Everglades Nation Park

Travel Journal
3/31/09
Today I went on a journey to the Everglades National Park which is located in southern Florida.
My purpose for this was to study the overall environment and the health of the ecosystem, as a biologist. The Everglades is a diverse subtropical wilderness, with thousands of different animals and plant life. It provides a habitat for endangered species like the American Crocodile. The park also has many different sounds like birds signing, frogs croaking, and water splashing from the under water life. The Everglades are made up of hundreds of square miles of wet land, covered by saw grass. This type of grass can grow up to 3 to 5 meters tall. Scattered throughout the wet lands are trees growing on hammocks. Hammocks are geological features that provide higher patches of land sutible for trees in a flooded area. Also there are huge forests of mangrove trees growing along the rivers. Water definatly plays a major role in the Everglades existance. Without the water the ecosystem would be destroyed and most of the lands will become dry lands. None of the marsh plants or animals would survive in a dry climate. With the rising population of humans the demand of water is increasing. Less water is making it from lake Okeechobee to the Everglades. This could potentially cause problems to the fragile ecosystem. Also, pesticide runoff from farms polutes the habitats, harming fish and other animals. Overall my journey to the Everglades was very educational and eye opening.