CW4-2391
From Environmental Technology
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G |
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A] The most critical issue that the Everglades deal with is that there are droughts and flooding. People created canals and leeves to divert the water that comes from the Okeechobee River and uses the water for human needs like drinking water, irrigation , and flood control. Some times too much water is withheld from the Everglades in the wet season and sometimes too much water is diverted into the Everglades during the winter drought. Both of these disrupt the natural cycles for the animals and ecosystem for the Everglades. The nesting and feeding of animals are interrupted depending on if there is too much water or not enough.
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B] Some different habitats found in the Everglades are marine/estuary, costal prairie, mangroves, freshwater slough, cypress, freshwater marl prairie, hardwood hammocks, and pine lands.
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C] I think the largest predator in this region is the alligators. Alligators live in freshwater lakes, rivers, and swamps. Sometimes they live in brackish water. They eat insects, crabs, fish, crayfish, frogs, snails, turtles, snakes, coots, grebes wading birds, raccoons, otters, deer, and other alligators. They are even known to eat dead animals. They are carnivors but are seen rooting up vegetation but they think the are looking for crayfish and crabs instead of eating it.
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D] A manatee is a marine[sea water] mammal. The West Indian Manatee usually live in the U.S. and roam from Louisiana to Virginia until winter comes then they find warmer water to live in like the Florida Bay. They eat an abundant ammounts of sea grasses and aquatic plants of the bay. The problems the manatees are having is that they are an endangered species. Most of their problems are human related. Their natural habitats decrease from our expanding cities. Automatic locks and dams can kill or either harm the manatees. The most critical problem is boating accidents. The manatees like to rest just below the surface in shallow water. When speeding boats ride across the water they end up hitting them. Most of the manatees have a scar on their backs, and many of the manatees that get cuts from the boats lead to infections which can be fatal to them. The boats also cause broken ribs and punctured lungs causes deaths.
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E] A fire is bad for the Everglades, as well as good for it too. A fire would damage the natural resources in the Everglades. A fire is seen as shaping the Everglades but too much fire destroys it. If there was not fire management in the Everglades, it would not be able to preserve certain ecosystems. But fires are also neccessary in the Everglades. The objective was to reintroduce fire in a controlled manner to minimize dammaging effects and perpetuate the fire-adapted pine forrest community of the park. It is neccessary to maintain its biological diversity by using fires.
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F] One geological event that helped create the Everglades were the forest fires. The fires were controlled and watched to make sure that the fire wouldn't destroy the Everglades. Another geological event that helped form the Everglades was water flow that flowed freely from Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee and southward over low-laying lands causing Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay, and ten thousand islands to form. The shallow, slow moving water started creating a mosaic of ponds. Then it started to sustain the ecosystem itself.
