The MAB Program United States of America
Biosphere Reserve Information - General Description
Everglades & Dry Tortugas
General Description
The Everglades National Park
is a shallow basin tilted to the southwest and underlain by extensive
Pleistocene limestones. The reserve also includes Fort Jefferson National
Monument, which consists of a group of seven coral reefs called the Dry Tortugas
National Park with three major banks (Pulaski, Loggerhead and Long Key) forming
a pseudo-atoll with a mud-bank type formation. The biosphere reserve lies at the
interface between temperate and subtropical America between fresh and brackish
water, shallow bays, deeper coastal waters and coral reefs, thus creating a
complex of habitats supporting a high diversity of flora and fauna. The area of
transition from freshwater (glades) to saltwater (mangrove) is a highly
productive zone that incubates great numbers of economically valuable
crustaceans. Southern Florida vegetation is unique in the United States, but
similar communities occur throughout the Caribbean and parts of tropical
America.
The reserve contains some 200 known archaeological sites, with two
archaeological districts nominated in the National Register of Historic Places.
Historic use has left a rich record from Native American use, settlement,
farming and fishing activities. A Native American group, the Miccosukee Tribe of
Florida, has a special use trust area inside the Everglades National park for
tribal headquarters, visitor centre, housing and businesses. Some 40 park
personnel and 50-100 concession personnel live in residential areas in the park
(1990). The area receives more than 84,000 (1990) visitors for snorkelling,
swimming, sport fishing and touring the historic sites. The Everglades Regional
Collection Centre houses some 50,000 biological and cultural museum artefacts
and archives, as well as a library with 10,000 volumes. Fort Jefferson National
Monument offers excellent research possibilities on coral reef ecology,
subtropical islands, bird migrations, and fisheries (IUCN, 1990).
Last updated: 06/27/2005