American South & Everglades

About the American South & Everglades

The American South and the Everglades hold subtropical wetland, swamp forest, bayou and pine savanna, and water depth and duration govern almost everything. The Everglades is not a swamp but a very wide, very shallow river moving slowly south, and its wildlife is organised around the dry season, when receding water concentrates fish into pools and wading birds, alligators and otters follow them in. Alligators are ecosystem engineers here — the depressions they clear hold water through the dry months and become refuges that a great many other species depend on. Longleaf pine savanna, maintained by frequent low fire, was once one of the most extensive habitats on the continent and is now among the most reduced. Invasive species, notably Burmese pythons, have altered the system substantially.