Sanibel, Florida: The Nature and Biodiversity Protection Program

The conquering and development of natural land has in the past, been seen as a mark of human civilization. In the United States, our progress is often measured by growth and development, but should this be re-examined? There are many opinions on the subject of urban sprawl and its effects on wildlife, but one thing is for certain, we are expanding. From 1955 to 2005, urban and suburban areas grew by 300%, however, the population only increased by 75% over the same period (Ewing, Kostyack and Chen). According to NatureServe, a non-profit conservation organization, urban sprawl threatens one of every three endangered species in the United States. NatureServe’s analysis states, “rare and endangered species data shows that three-fifths (60

Maintaining ecological diversity is necessary for the survival of a biological community. In the United States, American citizens are on the verge of irrevocably damaging one of the country's most unique and diverse treasures - the Florida Everglades. This national park is now the only remaining patch of a river that used to span 120 miles from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Dikes and levees created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1940's drained this river to reduce flooding and increase useable water for the development of the region. This major diversion of water lead to a trickle down effect causing the continual decline of the environmental state of the Everglades. Since then, debates over the

The Florida Everglades have been adversely impacted for decades because of human attempts to control this historical ‘River of Grass’. The reason for our insistence on attempting to control and manage the area can be defined in one word: water. There has always been plenty of water available within the Everglades’ ecosystem, but no logical way to extract it. Our extraction efforts eventually led to devastating results. My paper will focus on the initial policy and practices involved in the extensive downgrading of this once biologically unequaled ecosystem; as well as discuss recent policy initiatives that have been implemented in order to restore the Everglades to its once magnificent status. I will attempt

I have been interested in marine sciences since I was a child. I grew up in and around the water. Being a resident of South Florida, and an avid boater, I have seen the degradation of the Florida reef system. I was fortunate enough that my parents were able to purchase a house in Key Largo when I was just 6 years old. I quickly got familiar with the surrounding ocean. My favorite place to go diving was a protected reef about 3 miles offshore called Molasses Reef. Since there is no fishing, lobstering, or even anchoring on this reef, the protected area has not changed much since I was a kid. Yet, one can start seeing changing not too far away for this tropical reef oasis. This part of the reef is unprotected and has changed drastically over

In the Everglades these patches of trees or islands of them are an essential piece of the landscape. These islands of trees are seen in both the short and the long hydro period wetland of the Everglades. What these islands start to do is provide a web of shade and they gives opportunity for these forest-dwelling plants and animals to perform important biodiversity and nutrient cycling functions (Gained et al. 2002, Ross 2009). Tree islands can be all different sizes, in the short hydro period area these sizes can vary from anything of two to three trees to as big as several hectares with hundreds of trees. The size of these tree islands have a direct effect on the amount of species there are, the larger the tree island the more chance there is to have more

Orlando Florida is known worldwide for its entertainment facilities, notably Walt Disney World, Universal Theme Park and other attractions. This paper reports on Orlando's natural environment and ecology, which doesn't get the attention and publicity that the theme parks do, but in the end these natural world places are more vital to the well being of the humans and wildlife in that area of Central Florida.

The goal of harbor management businesses like Port Everglades is to have a management team that establishes goals with accompanying strategies for implementation. Among all the ports in the state of Florida, the port of Everglades has one of the richest histories and is considered the third largest in the world (Barth, 2015, p. 1). The goals and strategies are directed toward achieving balance among a number of equally important public purposes, including protection and enhancement of environmental resources and the quality of life associated with the use of the harbors, surface waters and underwater lands of the state within a city, town, village, or country.

Florida’s biodiversity is extremely important in maintaining. Many people fail to realize that without the biodiversity there would be no humans. They fail to see how our lives and lives many species would change drastically. Since I am one the few people in Florida to take a biogeography course, I am now a member of the Florida biodiversity Czar after the next election. What would be my top priorities to protect Florida’s biodiversity, and how would I implement them?

Ecosystem Description: In this visit to Jonathan Dickinson State Park we had the opportunity to observe three ecosystems; Maritime Hammock, Dunes, and Mangroves swamp. The first ecosystem visited was Maritime Hammock This ecosystem occurs along the coast behind the dunes. It is similar as Hammocks’ forests that we saw in the Everglades but with a little bit less of vegetation. The temperature is nice and dry, not too much humidity. Maritime Hammocks are in general halophytic communities, this means that the vegetation here can tolerate the salty water bus doesn’t need it to survive. In this ecosystem we can found trees as oaks or grape fruits. The second ecosystem visited was Mangrove swamps. Mangroves lives in the estuarine zones. We appreciated

Growing up in one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America impacted my perception on nature from my first thought until now as a young adult. If you are from the south most people get a glimpse of how pretty Florida is but unless you fish, very few people get to check out the Indian River Lagoon. This massive body of water stretches whopping 156 miles and surprisingly takes up over 30% of Florida’s east coast. Here the Atlantic collides with fresh water and creates an epic battling ground for fisherman and a lovely home for more than 2000 animal species (SJWM). I fortunately have had access to this wonderful estuary thanks to my grandparents. They moved into the developing town of satellite beach early on and bought property

On Saturday February 4th, I took the tram ride exploring Circle B Bar Reserve. Susan was the tram driver; Nancy was the tour guide and volunteers John and his son were the spotters. We toured three ecosystems of the reserve: wetlands, oak hammock, and highland scrub. It was interesting to learn the history of how the area was once wetland and they paid ranchers to drain the area for cattle ranching. Years later the property was purchased by Polk County Commissioners and the Southwest Florida Management District as the area needed the wetland to filter the water system. As a result, the wetland has created a haven for birds and presently there are 230 plus species in the area and Circle B Bar Reserve has become one of the best places for

Only 100 miles off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, there is a marine ecosystem teeming with life. This ecosystem is called the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). FGBNMS is a coral reef that monitored and preserved by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA sees the FGBNMS as a valuable natural resource that we need to protect. The intent of this memo is to identify the resources that FGBNMS provides, what policies are in place to protect those resources, what effect these policies have had, and what actions to take from this point forward. Fortunately, the policies regarding this natural resource are accomplishing the goal of protecting this reef, so I do not recommend to many changes to the existing policies, except for a few slight changes.

There are patch reefs up and down from the Keys through Palm Beach County, where I live. But North America’s only living corral barrier reef lies six miles seaward of the Florida Keys (Reef Relief). These coral reefs are composed of outer reefs and patch reefs, and contain over fifty species of corals (making up eighty percent of all the coral reef species in the Tropical Western Atlantic) and more than one hundred species of fish. These reef systems are important to Floridians first and foremost because of tourism. People travel from all over the world to come to Florida and snorkel, scuba dive, and boat over the beautiful reef systems. In addition to this, Florida’s commercial fishing for lobster, stone crab, and many other fish depends on

However, mangrove deforestation for coastal development and tourism expansion in the US Virgin Islands has caused a decrease by nearly 200 ha in the past 25 years. Earlier this year, the Virgin Islands Marine Recovery Service has implemented a Mangrove Planting Project at two schools in St. Thomas. The goal of this project is to not rebuild red mangrove forests, 50-75% which had been lost in the past century, but to educate the children on the importance of mangrove forests and their role in promoting biodiversity and coastal

Adopt and implement the National Protected Areas Co-Management Framework for Belize We urge the government to keep collaborating with non-governmental partners. Unfortunately, reversing the trend of reef decline is increasingly more difficult” (Gonzalez, 2009, p 1).