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<\/a>Volin and his colleagues did a multi-proxy analysis of a sediment core from the Northeast Shark River Slough located in Everglades National Park. Their results indicate that prior to about 2,800 years ago, a wet climate with high dust loadings prevailed in the region. That dust was a key nutrient source for the development of large peatlands that covered the area now known as the Everglades. “The result of this wind shift is a drier climate that supports the saw grasses and tree islands dominating the region,\u201d Volin says.<\/p>\n
This knowledge is important, he adds, because it means that current conditions in the Everglades may not reflect the ecosystem\u2019s previous drivers. The implications are significant:<\/p>\n
\u201cOur findings give us a window on what can happen in a time of abrupt climate change,\u201d Volin explains, \u201cand we can view this as a model of how natural fluctuations in the climate \u2013 not to mention those that are influenced by humans \u2013 can alter the landscape. Basically, the Everglades went from a marshland to what it looks like today \u2013 with tree islands and ridges interspersed with free flowing channels of water, called sloughs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saving the Everglades<\/strong><\/p>\n The research is also part of a comprehensive effort to preserve, or in some cases restore, the environmental integrity of this important subtropical region of South Florida. Covering approximately four million acres in an area that begins near Orlando where the Kissimmee River discharges into Lake Okeechobee, and extending 100 miles southward to Florida Bay, the Everglades are protected by what Volin terms, \u201ca mosaic of efforts\u201d under the umbrella of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.<\/p>\n If we lose the Everglades and the ecosystem it represents, we\u2019ll never get it back. Studies like this one give us a chance to get it right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He says that following World War II, the Central and South Florida Canal Project of 1948 authorized draining parts of the Everglades to make room for agricultural development. Dams and levees were constructed for flood control, and water was diverted to provide for the needs of the two million people who lived in that part of the state.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the year 2000, the population in southeast Florida had grown to 5 million, with ever-increasing demands on the water system,\u201d he notes. \u201cThe Everglades had been compartmentalized by more than 1,000 miles of canals and levees designed for flood control. About 700,000 acres had been claimed to grow sugar cane and other crops and that resulted in the dumping of damaging nutrients into the natural system. Basically, the Everglades were in danger of collapsing.\u201d<\/p>\n