Temperature - 28 C
Humidity - 100%
Cloud Cover - Direct sunlight, no clouds
After an early start and a long drive we arrived at the Loxahatchee Research Centre. We got stuck in straight away and headed for a short boardwalk through another Cypress Swamp. Here our guide explained some of the issues they were facing with invasive species. They were spending huge amounts of money on the removal of these invasives but were met with success. One problematic species was the invasive shrub called Melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia). Melaleuca was introduced in the 1880s to assist the drainage of wetlands and provide stability to soil banks. A single Melaleuca tree can have as many as 13 million seeds and can therefore spread at an astonishing rate creating a monoculture thicket that out competes all other plants. A biocontrol was introduced in order to tackle the plant. A weaver (Oxyops vitiosa) was introduced in 1997. The weaver feeds on the flowers of the tree and studies from the Florida Gulf Coast University have found that the weavers can reduce seed production by as much as 50%.
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| An example of a Melaleuca thicket. |
After the boardwalk we moved over to the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment (LILA). On the way we came across a female Alligator wallowing in a small pond with 3 young beside her. Across the road our guide pointed out the telephone poles all had large bore holes in them. The culprit for the holes was the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), he mentioned that the local authorities were always complaining about the birds and the damage they cause to the poles.
We set off again towards LILA. The temperature had risen to 28degrees C and the humidity was extremely high. With very little shade a lot of the wildlife had taken to the water to wallow, feed and cool down. If only we could have done that!
The purpose of LILA is to understand how much influence the hydrology of an Everglades system has on how well the eco-system performs. An artificial everglade system has been created and researches can conduct experiments by altering the amount of water flow in each section allowing them to perform studies under controlled conditions. The everglades are extremely flat and an increase in elevation of only a foot can be the difference between a swamp and an island . The islands that are created in the everglades are biodiversity hot spots as they act as safe refuges for roosting/nesting birds. The Alligators play a key role in the protection of these nesting islands as well for species such as the Raccoon (which often raid nests) are deterred from entering the water for fear of being predated by the Alligators.
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| An Ariel view of LILA |
Research into the amount of Phosphorus that is leached into the everglades has also been conducted. They found that the Everglades are in fact very low in nutrients and the wetland sits upon a thin layer of calcium. When there is a high phosphorus level the calcium layer dissolves and the water nutrient level beings to increase which allows species such as Cattails (Typha latfolia) to form large monocultures which are very low in biodiversity.
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| Cattails can quickly form monocultures when Phosphorus levels are high |
Once we had finished our tour of LILA we moved on to our next destination. We drove deeper into the Everglades in order to get a taste of how many wetland conservationists get around on the water. We went for a Air Boat Tour. The tours were ran by local residents who were very knowledgeable and passionate about the eco-system around them. The air boats are extremely loud and ear defenders had to be worn. This made me wonder whether bombing around the tranquil everglades on a boat louder than Boeing 747 was actually harmful to the surrounding wildlife. The boats flush out many bird species allowing you to get a great view of many species such as the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) and the Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus). I thought that the loud noise and fast speed would really disturb ambush predators such as the Great Blue Heron however I then realised that if they were truly disturbed by the boats they simply wouldn't be in the area. I also came to realise, that whilst making alot of noise the air boat rides also create alot of revenue through tourism and this in turn will make it's way back into conserving the Everglades. The boat rides also raise awareness of how delicate wetland eco-systems can be and, when healthy, how much wildlife they can support!
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| A Great Blue Heron taking flight after being disturbed by our Air Boat. |
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