Global 200 Ecoregions

Returning Natural Flow to the `River of Grass'
Everglades

Map of Everglades ecoregion
 
Major Habitat Type
Flooded Grassland

Biogeographic Region
Nearctic, with Neotropical elements

Location
State of Florida, United States


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Summary

For the past thirty years, South Florida has experienced accelerated loss of the pristine natural wonders for which it was once world famous.

At one time, the great undisturbed South Florida/Everglades ecosystem featured the winding, marshy oxbow lakes of the Kissimmee River flowing into Lake Okeechobee, one of America's largest freshwater lakes. Okeechobee in turn fed a slow steady sheet of clean water into the Everglades itself, the fabled 'River of Grass'. To the south, the shallow estuary of Florida Bay harboured some of the richest treasures of marine life anywhere, while an extensive coral reef system thrived off the Florida Keys. The Everglades represent the largest and one of the few rain-fed flooded grasslands on limestone substrates anywhere in the world.

The renowned wading bird population of the Everglades has shrunk to a tiny fraction of what it was a half-century ago; and seagrass die-offs and massive algal blooms have turned extensive portions of the clear waters of Florida Bay into a murky green soup that threatens the health of the coral reefs. There are now some 55 federally listed endangered or threatened species in the area.


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