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Florida is surrounded on three sides by bodies of water: the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Florida Bay to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. In addition to its coastal habitats, Florida has a variety of wetland habitats, such as marshland, swampland, lakes, springs, and rivers. Florida's largest river is the St. Johns River.
Florida scrub is a community of xeromorphic species living on poor, well-drained soil, including some combination of sand pines, evergreen scrub oaks, Florida rosemary, rusty lyonia, and gallberry. [5]
The soil is home to a large proportion of the world's biodiversity.The links between soil organisms and soil functions are complex. The interconnectedness and complexity of this soil 'food web' means any appraisal of soil function must necessarily take into account interactions with the living communities that exist within the soil.
For example, while some studies have found that reductions in the abundance and presence of soil organisms results in the decline of multiple ecosystem functions, [28] others concluded that above-ground plant diversity alone is a better predictor of ecosystem multi-functionality than soil biodiversity. [29]
The Florida Ornithological Society maintains the official state list of the birds of Florida, which currently contains 498 species. [61] A study published in 2003 by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission documented 196 species of birds which were confirmed to breed in the state, with an additional 19 species listed as possible ...
A spectacular and particularly damaging example of this phenomenon is the recent proliferation of the Burmese python in the Everglades, as well as elsewhere in Florida. First observed in the wild in 1979 and not again until 1995, [ 95 ] they have increased alarmingly since 2000. [ 96 ]
The Florida mangroves ecoregion includes three mangrove species: Red mangrove tree in Everglades National Park. Rhizophora mangle — red mangrove; Red mangroves are characterized by a dendritic network of aerial prop roots extending into the soil. This allows them to live in anaerobic conditions by providing gas exchange.
Biological soil crusts, often abbreviated as biocrusts, are communities of living organisms inhabiting the surface of soils in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, which form stable aggregates of soil particles in a thin layer millimeters to centimeters thick. [1]