Editing CW4:2501

=Can the Everglades Survive?=

=A=
Water management is one of the most critical issues facing the Everglades.  Water controls are disrupting the natural flow.  Invasion of non-native species are also causing problems.  The water controls mess up things during the dry season by not allowing the water to dry up and forcing the little fishies into puddles for birds to eat.  They also mess things up during the wet season by not allowing the water to disperse properly and letting the food chain be repleneshed.

=B=
Marine/Estuarine, Mangrove, coastal plains, freshwater mail prarie, freshwater slough, cypress, hardwood hammocks, Pinelands.

=C=
American alligators
They live in freshwater lakes, rivers, and swamps
They eat insects, crabs, crayfish, fish, frogs, snails, turtles, snakes, coots?, basically anything that wiggles around a bit.

=D=
The Manatee is also called the sea cow.  It's a marine animal that can weigh up to 1000 pounds and it lives in the U.S. coastal waters from Louisiana to Virginia.  Humans are their biggest problem because we are shrinking their habitat and doing them in with our dams and locks.  We also tend to chop them up with the propellers from our boats.

=E=
Fire is needed in the Everglades.  It's the beginning of new life and an integral part of the system, part of the natural process.  It removes decaying vegetation and allows for new growth.  It releases new nutrients into the ecosystem.  Some species would be driven to extinction without it.

=F=
The Tamiami formation.  Formed the rocks underneath the Everglades from millions of years of silt, sand, and calcium accumulations.  The ice age helped things along also.  Other rocks underneath the everglades were formed when glaciers melted and a sea was fromed and the changes in the water elevation determined the different habitats that were formed.