To fully understand the diversity of the Everglades, a general knowledge of how they came to be is essential. Surprisingly young, the Everglades were only formed within the last 5,000 years (2). The movement of tectonic plates first formed the base while the expansion and contraction of ice sheets slowly accumulated to form the aquatic system. Only after the end of the Wisconsin glacier did the birth of the peninsula come to be; it was then the interrelationship between the organic rock of the ancient seafloor and the waters of today’s modern ocean begin to form the Everglades. There are three elem

The Everglades are consumed with land full of swamps, poisonous lagoons and huge marshes. They stretch southward from Lake Okeechobee to the saltwater marshes and mangrove swamps near the Bay of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico (Everglades 5: 434). It is the largest subtropical wilderness and home to many plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Solutions are underway to help maintain the Everglades so they can be enjoyed by future generations. It’s ironic that mankind, once the Everglades greatest threat, is now its greatest hope for survival.

In trying to preserve the wildlife, the Everglades National Park was created. The plan for the park was to be simply wilderness where no development or even a plan for the visitors’ entertainment could interfere with the preservation of the forest. Amazingly, the Everglades National Park was the first park to be established primarily for its abundance and variety of life rather than scenic or historic values (1). Although the Everglades have been permanently altered they still maintain many of their original characteristics, for example two of the most important types of plants, mangroves and seagrasses, are grown here to this day. They provide shelter for many creatures who find refuge among the roots of the mangroves or along the three different species of seagrass growing in the soft mud. The Everglades are endless spreads of sawgrass, mangroves, sea, and sky, while birds can still be seen soaring above and dolphins are still found swimming freely within the Everglade’s wide rivers (Molloy 2).

Hardwood Hammocks are dense stands of trees that grow on the natural increase of only a few inches. Many tropical species of trees such as mahogany and gumbo limbo grow along the side of the familiar oak, maple and hackberry trees. Because hammocks grow on such slight elevations, hammocks rarely flood. Also to protect themselves from the hazardous outcome of fires, the acid from the decaying plants dissolve the limestone around each tree island creating a natural moat (Uhler 14; Douglas 10).

The natural process of species evolution normally takes hundreds or thousands of years but has quickly accelerated within the last century. Because of continued pollution and indiscriminate hunting many plant and wildlife species are on the brink of extinction. Drainage of wetlands, alteration of overland water flow and hunting have all contributed to species decline. Today there are 15 endangered species which are threatened because of a loss of habitat and alteration of water flow and a couple of examples are the Florida Panther and the West Indian Manatee (

Some topics in this essay:
South Florida, Indian Manatee, Hardwood Hammocks, National Park, Surprisingly Everglades, Everglades Molloy, Lake Okeechobee, Gulf Mexico, Mexico Everglades, Expansion Act, water flow, everglades national, 5 434, lake okeechobee, everglades 5, everglades 5 434, everglades national park, national park, plants animals, stretch southward lake, hardwood hammocks, 1 basement, action protect, poisonous lagoons huge, lagoons huge marshes,