The Invasion of the Florida Everglades Ecosystem by the Brazilian Peppe

The Invasion of the Florida Everglades Ecosystem by the Brazilian Pepper It was as if the class had just tempoped out onto the moonlight the way the limestone craters pockmarked the areas surface. It looked most uninhabitable indeed Yet, here and in that respect tufts of sawgrass had congenitally reseeded and sprung up to reclaim the knock down. Like the American flag hoisted in place by Neil Armstrong on the moon, the tufts of sawgrass seemed to be saying, One small step for sawgrass, one giant leap for the Everglades ecosystem Indeed, to witness the success of the Hole-in-the-Donut Restoration watch is like being the captain of a boat lost at sea catching a break in the fog foresighted enough to glimpse a beacons light before it becomes shrouded again in the mist of politics, economics and bureaucracy. Yet, that brief glimpse of light is enough to uphold even me, an increasingly cynical and apathetic environmentalist, to trudge on. Before this apparently barren lunar la ndscape emerged, the first invasive exotic species to annex what would later be called the Hole-in-the-Donut area were a group of Homosapiens sapiens subsp. agricultis , otherwise known as farmers. After the last of the farmers left in the wee 1970s, they left behind a rock-plowed, slightly elevated patch of land pregnant with nutrients otherwise not known in the mesic prairie wetlands that in the beginning occupied this space. Thus, the scene was set for one of the most destructive ve repairative invasions seen in the Everglades ecosystem thus far. The army came from Brazil and was crafty enough to get its enemy to use its own resources to advance its invasion. Its weapon clusters of bright trigger-happy berries that enticed the likes of Florida s state bird the mockingbird, cedar wax... ...con. Bot . 32 p. 354. 6) Morton, JF. 1978. Brazilian pepper, its impact on people, animals, and the environment. Econ. Bot . 32 p. 354. 7) Workman, R, ed. 1978. genus Schinus Technical transactions of techniques for control of Schinus in south Florida A workshop for natural area managers. Tech. report. Sanibel (FL) The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Inc. pg. 1. 8) Workman, R, ed. 1978. Schinus Technical proceedings of techniques for control of Schinus in south Florida A workshop for natural area managers. Tech. report. Sanibel (FL) The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Inc. pg. 19. 9) Workman, R, ed. 1978. Schinus Technical proceedings of techniques for control of Schinus in south Florida A workshop for natural area managers. Tech. report. Sanibel (FL) The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Inc. pg. 19.