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Habitat is defined as the place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows. Community, in ecology, is used in the sense of living animals, plants and bacteria that include all of the populations living in a designated area. The community and the nonliving environment function together as an ecological system or ecosystem, essentially, life and earth working together.

Basically, an ecosystem is a community of living organisms (biotic), and its interrelated physical and chemical environment (abiotic). An example would be a group of living organisms such as coral, algae and fish along with their nonliving environment, which included rocks, water and sand. Each influences the other, and both are necessary for sustaining life. An ecosystem can be as small as a rotting log or a puddle of water, but management efforts typically focus on larger landscape units, such as a river basin or a watershed.

The south Florida watershed is composed of more than a dozen plant communities, hundreds of distinctive habitats and thousands of ecological niches, all of which fit together through ecological processes like pieces of a giant puzzle.

Living organisms and their nonliving environment in the south Florida ecosystemshare fundamental relationships that bind the region's elements together into an ecological whole. The connections of living things with the watershed and with one another are countless. Most involve exchanges of air, nutrients and energy. All are influenced by the hydrologic cycle.

Human beings, also part of the biotic community, have a special importance to the overall health and integrity of the ecosystem. They also have the capability of altering or adapting the environment to accommodate their needs. Perhaps more than with any other large natural system, the natural mechanisms of the south Florida ecosystem have been altered by human intervention. It is generally agreed that water quality and quantity problems in south Florida have resulted from human manipulations of the natural systems of the watershed.

South Florida comprises one of the wildest and most inaccessible terrain in the United States. South Florida is flat, and surface water is limited due to the porous and permeable rock foundation. But the vegetation is not limited - the plants of the watershed are lush and diverse. One reason for this is that south Florida is positioned between temperate and tropical zones, containing habitats for species from both. Additionally, south Florida's peninsular shape, with shores washed by warm seas, provides a humid climate that nurtures plant growth. Some 3,500 plants thrive in the south Florida ecosystem, many found nowhere else.

Vegetation communities include pineland, dry prairies, wet prairies, broad-leafed hammocks, mangrove swamps, sawgrass marshes, coastal marshes and inshore marine systems.

The Everglades comprises one of the largest freshwater marshes on the North American continent with principle vegetation communities consisting of sawgrass marshes, wet prairies, sloughs, tree islands and mangrove swamps. Tree islands are the most distinct plant communities in the Everglades. Mangrove swamps occupy a zone between the open waters of the coast and the uplands and freshwater wetlands. Mangroves are important to the natural food web, both as a generator of microorganisms and as a provider of shelter for open-water predators. Mangroves also provide roosting and nesting areas for many types of birds.


Two areas of particular importance within the south Florida ecosystem are coastal marshes and inshore marine habitats. Coastal marshes are highly productive areas providing both food and shelter for insects, mammals, fish, shellfish and birds. Inshore marine habitats are unique and invaluable, nurturing many marine and freshwater species.

Habitat Links

The Watershed Puzzle:
http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/wrp/intro_puzzle.html

Florida Ecosystems - USGS
http://sofia.usgs.gov/virtual_tour/kids/ecosys.html

Common Florida Natural Areas
http://www.ficus.usf.edu/docs/common/nat-1.htm

Florida's Ecosystems
http://www.ficus.usf.edu/docs/fl_ecosystem/florida.htm

Habitats - Everglades National Park
http://www.nps.gov/ever/eco/habitats.htm

Everglades/Florida Bay Ecological Components:
http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/wrp/wrp_evg/2_wrp_evg_eco/2_wrp_evg_eco.html

SFWMD website links: