The Everglades: What are the Everglades?

The Everglades is composed of five different habitats, each one with different plants and animals living together. These habitats include hardwood hammock, which includes groups of broad-leafed trees then grow in a similar formation to a hammock. Some of the plants that grow in this area include mahogany, gumbo limbo, and the cocoplum. Animals include the grey fox, various snakes and, toads.

Another habitat in the Everglades is the mangroves. Mangroves thrive where salt water and fresh water mix. Currently the Everglades National Park contains the largest strand of a protected mangrove forest in the hemisphere. Species that live in the area include the red black and white mangroves, along with the American crocodile, various types of birds, and manatee.

The next habitat is pineland. Pineland take root in exposed limestone, and the terrain is composed of slash pine. Various flowers grow in the surrounding area. Fire is essential for the continuous growth of pineland, and the plants are adapted to a life of frequent fires. This area is home to many of the snakes of the Everglades.

Saw grass parries are another familiar habitat to the area. This habitat remains wet for most of the year. As the name states, saw grass is the most dominate plant species of this habitat. Other species include the bladderwort, and the periphyton. This habitat is home to some of the most vast array of birds in the Everglades.

The last habitat of the surrounding area is the freshwater slough. The freshwater slough is a marshy river that channels water through the Everglades. There are two main sloughs of the Everglades, they include the shark river slough, and the taylor slough, which both empty into the Florida Bay. Throughout the sloughs you might see tree islands sprouting sparingly. Animals that dwell in these areas include, alligator, snapping turtles, fish, and otters.