The resulting combination of alluvial plains, shorelines, and the most extensive wetlands in the United States host a diversity of ecosystems. Rising and falling sea levels, along with sediment-carrying water flowing in rivers, repeatedly eroded and built up land. The generally flat Gulf Coast landscape formed as a result of changes in sea level during the past 125 million years. Photo by Whitney Granger/NPS Geology and Ecoregions Shoreline at Perdido Key, Florida in Gulf Islands National Seashore. The network is also challenged to document and monitor the diverse plants, animals and processes that make up each park ecosystem, with many of these entities being relatively unstudied. These factors pose a strong collective challenge to park resource managers and the Gulf Coast Network monitoring program. Additionally, the region experiences frequent extreme storm events that have widespread effects on both environments and biota. For example, network parks are generally small and unconnected to other habitat patches within altered landscapes experiencing rapid human development. Yet the integrity of park ecosystems and natural resources are potentially threatened by several landscape-level forces. Because many different zones converge in this region, its parks often have high biodiversity in plants, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The region straddles both temperate and subtropical climatic zones and includes islands, shorelines, floodplains, and rolling hills. The parks of the Gulf Coast Network are ecologically diverse, isolated, and imbedded in a landscape known for its short geological history and rapid rate of change. Bald cypress at Big Thicket National Preserve.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |