...in this semi-arid condominium filled part of Florida. These are not just part of concerned citizens and groups conservation active imagination these are ecological problems two of the greatest ecosystems in the world are facing today. Unless the United States and the State of Florida take steps to conserve coral reefs in the Florida Keys and restore the Florida Everglades today this is the reality of future generations. Coral Reefs Threats to coral reef are many, and the solution must be cohesive not scattered when addressing these threats. Implementing a cohesive ecosystem-based management approach is the key protecting the coral reefs from these threats. Ensuring a holistic and combined approach will support a healthy, living, resilient, coral reef. The methods used the Pacific Island coral reefs to preserve their ecosystems might not be the methods needed to meet the needs of the Florida Keys coral reef’s ecosystem. The different approaches necessary to maintain the varying community needs and address the local coral reef ecosystem is called a multidisciplinary approach. Multidisciplinary Approach The importance of a multidisciplinary approach to conserving the coral reefs of the Florida Keys cannot be under estimated. Knowing the physical, chemical, and biological needs of the living coral reef system is critical but alone cannot conserve the coral reef ecosystem. The support of the surrounding community in economic, political, and social support...
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...Florida's Everglades is home to many residents such as snakes , alligators , bobcats foxes and a plethora of birds . When someone thinks of everglades ,they most likely think of danger , dirty and bug infested land . There is more to the everglades than what meets the eyes . Imagine if out of no where , the everglades in all its glory , disappeared . All of its inhabitants would be forced to relocate to another home .For this reason , the everglades are very important , so people don’t get caught up in the loss of the everglades . The everglades is a place where many pythons reside . Pythons are very beautiful , no doubt , but as the author of " Are the Everglades Forever? " likes to state , " They’ve managed to upset the natural food chain so drastically that the Everglades are starting to seem a little bit like Indiana Jones’s dreaded snake pit. Besides being creepy, an ecosystem overrun by pythons is unhealthy. " People who no longer wish to own their scaly pets decide that it would be a wise choice as to set them " free " . Not all snakes are comfortable in the wild , where they may be able to encounter other snakes such as themselves . Most of the snakes at the everglades can grow up to " 20 feet, which is longer than three adult men lying head-to-toe. " Although the everglades may still seen dangerous at first glance , there is...
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...2009). The first actual record of Burmese python was in 1979 in Everglades National Park, however the first established populations were recorded in 2000; at this point causing an increase in attention and investigation of these invaders. Burmese pythons can reach up to five and one half meters which is approximately 18 feet, weigh up to 150 pounds and a female can produce anywhere from eight to 107 eggs. The diet of pythons range from mammals, fish, amphibians, birds, and even other reptiles. Although they are not venomous they are powerful biters and constrictors. It has yet to be determined the mean at which these reptiles were introduced to South Florida through either intentional release via the release of unwanted pets or the accidental release: the escape of pets or even the media speculated event of Hurricane Andrew 1992 causing the release of snakes out of a snake sanctuary (has yet to be...
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... Microcystis has been shown to produce more toxins in the presence of grass carp. Grass carp, which have natural defenses to their toxins, sometimes can contain enough algal toxins in their systems that they become hazardous to eat. Ecosystem’s evasive species The Burmese python has its origins in Southeast Asia and was introduced in Everglades in 1979. Perhaps no other invasive species has attracted as much media attention at Burmese pythons in Florida, particularly after spectacular photographs and eyewitness accounts of struggles between native alligators and these snakes were released. Burmese pythons have voracious appetites and have been found to eat animals ranging in size from wrens to white-tailed deer. A study by Michael Dorcas of Davidson College found some mammals populations have dropped 90 percent in areas populated by the pythons. They share the top of the food chain in the Everglades with alligators and prey on 39 endangered species and 41 additional rare species. They continue to be sold as pets; around 6,000 pythons were imported into Miami from 2003 to 2005. They are removed immediately from Everglades National Park; as of 2007, national park staff report extracting a total of 600 pythons. Another 300 were captured in 2008 alone. As of 2012, it's estimated 30,000 are living in South Florida in 2012. The Common Myna has its origins in Southeast Asia and was...
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...Can't Miss in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Of all the wonderful places in Florida to vacation, Miami take the cake. Sunny Isles Beach, Miami is ranked number one as a vacation destination in the U.S., and there is good reason for this. It has gorgeous white-sand beaches and a sizzling night life, and is has hotels and resorts to accommodate every budget. The off-season is during the summer until September when there are fewer tourists. Hotels such as DoubleTree have lower rates at this time. You can learn more about hotels in Sunny Isles Beach and find one that suits your vacation budget. There is a lot to do in the area, and here are seven attractions you shouldn’t miss when you visit Sunny Isles Beach. Everglades National Park A large subtropical wilderness, the Everglades...
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...Mining in South Florida Carlos Socarras Professor – Karen Nead English-135 December 1, 2008 The reason I chose this topic for my research paper is because I feel that it is critical to help educate you a little on the importance of rock mining in South Florida and the consequences that we will endure without this local resource. Throughout this paper you will see me make reference to Titan Americas Pennsuco facility. This is mostly because I am currently employed by them and have been working in the Pennsuco cement plant for over nineteen years now, so I have managed to learn a lot of its history through time and experience. Another reason is the fact that as a fellow employee the ruling to eliminate rock mining in Florida directly affects me mainly because this decision would put me out of a job. I would first like to begin by giving you a brief history of the Pennsuco land and how Titan America acquired the facility, so that you can have a better understanding of the issues that we are currently experiencing. In the early 1900s, Pennsylvania Sugar Co., which is where the term “Pennsuco” came from was one of several companies that obtained large acreages and planted sugar cane on the drained “muck land” of the Florida Everglades. Operations were good until the Great Depression of the 1930s hit the sugar market. Today the Pennsuco cement plant is located on the former Pennsuco sugar Farms property. (Cement Americas, 2005) In 1962 the Pennsuco site was purchased...
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...BIO-FUELS With the rising need for development with sustenance, the importance of biofuels is rapidly creating a wave amongst the current manufacturers. Bio-fuel is presumed to be an innovative successor to the fast depleting non-renewable sources of energy. What is bio-fuel? A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric biological matter. The history of bio-fuels dates back to several centuries and had been discovered as a primitive resource much prior to the discovery of electricity and fossil fuel. They...
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...reading a story about how humans had introduced pythons into the Everglades and the terrible consequences of those actions. Invasive species have left an atrocious path of destruction throughout recent history and their presence is only growing. When approaching this situation we need to view the natural and human introduction of invasive animals, what the effects are on all living creatures, and what we are doing to bring about a solution. Non-native species are...
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...ecosystem collapse, are detrimental to our society and the way we live. Everyone should be informed on the importance of biodiversity, the causes, effects, and ways to prevent these problems....
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...Landscape Photography: Through the Masters’ Eyes Student College Table of Contents Page 1 – Cover Page Page 2 – Table of Contents Page 3 – Landscape Photography Page 4 – Ansel Adams Page 5 – Ansel Adams continued Page 6 – Ansel Adams continued Page 7 – Eliot Porter Page 8 – Reflection Page 9 – Reflection continued Page 10 – Ansel Adams Images Page 11 – Ansel Adams Images continued Page 12 – Eliot Porter Images Page 13 – Eliot Porter Images continued Page 14 – Annotated Bibliography Page 15 – Annotated Bibliography continued Page 16 – Annotated Bibliography continued Landscape Photography Landscape photography is one of the most popular art genres, and there are photographers who dedicate huge parts of their life to getting the perfect shot of a scene. These devoted individuals are happy to trek across some unrelenting topography to ensure they get the very best image quality that they can. Landscape photography is a favorite with professional and amateur photographers alike. There awaits a wealth of natural landscapes filled with beauty and drama, always changing with the seasons to be photographed in both black and white, and color. Many landscape photographs show little or no human activity and are created in the search of a pure, untarnished illustration of nature lacking human influence, but instead featuring subjects such as strongly defined landforms and weather. Beautiful landscapes are all around us – they are a joy to experience, but...
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...Published by the Ecological Society of America Number 10, Winter 2003 Issues in Ecology Sustaining Healthy Freshwater Ecosystems Issues in Ecology Number 10 Winter 2003 Sustaining Healthy Freshwater Ecosystems SUMMARY Fresh water is vital to human life and economic well-being, and societies extract vast quantities of water from rivers, lakes, wetlands, and underground aquifers to supply the requirements of cities, farms, and industries. Our need for fresh water has long caused us to overlook equally vital benefits of water that remains in stream to sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems. There is growing recognition, however, that functionally intact and biologically complex freshwater ecosystems provide many economically valuable commodities and services to society. These services include flood control, transportation, recreation, purification of human and industrial wastes, habitat for plants and animals, and production of fish and other foods and marketable goods. Over the long term, intact ecosystems are more likely to retain the adaptive capacity to sustain production of these goods and services in the face of future environmental disruptions such as climate change. These ecosystem benefits are costly and often impossible to replace when aquatic systems are degraded. For this reason, deliberations about water allocation should always include provisions for maintaining the integrity of freshwater ecosystems. Scientific evidence indicates that aquatic ecosystems can be protected...
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...Selected State (however, specific examples need to be included to support the content) Government Comparisons Matrix: (the Reading Material: Chapters 1, 2, and 12 will help students address the key elements) Based on the readings from State and Local Government textbook, review and summarize how each issue is managed at the state, local, federal levels. Responses should be substantive with specific examples. State | Local | Federal | How these entities cooperate | General Responsibilities | - Conduct Elections- Regulate intrastate commerce - Establish republican forms of state and local government- Protect public health safety, and morals- All other powers not delegated to national government or denied by the states constitution Reference:Ann O’M. Bowman, Richard C. Kearney | - Parks and recreation services- Police and fire departments - HHHHHhhousing services- Emergency medical services- Municipal Courts- Transportation services – Buses, subways, taxi regulations, etc. - Public Works – streets, sewers, snow removal, signage, etc.Reference:http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/state-and-local-government | - Coin Money- Regulate interstate and foreign commerce- tax imports and exports- Make treaties- Make all laws “necessary and proper” to fulfill responsibilities - Make War- Regulate postal systemReference: Ann O’M. Bowman, Richard C. Kearney | All of these entities work together to make laws for their citizens to protect their rights. These entities are also responsible...
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...Natural environment From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Environment. See also: Nature and Environment (biophysical) Land management policies have been developed to preserve the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls, Australia while allowing ample access for visitors Bachalpsee in the Swiss Alps; generally mountainous areas are less affected by human activity. A satellite image of the Sahara desert; the world's largest hot desert and third-largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species.[1] The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components: * Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries * Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human activity The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans belonging to a civilized (i.e. hierarchically structured, agricultural, densely populated...
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...The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature William Cronon This will seem a heretical claim to many environmentalists, since the idea of wilderness has for decades been a fundamental tenet-indeed, a passionof the environmental movement, especially in the United States. For many Americans wilderness stands as the last remaining place where civilization, that all too human disease, has not fully infected the earth. It is an island in the polluted sea of urban-industrial modernity, the one place we can turn for escape from our own too-muchness. Seen in this way, wilderness presents itself as the best antidote to our human selves, a refuge we must somehow recover if we hope to save the planet. As Henry David Thoreau once famously declared, “In Wildness is the preservation of the World.“’ But is it? The more one knows of its peculiar history, the more one realizes that wilderness is not quite what it seems. Far from being the one place on earth that stands apart from humanity, it is quite profoundly a human creation-indeed, the creation of very particular human cultures at very particular moments in human history. It is not a pristine sanctuary where the last remnant of an untouched, endangered, but still transcendent nature can for at least a little while longer be encountered without the contaminating taint of civilization. Instead, it is a product of that civilization, and could hardly be contaminated by the very stuff of which it is made...
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...SPLITTING THE CHECK: AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT DARDEN RESTAURANTS, INC. vs. BARINGTON CAPITAL GROUP LP Table of Contents Executive Summary 4 Position 5 Sense 6 Uncover 7 Solve 8 Build 9 Achieve 10 Bibliography 23 Executive Summary This is the first paragraph of your executive summary. It should be indented, it should be double-spaced, and it should be in 12 pt Times New Roman font (as should the rest of the body of your term paper). An executive summary should be no longer than two pages (and preferably shorter), and should be written after your paper has been completed. It is a complete summary of your recommendations, and the reader should get a clear picture from this section alone. Assume that the reader reads nothing else. Darden Restaurants, Inc., a multi-billion dollar full-service restaurant company, is facing – and will be facing many difficult challenges. In addition to billions in lost revenue from the economic downturn and a severe shortage in their most served menu item, they have recently been challenged by a new minority shareholder who is pressuring them to reorganize their corporate structure. This activist investor, Barington Capital Group, LP, is known for being particularly aggressive and frequently getting what they want. Darden’s revenues are down significantly over the last couple of years in their two flagship – and typically most profitable restaurants, Red Lobster...
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