Florida Reef
The Florida Reef (also known as the Great Florida Reef , Florida reefs , Florida Reef Tract, and Florida Keys Reef Tract ) is the only living coral reef in the continental United States . It is the third largest coral reef system in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef and Belize Barrier Reef ). Located a few miles seaward from the Florida Keys , it is approximately 4 miles (6 to 7 km) wide, and extends (along the 20 meter depth line) 270 km from Fowey Rocks just east of Soldier Key south of the Marquesas Keys . The barrier reef tract forms a large arc, concentric to the Florida Keys, with the northern end in Biscayne National Park , north-south-oriented and the west side, south of the Marquesas Keys, east-west-oriented. The rest of the reef is outside of Biscayne National Park in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary . Isolated coral reef patches occur north of Biscayne National Park to Stuart in Martin County . Coral reefs can also be found in Dry Tortugas National Park west of the Marquesas Keys. There are more than 6,000 individual reefs in the system. The reefs are 5,000 to 7,000 years old, and have been developing since sea levels rose after the Wisconsin glaciation .
The densest and most spectacular reefs can be found seaward from Key Largo (in and outside of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park ) and Elliott Key , where the two long islands help protect the reefs from the effects of water exchange with Florida Bay , Biscayne Bay to protect the Card Sound and Barnes Sound . The bays and straits (all between the Florida Keys and the mainland) tend to have lower salinity , higher turbidity, and greater temperature fluctuations than the water in the open ocean. Canals between the Keys allow water from the bays to flow onto the reefs (especially in the middle Keys), thereby limiting their growth.
Reef structure and communities
The Florida Reef has two ridges and is separated from the Florida Keys by the Hawk Channel. Near the Keys is a ridge of sand called the White Bank, which is covered with large beds of seagrass, with patch reefs scattered over them. Farther out in the sea on the edge of the Florida Strait is the second elevation, which forms the outer reefs and is covered by reefs and hard coral beds made up of corals, gravel and sand. Nearly 1,400 species of marine plants and animals, including more than 40 species of hard corals and 500 species of fish, inhabit the Florida Reef. The Florida Reef is near the northern limit for tropical coral, but the biodiversity on the reef is comparable to that of reef systems in the Caribbean.
Individual evidence
- ^ Florida NOAA's Coral Reef Information System. Retrieved December 14, 2010
- ↑ Florida's Coral Reefs Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Retrieved December 14, 2010
- ↑ Florida Keys Conservation: National Marine Sanctuary Ichthyology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. ( Memento of the original from November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 14, 2010
- ^ A b Precht, WF and SL Miller. (2007) "Ecological Shifts along the Florida Reef Tract: The Past as a Key to the Future." In RB Aronson. (Editor) Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology. Online , accessed December 16, 2010
- ^ A b Marszalek, DS, G. Babashoff, Jr., MR Noel, and DR Worley. (1977) "Reef Distribution in South Florida." Proceedings, Third International Coral Reef Symposium. Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami. Online ( Memento of the original dated February 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 18, 2010
- ↑ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1134 - Florida Reef Tract. Retrieved December 16, 2010
