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 panther was originally spread throughout most of the southeastern United States but because of expanding urban development, it has virtually been eliminated. This large, long-tailed, pale brown cat can grow to be up to six feet in length. Families of panthers usually only contain two or three young and breed only once every two or three years. They are nomadic animals and have the ability to travel twenty miles in one journey. Their diet consists of mainly deer and wild hogs, but some of the younger cats feed on smaller animals. State and Federal agencies found that habitat destruction has been partially the reason for their decrease in number while genetic inbreeding, shooting, mercury poisoning are also some of the reasons (12).

ents that created the Everglades and they are rock, water and fire (McCally 1-2).

The Manatee is a massive thick-skinned mammal with paddle-like forelimbs. They are grey-brown in color and can weigh anywhere from 790-1,190 pounds. They can also grow to be eight to fifteen feet in length. Manatees live in slow current rivers, shallow estuaries and salt water bays feeding on aquatic vegetation. The survival of this species has been threatened by the propellers of boats, vandal attacks, poaching and habitat destruction (12).

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 (11).

The heart of the Everglades is water and without the flow of fresh, clean water from Lake Okeechobee, the area would cease to exist. An intimate relation between surface water and ground water is crucial in the creation of the lower wetlands system. This relation involves three elements: rising sea level, solution which is acidic rain water that dissolves through limestone and hydroperiod, the number of days South Florida can be expected to flood. Rainfall also contributes by dissolving some of the rock setting off a chemical reaction that brought the groundwater in contact with land’s surface. This in turn eventually created a valley that provided a shallow drainage slough (9-10).

In trying to preserve the wildlife, the Everglades National Park was created. The plan for the p

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