invasion has been particularly extensive, notably across South Florida, where a large number of pythons can now be found in the Florida Everglades.
Sandhill Crane (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Sandhill Crane, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279884, target E16322Quote, Hosts: Sandhill Crane, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279884, target E16322
Sandhill cranes occur in pastures, open prairies and freshwater wetlands in peninsular Florida from the Everglades to the Okefenokee Swamp.
Bobcat (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Bobcat, Hunting and dietQuote, Hosts: Bobcat, Hunting and diet
One study in the Everglades showed a large majority of kills (33 of 39) were fawns.
American flamingo - Wikipedia
Hosts: American Flamingo, In FloridaQuote, Hosts: American Flamingo, In Florida
This belief persisted into the 21st century even as flamingo sightings started to become more and more frequent, although at least one bird banded as a chick in the Yucatán Peninsula was recorded in 2012 in Everglades National Park.
Marsh rabbit (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Marsh rabbit, LeadQuote, Hosts: Marsh rabbit, Lead
Marsh rabbits are common throughout their range, except for in the Everglades, where the invasive Burmese python has reduced their numbers, and the lower Florida Keys, where the subspecies known as the Lower Keys marsh rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri) is threatened by rising sea levels and human development of the land.
Everglades (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Bald Cypress, Article text
bald cypress trees grow in formations with the tallest and thickest trunks in the center, rooted in the deepest peat.
Hosts: Crayfish, Article text
Solution holes, or deep pits where the limestone has worn away, may remain flooded even when the prairies are dry, and they support aquatic invertebrates such as crayfish and snails, and larval amphibians which feed young wading birds.
Hosts: Red Mangrove, Article text
There are three species of trees that are considered mangroves: red (Rhizophora mangle), black (Avicennia germinans), and white (Laguncularia racemosa), although all are from different families.
Hosts: Old World Climbing Fern, Article text
The Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum) may be causing the most harm to restoration as it blankets areas thickly, making it impossible for animals to pass through.
View the SourceSmalltooth sawfish (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata), Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata), Distribution and habitat
In the Everglades region of Florida the population is now stable and possibly slowly rising.
Zamia integrifolia (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Coontie, DistributionQuote, Hosts: Coontie, Distribution
silvicola - Found in the vicinity of Crystal River and in the Everglades, this variety has leaflets 12 to 17 cm long and 10 to 15 mm wide.
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