Everglades National Park - Research Paper Example

Background: Balanced Diversity Everglades National Park is the largest park and preserve in the state of Florida. It has a combination of sensitive wetland and estuarine environment, spanning 1,508,000 acres in area. The mangroves that mostly constitute the park are important breeding ground for numerous marine species as well as a natural habitat for alligators and many species of birds. It is also considered the largest wilderness area east of the Rocky Mountain, the biggest continuous section of saw-grass prairie and the most important breeding location for tropical wading birds in the North America.

(Kras 2009, p. 9) In 1979, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated it as a world heritage site. Such recognition was fundamentally given due to its rich biological diversity, which represented a balanced relationship of human life and nature. According to UNESCO, the area has extreme importance to the world because it has a unique blend of human history and the diverse life forms that harmoniously lived together for ages, including those animals and plants that are considered endangered species. (Kras, p. 9) Ecological relationships A Senate Report summed up the Everglades Park’s interesting interrelationships among its life forms.

It explained: The intermingling of plant and animal species from both the tropical and temperate zones, plus the merging of freshwater and saltwater habitats provide the vast biological diversity that makes Everglades National Park unique. (US Congress, p. 340) Experts point out that the park is not consisted of one single ecosystem but a system of ecosystems. The above statement underscores this highlighting how numerous and diverse habitats are in existence that offer homes to a number of flora and fauna that collectively form a kind of relationship that continually amazes scientists.

Much of the area is covered by saw grass, trees and shrubs as well as palm trees, cypresses, among other tropical plants. They provide a natural habitat for animals like the American crocodile, alligators, deer, Florida panther, roseate spoonbill, wood stork, snakes, turtles, among other reptiles and animals that are endangered like the southern bald eagle. The animals are sufficiently represented to sustain a healthy food chain and sheet-flow ecosystem connected by the water system beginning with Kissimmee River, into the Lake Okeechobee and, finally into the Gulf of Mexico.

The intrusion of man, particularly with the agriculture cultivation that takes place in the Everglades’ periphery, and the damage it inflicts is increasingly destroying the habitats and the relationships within. For instance, the fertilizers discharged from nearby agricultural areas led to the growth of cat-tails and furry grasses that began depleting oxygen from the waters, endangering the lives of several animals that thrive on them. (Europa 2001, p. 77) Human Intrusion Another factor that makes Everglades National Park unique is the fact that it is situated in a mouth of a waterway instead of in a headwater like Glacier, Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

Unfortunately, this variable became a major contributor in the damage being done to the park. Human activities have disrupted the water cycle that occurs within the area due to agricultural cultivation and the