Natural Ecosystems and Native Species

Natural Ecosystems and Communities  Multiple populations  Interaction between populations  Natural  Pre-Columbian (Native)

 Pre-Columbian  Well-adapted  Survives on its own Native

Native Plants  Weeds: Grow quickly wherever they spread  Land erosion, felled trees, etc.  Habitat, food, and stabilize soil  Kept in check by natural enemies  Grown over by other native plants

Exotic Plants  Introduced to the area  Benign  Ornamental  Reproduction is easy to control  Invasive  Reproduction is not easy to control  Take over native species  Disrupt ecosystems  Exotic Pest Plant Council: Group that looks for invasives and reports them to state agencies

Animals  Native, exotic, migratory  Migratory follow a predictable pattern of passing through or living in Florida for a season  Migratory not invasive – Contribute meaningfully to Florida ecosystems

Florida’s Ecosystems Classified

Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI)  Tracks Florida’s natural lands and waters  Guidelines set by the Nature Conservancy in 1981 

Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida  69 ecosystems in the state of Florida in 6 categories  Interior  Uplands  Wetlands  Waters  Coastal  Uplands  Wetlands  Waters

Artificial Ecosystems  Theme parks, zoos, aquariums  Positive: economy and education  Negative: high-maintenance  Heat, air conditioning, water, mowing, weeding………  Not suited for local weather  Do not recover naturally when damaged  Depend on people  Hard on the natural environment  Consumes resources, instead of produces

Natural Ecosystems  Important for the economy and education  Produce resources, not consume  Low maintenance  Help humans  Stop floods, generate food, purify air and water  Populations adapted over time

Natural Ecosystems  May be damaged by extremes, but come back  Unnatural situations can permanently damage populations  Fire-dependent communities may lose populations without fire  Extreme pollution  Overfishing/overhunting  Invasive species  Climate warming or cooling  Extreme changes in water flow after geological events  Overall help regulate climate, gases, purify and move water, produce food

Altered Natural Areas  Beneficial altered areas  More pleasing, safer, or profitable  Provide benefits to the area  Examples:  Ecological timber production  Manmade lakes  Malignant altered areas  May be beneficial, but more negatives than positives  Examples  Single-species plantations  Abandoned areas taken over by forest  Unburned fire-dependent forests

Degraded Natural Areas  Parking lots and roads  Densely populated coastal areas  May require restoration

Florida’s Native Species

 Species: A group of reproductively isolated organisms  Speciation: The process by with a new species arises  Categories of living things  Kingdom(Animalia)  Phylum(Chordata)  Class(Mammalia)  Order(Primata)  Family(Hominidae)  Genus(Homo)  Species(Sapiens)

Names of Species  Both a scientific name and a common name  Example: Homo sapiens and human  Common names are agreed upon and designated I googled humans of Florida and this is what come up.

Counting Florida’s Species  Land vertebrates: 700  Fish: 1000  Land invertebrates:  Plants: 4000

Florida’s Endemic Species  Endemic: Native species in a limited geographic area  Species endemic to Florida are found only within Florida  Widely distributed: not endemic  Example: Live oak is found from Virginia to Texas  Limited to small areas: endemic  Example: Gopherwood tree is only found in North Florida and South Georgia

Florida’s Species Today  One of the highest numbers of endangered species in the country  Mostly due to destruction of habitats  Past: Species produced faster than they die out  Present: Species are becoming extinct at an accelerating rate!

Not yet endangered, but close…