Natural Communities
Betsy Purdum
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As historian David McCully writes in The Everglades,
“Although the surface of south Florida appears monotonously
flat to the casual eye, it represents a complex of lilliputian
valleys and plateaus to water.” These differences in combination
with variations in underlying rock and natural fires created a
diversity of natural communities within the Everglades ecosystem.
In geologic terms, the Everglades is young, only having formed
within the last 5000 years. Rich black soil began forming and
accumulating wherever sawgrass became the dominant vegetation.
The black color is from charcoal from frequent lightning-caused
fires.
