ABSTRACT
Controlled by oceanographic processes, the marine ecosystems of Florida include the blue-water ecosystem offshore, the continental shelf ecosystem, and coral reefs fringing the southeast edge of Florida along the Keys, beach ecosystems on the exposed coastline, and estuarine ecosystems. The blue-water ecosystem occurs in Florida outside of the continental shelves in the tropical surface waters of the deep sea and includes the Gulf Stream. There is a high diversity of animals in the food chain based on plankton. Brown Sargassum seaweed is moved by turbulence into rows parallel to the direction of the wind and waves. Some floating animals are brilliant blue, such as the man-of-war jellyfish and a species of floating snail. Grass flat ecosystems prevail in clear shallow marine waters protected from heavy waves. Photosynthesis by the symbiotic algae within coral tissues not only makes oxygen but raises the pH. Special ecosystems occupy the sandy, wave-swept beaches.
