ABSTRACT
Salient themes of the chapters on animal ecology are discussed here, and aspects of the historical/biogeographical setting essential to understanding the Everglades fauna and the prospects for its restoration are described. The Everglades is located at the distal end of a long peninsula, at an important biogeographical boundary, and in a region where sea level rise has been the dominant geological process of the past 15,000 years. Interaction of these forces determined the characteristics of its present biota: relatively species poor, of mixed continental and Antillean origin, and with endemism and small populations strongly concentrated in the reduced area of uplands. In the 1920s through 1960s, the Everglades probably served as the major source of repopulation of wading birds throughout the eastern United States. Now, as chronicled in many chapters of the faunal section, nesting in the area has become a demographic sink for wading birds produced elsewhere, although the Everglades still functions as an important feeding area for wintering and transient populations. Re-establishment of productive wading bird nesting populations is a key measure of the success of Everglades restoration. Hypotheses and interpreta tions of the restoration needs of Everglades wading birds center on revitalization of short-hydroperiod marshes to cue earlier breeding and repair of the diminished productivity of the estuarine system. However, despite considerable study, wading bird restoration remains hampered by inadequate information, especially concern ing the ecology of food organisms. At least several hundred species of nonnative animals are established in developed, coastal areas adjoining the Everglades. More and more of these species appear to be extending into undisturbed habitats where the effects of their presence are at present largely unknown. Information on
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movementt and home range suggests that the Everglades system, in and of itself, is probably too small to sustain viable populations of many of its more mobile animals. This is particularly true of the reduced and still shrinking upland areas, many species of which may be virtually impossible to restore and maintain.
