The second edition of a bestseller, The Everglades Handbook: Understanding the Ecosystem continues to provide a wealth of information on the entire ecosystem of the Everglades. Offering the essentials of what the ecosystem is and how it works, the Handbook benefits those addressing issues such as Everglades restoration, water management, wildlife management, and water quality problems in urban and agricultural planning. With an emphasis on natural history, the text is unified around themes of biogeography and ecosystem functions of the plant and animal communities. It presents current and historical geology, discussions of human impacts, ecosystem degradation, and planned restoration, and covers the socioeconomic aspects of the Everglades ecosystem. What’s new in the Second Edition: Additional chapter on Big Cypress Swamp New section on Lake Okeechobee and its headwaters A new synthesis chapter which diagrams ecological succession and food webs

Table of Contents:
Introduction to the First Edition by Marjory Stoneman Douglas Recollections – an Introduction to the Second Edition by Taylor R. Alexander, Ph.D. BACKGROUND The Everglades in Space and Time Florida, Geologic Time, and Plate Tectonics Limestone and Aquifers Emergence of Land on the Florida Platform: the Peninsula Sea Level, Climate, and the Birth of the Everglades An Ecosystem Overview A Unique and Valuable Ecosystem Terms and Definitions South Florida Climate and Weather The Historic Everglades Origin of the Everglades ENVIRONMENTS OF THE EVERGLADES REGION Freshwater Marshes: Water, Weather, and Fire Marsh Vegetation and Plant Communities Sawgrass Marsh Wet Prairies Slough Ridge-and-Slough Landscape and Water Flow Pond (Alligator Hole) and Creek Periphyton Marsh Soils Water Quality Weather and Fire Tree Islands Size and Location of Everglades Tree Islands Kinds of Tree Islands Tree Island Formation Tree Island Moats Pond Apple/“Custard Apple” Role and Integrity of Tree Islands Tropical Hardwood Hammocks The Hammock Environment Tree Height The Strangler Fig Hammocks, Fire, and Succession Unpleasant Aspects of Hammocks Hammocks and Wildlife Pinelands Pinelands and Fire Endemic Plants and the Rocky Pinelands The Big Cypress Swamp Public Conservation Units and Native American Lands Big Cypress Boundaries and Surface Hydrology Geology and Soils Vegetation Integrity of the Big Cypress Mangrove Swamps Types of Mangroves Mangrove Swamps and Everglades Wildlife Mangrove Swamps and Marine Fisheries Mangrove Swamps and Soil-building Mangroves and Hypersalinity Mangrove Reproduction and Dispersal Legal Protection of Mangroves Mangroves and Mosquitos Visiting a Mangrove Swamp Coastal Lowland Vegetation...and Hurricanes! Impacts of Hurricane Andrew on the Everglades Hurricane Frequency and Environmental Impact in Southern Florida Impacts of Hurricane Donna The Hurricane Legacy: Coastal Lowland Vegetation The White Zone – A Hurricane-Prone Landscape Hurricanes and Glacial Cycles Coastal Estuarine and Marine Waters Florida Bay: a Geologist’s Classroom Sea-level Rise and Coastal Environments Oysters and Mangrove Swamps Sea-Level Rise and the Future of Mangrove Swamps Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades’ Headwaters The Lake Okeechobee Watershed Lake Okeechobee’s Discovery and Name Origin of Lake Okeechobee and its Basin The Pre-Drainage Lake The Modern Lake Vegetation and Wildlife Water Quality Summary Elevation Surveys, NGVD, and NAVD THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA Origins of the Flora and Fauna Tropical versus Subtropical Elements of the Flora Origin of the Tropical Flora Hurricanes and Dispersal Proximity and Dispersal Origin of the Temperate Flora Origins of the Fauna Invertebrates Marine Invertebrates Freshwater Invertebrates Terrestrial Invertebrates Importance of Invertebrates Freshwater Fishes Primary Freshwater Fishes Secondary Freshwater Fishes Peripheral Freshwater Fishes The Florida Gar Introduced Fishes Freshwater Fishes and the Food Chain The Fisherman’s Perspective Marine and Estuarine Fishes Diversity of Marine and Estuarine Fishes Game Fishes Mullet Importance of the Region’s Marine and Estuarine Fishes Amphibians The Importance of Amphibians Reptiles Representative Reptiles of the Everglades Region The American Alligator The American Crocodile Mammals Land Mammals of the Everglades Marine Mammals Birds Breeding Land Birds Breeding Waterbirds Feeding Behavior of Wading Birds Wading-Bird Rookeries Threatened and Endangered Species A Contest of Beauty Dangers of the Endangered Species Act Synthesis – Ecological Relationships and Processes in the Everglades Region Succession Food Chains and Food Webs ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Man and the Everglades Native Americans and the Everglades Hydrology, Land Use, and the C&SF Project The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Coastal Waters Water Quality – Interior Freshwater Changes in Wildlife Specimen Collecting Introduced Species Off-Road Vehicles Solving the Problems: Everglades Restoration The Short-Term Prognosis: The Next Decade The Long-Term View