Conserving Florida's Biodiversity: A Report to Governor Lawton Chiles

Florida Biodiversity Task Force

PREFACE: Florida harbors an unusually rich variety of plant and animal species and natural communities. This biological diversity--or biodiversity·-is higher in Florida than m all but three other states in the continental United States. Many Florida species and natural communities are restricted to just one location or habitat and are not found anywhere else on Earth. The Apalachicola River Basin, the south-central highlands, the pine rocklands, tropical hammocks of south Florida, and the state's marine habitats contain especially high numbers of these endemic species. But many of Florida's native plants and animals and natural communities are at risk. Nearly 17 percent (111 species) of all native fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and invertebrates are thought to be in danger of extinction. Nearly half of all Florida's nonmarine vertebrates are known or suspected to be declining. Native plants and natural communities are equally threatened. At every ecological level we examine--genetic, species, community, ecosystem and landscape--Florida appears to be on the brink of biological impoverishment. The primary reason for these losses is that so much habitat has been converted and lost the conversion and loss of habitat through wetland dredging and filling, urbanization, agriculture, silviculture and mining. Vast acreages of natural communities have been severely degraded by drainage, sedimentation, alteration of natural fire regimes, fragmentation by roads and other urban development, and contamination. Wildlife and plant populations have also been reduced by overharvesting, commercial and non-commercial exploitation, incidental taking, road kills and boat mortality, and predation by domestic pets. Floridians overwhelmingly support wildlife conservation and environmental protection, but often don't clearly understand the link between habitat loss and degradation and species loss. Many public and private agencies administer programs that affect the potential recovery of endangered and threatened species and natural communities. Land acquisition and management, regulation, survey and mapping, research and education are among the most important ongoing activities. However, none of these agency programs specifically claims preservation of biodiversity as a primary objective. Florida needs to fund strong regulatory, enforcement, habitat management, land acquisition, research and education programs aimed at all ages and interests if it is to stop current losses of biological diversity. INTRODUCTION: Many of Florida's native plants and animals are in danger of extinction. The number of species at risk is increasing at an ever faster rate. Th1s paper outlines the reasons why these species and the natural communities in which they live are so rapidly declining, and describes existing responsive programs and new strategies for the future. Since life on Earth began, extinctions--even mass extinctions--have been a normal part of evolution. Geologic and climatic changes and, in the 19th century, excessive hunting and gathering, caused many populations and species to disappear. Over the last 20 or 30 years, the diversity of life in Florida and across the globe has entered a marked decline through extinction. The extraordinary losses in recent times differ, however, from earlier declines. First, the rate of diversity loss is far greater than ever before, and far greater than the rate at which new species evolve. Second, habitat degradation, the destruction of the diverse natural settings of animals and plants, is proceeding at scale orders of magnitude greater than at any time in evolutionary history. Third--this time, the human race is clearly responsible for, but capable of halting, these declines...

Conserving Florida's Biodiversity: A Report to Governor Lawton Chiles

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