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Last updated: June 11, 2003
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What is happening to the grass in "The River of Grass?"
Shark Slough - Everglades National Park
Poster presented May 1999, at the South Florida Restoration Science Forum
By: Tom Armentano, David Jones, Brandon Gamble, Michael Ross, James Snyder
Once a broad, shallow "river"
of sloughs, ponds, and sawgrass marshes....
The main freshwater slough of the Everglades was a broad, shallow river
supporting a diversity of plant communities, habitats and wildlife
between Lake Ocheechobee and the Gulf Coast. But artificial drainage
and intensive human settlement have profoundly altered the natural
hydrological regime of the Slough. Reduction in aquatic communities,
expansion of sawgrass and loss of peat soils are among the changes
induced by this disturbance.
(Numbers on photo correspond to images
below. Click on any image for a full-sized version.)
Area 1
The critical issues are:
- Throughout most of the Slough, water depths and flood durations are artificially reduced
- Sawgrass has expanded into areas once occupied by sloughs and ponds
- Trees have spread into areas once occupied by marsh and prairie.
Plant productivity has declined
- On western flanks of the Slough, water depths are too deep,causing loss of prairie
vegetation and wildlife habitat
Scientists seek to answer:
- Where and in what way has vegetation changed?
- What caused the change?
- What is the impact on soil formation?
- What is the effect on productivity?
- What is needed to determine natural patterns?
Managers need to know:
- What is a feasible restoration target for the Slough?
- What are indicator species and yardsticks of success?
- How quickly will positive change occur?
- Are observed fluctuations in vegetation part of a
natural cycle or indicators of developing problems?
Next: Taylor Slough
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