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In the Everglades, a system of canals and levees diverts water to urban areas and the Everglades National Park. This water management system has caused changes in the natural flow of the water during the wet and dry season. Wading birds are especially sensitive to wet and dry seasonal changes. How have water cycle disruptions MOST likely affected wading birds?
The higher water levels allow longer-legged birds to survive and reproduce.
The water quality for feeding has been improved by runoff.
The reduced salinity results in more eggs being laid.
The release of water dilutes food sources for their young.
Answers
water-control efforts during the 20th century created major changes in the south Florida landscape, dramatically altering hydrology and ecology while enabling rapid agricultural and urban development (Figure 1). Historically, Lake Okeechobee, the sawgrass plains, ridge and slough habitats of the Everglades, the cypress swamps and prairies of the Big Cypress, and the mangrove swamps along the coasts were connected hydrologically and were shaped by the steady south/southwestward flow of a wide sheet of shallow water (Light and Dineen 1994; SCT 2003). Today, water depth, flow, and flooding duration in the region result from a combination of seasonal rainfall and a management regime that attempts to balance ecological needs with those of agriculture and the growing population of south Florida's ever-expanding urban areas.