Everglades national park
Home > National parks and reserves of the world > Everglades National Park
PRESENTATION OF THE PARK
The Everglades national park* is located at the United States in Florida. This park contains the vastest subtropical natural environment of the country and includes nearly 25% of the marshy area of Everglades. This park was declared "reserve of biosphere" in 1976 and was registered with the world heritage of UNESCO* and was classified wetland of international importance.
Its situation at the point of contact between moderate and subtropical America, its fresh and brackish waters, its not very deep bays and its deeper coastal water create a set of ranges which shelters a very diversified flora and a fauna. It has the ecosystem of the widest mangrove swamp of the Western hemisphere, the vastest continuous meadow of shoveler duck and the principal place of nesting of the water birds of North America.
CREATION OF THE PARK
The history of the park began in 1923 following a proposal to make this area a national park. In 1928, the state of Florida creates the commission of the national park of Everglades (Tropical Everglades National Park Commission*) in order to be able to study the creation of an protected area. This commission was also charged to find a means of collecting funds in order to buy additional grounds.
This research coincided with the beginning of the Great Depression with the United States, which made the money required rare. The House of Representatives of the United States authorized creation of the new national park on May 30th, 1934, but only with one clause guaranteeing that no money would be allocated with the project during at least 5 years. The park was inaugurated by president Harry Truman*, on December 6th, 1947. The same year, several tropical storms struck the south of Florida, incentive to the construction of 2 300 km channels, which sent water nondesired by the farmers and the residents towards the ocean.
The areas initially delimited by Ernest Coe slowly were added to the national park, or were incorporated in other protected areas like the national park of Biscayne, the national reserve of Big Cypress, the park of State of John Pennekamp Coral Reef* on Key Largo, the national wild refuge of Ten Thousand Islands* or the "Hole in the Donut" all declared protected areas after the opening of the national park of Everglades in 1947. This last was declared reserve of international biosphere on October 26th, 1976. November 10th, 1978, the major part of the park was declared “zone of naturality”. These designations cover 5,247 km ² in 2003, that is to say approximately 86% of the surface of the park. It was finally classified with the world heritage of UNESCO* on October 24th, 1979 and like Wetland of International Importance on June 4th, 1987.
ENDEMIC ANIMALS THREATS OR IN DANGER
In spite of the efforts made to protect to the maximum the park of Everglades, the poaching remains one of the threats most important and a plague for fauna living in this reserve. Here some animal species which one finds within the park whose survival does not depend any more but on the efforts than will make the man to preserve them extinction :
The American crocodile :
The American crocodile has notable differences with the alligator. The destruction of its range and the collisions with the vehicles are its principal threats. Among 36 protected spaces by the alive State in the park, some are very seriously threatened. The only specimens of American crocodile present at the United States live in the south of Florida. Formerly driven out for their skin, they are protected today from hunting, but are always threatened by the destruction of their range, and sometimes wounded by vehicles passing near as of cours d'eau. The number of crocodiles in the south of Florida recently increased, just as that of alligators, and the crocodiles were replaced "threatened" in the United States in 2007.
The Florida panther :
The Florida panther* east one of the mammals most threatened in the world. She lives mainly in Everglades and the marsh of Big Cypress. They are less than 100 with still living in a wild state. The greatest threats for this animal come from the destruction of its range, of the collisions with the vehicles, consanguinity due to the low genetic diversity present, of the parasites, the diseases and poisoning by mercury as well as the ceaseless poaching which prevails in these areas.
Sea turtles :
Five species of sea turtles, namely the green sea turtle, the hawksbill sea turtle, the loggerhead sea turtle, the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle and the leatherback turtle are seriously threatened. Their number is difficult to determine precisely, from the fact that the males and the youthful ones never return on the ground after their birth, and although the females return to lay every year at the same place. The loss of their range, the poaching and the practices of destroying fishings are the principal dangers to these animals.
Birds :
Two species of birds are in greater danger of extinction. The Cape sable seaside sparrow lives only in the national park of Everglades and the reserve of Big Cypress. In 1986 this species counted 6 656 specimens within the park, but investigations over 10 years showed that the population of this species had declined with 2 624 specimens in 2002. Everglade snail kite is the second species of strongly threatened bird. This last nourishes amphibious snails almost exclusively (Pomacea bridgesii), and the national park of Everglades is the only place of the United States where this bird of prey* exists. Some evidence of the increase in its population was highlighted, but the losses of its range and its source of food maintain the population to a few hundreds.
West Indian Manatee :
The West Indian manatee recently passed from species "threatened" to "in danger". The loss of its range and the collisions with the ships remain the principal threats of this mammals.
SPECIES FOREIGN WITH THE EVERGLADES
One of the great threats growing is the introduction of foreign species into the ecosystem of Everglades. For the flora of the park, the typical example is the naouli which was introduced at the 20th century to help with the drainage of water. This tree, of the Melaleuca kind, became one of the causes of the destruction of the majority of the plant species by leaving desiccated marshy zones. The Brazilian false-pepper plant also invaded the area, being put in competition with the plants whose usually the animals nourish themselves, and being of more difficult to eliminate. Certain animal species also made their appearance in this park and causes per moment of the wrong to the ecosystem like with its fauna. The introduction of these species are done involuntarily by the means of the chance or by voluntarily by stockbreeders amateurs or commercial of tropical animals which slacken specimens in nature without thinking with the damage further that such intrigues can cause on nature and its balance.
The Burmese Python :
The Burmese python, introduced in North America, is one of most incredible animal species the. These snakes are indeed able to reach a size of more than 6 meters, and visitors already saw such specimens fights about it with alligators. According to Kenneth Krysto, Museum of Natural history* of Florida, it would be now the largest predator of Everglades. A first python was found in 1979, then no other before 1995. However, between 2001 and 2005, more than 230 snakes were located within the boundary of park, and had already started to reproduce. Once discovered, these pythons are immediately captured and taken along apart from the park. The biologists of the park affirm that it is the trade of tropical animals and the owners of the known as-animals which are responsible for the introduction of the Burmese python into Everglades.
The wild boar :
The wild boar is not either a species originating in Everglades. These animals, though inoffensive, cause a good amount of damage on the flora of the park and reproduce in a worrying way. This evolution of the species in the ecosystem of the park strongly worries the scientists for the future of the park.
The coyote :
Coyotes* were also located in the park, like in the national reserve of Big Cypress. The leaders of the park allotted this arrival of coyotes* to the presence of some wild boars in the two protected areas.
THE HAMMOCKS
The hammocks are often the only dry land zones in the park. They rise with a few centimetres above level of the river covered with grass and are dominated by large oaks (of type Quercus virginiana). These trees often form a canopy under which the animals thrive in the middle of the bushes of wild coffee, poisoned tree and cabbage cabbage tree. The park counts several thousands of these small islands which, seen sky, have the shape of a tear. The wild trees, even tamarinds and gumbo-limbos, exceed only very seldom the 15 meters because of wind, of the cold waves and the lightning. The palm trees (sabal palms) abound in the large marshy plains. They represented true shelters for the provisions of the Amerindian populations at the time of the bad weather.
The vegetation with the feet of the hammocks is almost impenetrable, but the animals can however find a range ideal inside these small islands and under canopée. The reptiles (in particular snakes and anoles) and the Amphibians (as the American green tree frog) find refuge in the wood of the leafy trees of the hammocks. Birds like the Barred owl, the peak, the cardinal or the a href="http://www.manimal-world.com/rubrique,bald-eagle,254665.html"target="_blank">bald eagle* nest in the trees of the area. As for the mammals, they live in the leafy trees of the hammock. It is the case in particular of the possum, the raccoon, the bobcat, mink of Everglades, swamp rabbit, the White-tailed deer and the Florida panther*, threatened of extinction.
CRITERIA SPECIFIC OF THE EVERGLADES
Everglades occupy a vast marine bed, almost flat, which was absorbed at the end of the last glacial period. Their calcareous substratum is one of the most active zones of contemporary carbonated sedimentation.
The park of Everglades understands vast subtropical wetlands and coastal/marine ecosystems made up by fresh water marsh, tropical leafy trees, pines in rocky ground, vast mangrove swamps, salt pans. The complex biological processes go from elementary associations of algae while passing gradually by higher species to arrive finally at the predatory primary educations like the alligator, the crocodile and the Florida panther*; the food chain is perfectly obvious and uninterrupted. The mixture of subtropical and moderate wild species is not found nowhere elsewhere in the United States.
The National park of Everglades offers a remarkable example of viable biological processes. The exceptional variety of its watery range in made a sanctuary for many birds and of reptiles; it is also used as refuge with about twenty rare, in danger and threatened species, like the Florida panther*, Slender-billed Kite, the alligator, the crocodile and the manatee. It constitutes a vital range for the fertility and fodders it of more than 400 species of birds, shelters the most important places of nesting for the water birds in North America and form an important corridor of migration.
EXTERNAL LINKS
http://francoisrjoly.wordpress.com
http://panthera-world.kazeo.com
http://bastia-offshore-fishing.com
http://www.takegreatpictures.com
