Blog #9 The Everglades

The Everglades are very unique, as in there are no other ecosystems in the world like it. Marjory Stoneman Douglas describes how mysterious the Everglades are to everyone, and some history about the Everglades in the reading "The Nature of the Everglades." The Everglades go all the way from Lake Okeechobee down to the bottom of Florida.
One of the biggest things that make the Everglades so different is that the water is usually less than a foot deep, and stretches over seven hundred fifty square miles in actual area. I think that is just astonishing because usually big bodies of water like that get very deep for the most part. Another feature that is very interesting about this amazing part of Florida is all the sawgrass. I found all the information about sawgrass from the Florida Museum of Natural History's website. Sawgrass is covered with little sharp teeth along each one of the blades. The most interesting thing I was reminded about sawgrass was that they can grow up to nine feet. I say reminded because I kind of remember learning a lot about the Everglades when I was a youngster.
Douglas talks about how there is an outline that Douglas calls a Florida end-of-land made of rock that holds all this water in. It holds the fresh water in, and keeps it from escaping into the Gulf of Mexico. It's crazy how much rock formations can affect the way an ecosystem operates. One of the main components of the Everglades is the mangroves. Mangroves are found all over the place and one of the very few places that mangroves can flourish.
The Everglades is home to many different types of species of animals. Probably the most known is the Florida alligator. People come from all over to come see attractions here in Florida that have these alligators. A big problem lately in the Everglades has been invasive species, and they are thriving off this ecosystem. The biggest problem with the Everglades is that it is a perfect environment for mosquitoes to lay eggs and live in. Mosquitoes are probably our worst enemy when it comes to nature, because they carry some of the most deadly diseases that can spread.

Basically the Everglades are anything but basic. Douglas explained how it was a mystery when we explored it years ago, and it is still a mystery today. It's also pretty cool that we have modern day dinosaurs roaming the Everglades, aka alligators.