The Everglades are a known wetland ecosystem that starts from the central part of Florida, near Orlando and reaches all the way to the south of Florida Bay. The territory is surrounded by human development; this is why the evaluation of this ecosystem’s structure, functions, and possible changes is an important step that has to be taken.
The current paper aims at discussing the most crucial functional and structural dynamics of the Florida Everglades, analyzing human impact on biochemical cycles, such as nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus, and studying management and restoration details of the chosen ecosystem.
Functions and Structure
In 1947, the dedication of the Everglades National Park took place. It was one of the first times when a huge piece of the wilderness was protected by the government due to its inhabitants and the unique diversity of life, but not to its scientific value. The last century was very productive for the ecosystem as it was partitioned in “different land uses of agriculture, water conservation, urban development and biodiversity conservation” (Gunderson & Light, 2006, p.323).
The Everglades include a number of national and state parks, marine systems, and reserves. The water control system helps to develop agricultural services in the northern part of the territory. The eastern part of the Everglades promotes economic development – more than 8 million people get access to water supply, the quality of which has been improved by filtering out different pollutants.
An array of pinelands, estuaries, and prairies serves as a home for many plants and animals. Though different natural disasters like the floods or hurricanes created challenges for dynamic growth, governmental support improved the conditions and promoted different aspects of the development.
Effects of the biogeochemical cycles
The functional dynamics of the Everglades wetland change all the time, and people have a considerable impact on the cycling processes including the effects to nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus. A high concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus is used to fertilize vegetables and defined as a decayed soil byproduct the presence of which promotes the production of sugarcane (Noe & Childers, 2007). There are also many clear spatial surface gradients, the contribution of which is explained by continuous rain-, storm-, or groundwater.
The highest concentration of these cycles may be observed during the wet season. Phosphorus and nitrogen cycling is very important for the existence and development of various aquatic organisms in surface waters, and its loss influences the presence of species on the chosen territory.
Nitrogen-based fertilizing and fossil fuels’ burning affect the presence of nitrogen in the ecosystem. The presence of phosphorus cycling in the Everglades is predetermined by the level of phosphorus-based fertilizing activities and the promotion of livestock, and hogs in particular. Due to the fact that the Everglades is a subtropical territory, the level of carbon differs from other cycles. People affect its level in the northern part by means of soil disruption, forest burning, and fossil fuel burning.
Restoration and management
Knowledge about the Everglades ecosystem’s function and structure has already helped to develop several plans for restoration and management of the territory and continues helping to improve the conditions of the Everglades development. The Everglades, like many other ecosystems, undergo considerable changes because of natural disasters like fires, floods, or hurricanes.
People have to be ready to restore the territory and offer several options to solve the appeared problems. A number of restoring programs have already begun in the 1970s. The Kissimmee River was drained because of human activities, and the environmentalists support the idea to restore this water source and increase the number of birds, fish, and waterfowls on the territory. The Everglades Forever Act proved the importance to follow the quality and quantity of water as it promotes the sales activities.
Implication of Species
Restoration of the Everglades will certainly help to predict and try to prevent new invasions using capturing fresh water and redirecting it to the neediest territories. Restoration and management of the Everglades have to be considered as its wildlife is rich indeed.
There are more than 50 reptile species and 500 fish species, 350 bird species, and 35 mammal species. The Everglades encompasses a little grass frog to a huge American crocodile. In fact, in this territory, many species from different parts of North America have found a home and continue developing life.
Reference List
Gunderson, L. & Light, S.S. (2006). Adaptive management and adaptive governance in the Everglades ecosystem. Policy Sciences, 39(4), 323-334.
Noe, G.B. & Childers, D.L. (2007). Phosphorus budgets in Everglades wetland ecosystems: The effects of hydrology and nutrient enrichment. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 15(3), 189-295.