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I picked Biscayne National Park because nature life of coral reefs and sea turtles fascinates me.

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This park is an aquatic biome that is made up of coral reefs, bays, and mangroves.

Abiotic factors are nonliving components in an ecosystem.

Biotic factors are living components in an ecosystem.

Abiotic factors in Biscayne: rain, water temperature, salinity, hurricanes

Biotic factors in Biscayne: seagrasses (manatee, paddle, shoal, star, turtle), animals, and coral.

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This food pyramid has four producers on the bottom: manatee grass, phytoplankton, turtle grass, and macro algae. These are all plants that are then eaten by herbivores. These herbivores consist of the blue tang fish, doctorfish, and green sea turtle. Those are then eaten by secondary consumers like bigeye tuna and blackfin tuna. Finally, those are consumed by the tertiary consumer, a Tiger Shark.

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This food web represents that species eat more than one thing and have more than one predator. For example, Phytoplankton is a producer that is eaten by doctorfish and green sea turtles. The primary consumers are then eaten by Blackfin tuna, which are secondary consumers. Tertiary consumers like Tiger Shark eat the tuna.

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Seagrasses are an example of niche-partitioning in Biscayne's habitat. The seagrasses can provide shelter for animals like turtles, shrimp, urchins, anemones, and clams.

If seagrasses were removed from the environment, there would be no habitat or food for many animals. If the animals have no shelter, then they will be more susceptible to predators, and their population will dwindle.

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A famous abiotic factor located in this National Park is Biscayne Bay. This bay is where the salt water and fresh water meet. This area is a nursery of life with lots of food, water, and natural resources. It is a shallow bay that only gets to 13 feet deep. Lots of fishing and kayaking happens in this water.

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Water Cycle: During the rainy season (May to October), water precipitates into bays, mangroves, and the ocean. The water evaporates back into the atmosphere. When the freshwater meets the ocean, the runoff flows into the ocean.

Carbon Cycle: With all of the lush wildlife in the mangroves and bay coasts, carbon is found in trees with carbon dioxide and stored in trees. It dissolves in the water surrounding the mangroves. Photosynthesis also takes place.

More carbon can lead to lower pH, which means the ocean is more acidic. It can create a danger if the ocean is more acidic to coral because coral has a very specific window of acidity that it can handle.

3 species involved: red mangrove, black mangrove, brown pelican

Nitrogen cycle: The nitrogen cycle in mangrove ecosystems is different than most. They have special bacteria called diazotrophs that can break apart the atmospheric Nitrogen bonds that are special to the swamp-like atmosphere.

3 species involved: turtle grass, loggerhead turtle, parrotfish

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Density-dependent:

Competition - there is so many animals living in the environment, that there can be a lot of competition for resources such as food, water, and space.

Predator/ Prey - if there are more predators than prey then the food population for parrotfish would be higher, but there would be less coral for the parrotfish to eat because of their rising population.

Density- independent:

Hurricanes - because Biscayne is located right on the coast, they can see lots of hurricanes pass by them, and they can be very dangerous for all ecosystems. For example, the storms can break apart coral.

Fisherman -  If there are more fishermen than is safe for the fish population, it could cause a population decline, which could negatively impact the food chain and balance.

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This study was conducted from 2009-2021 on 60 turtles in Biscayne National Park. Satellite tracking devices were used to tag and follow the sea turtles.

Basic facts about the study:

Conducted on Loggerheads and green turtles

60 turtles tagged

The turtles tend to use deeper waters during seasonal migrations

Loggerhead - February thru November

Green - mainly august

After 10 years, it was finalized that 21 turtles stayed in Biscayne during seasonal migration, while 30 used it as a part of their migratory pathway, and 5 used it for both. The Loggerhead turtles typically migrate from February through November, but the Green Sea turtles mainly do in August.

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An ecosystem service provided is that the shoreline swamps of the mangroves help provide a nursery of new life for young fish, mollusks, and fish.

Attached above is a list of the species and plants in Biscayne.

The natural biodiversity in Biscayne consists of a lot of animals. The species range from fish to coral to mammals. All of the different species serve different purposes and without one the ecosystem could drastically change.

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The amount of marine debris grows every year. It can enter the ocean from trash, storms, boats and fishermen. It can suffocate, injure, drown, and infect the animals and plants in the environment.

Hurricanes also hit Biscayne yearly. Some can have greater effects than others, like Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Hurricanes can completely alter the landscape. If the storm is powerful enough, it can rip apart coral habitats, killing lots of species, whether coral is their food or their habitat.

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Humans have had a big role in the marine debris crisis in all bodies of waters, especially in Biscayne. Humans have created a lot of trash, and marine debris that has caused many animals to get hurt or die. Dredging has also negatively impacted the environment by changing the natural landscape like the coral. That isn't the only threat to coral; strong chemicals like fertilizer can harm it.

Humans have a big part in helping marine life through resource management of cleaning up marine debris from beaches that they have created. They also help educate and manage outdoor programs to help promote a clean environment.

How to help: To protect the land, the NPS (National Park Service ) could create fines for anyone who tries to harm the land by dredging, littering, or overfishing.

For example, there are bag limits on how many fish you can catch. They could make the bag limits more limiting so that there could be more fish in the ecosystem.

The coral reef population is also fast diminishing, which could be stopped by creating coral reef safety laws like reef-safe sunscreen and using less fertilizer. On the contrary, coral reefs need a very specific environment of the right temperature and acidity level, so it could be harder to maintain that.

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Mutualism - bacteria and mangrove trees rely on each other. The bacteria breaks apart atmospheric Nitrogen. The mangrove trees provide root exudates helping to accentuate bacteria growth.

Commensalism - mollusks benefit from habitat in the sea grasses, while seagrasses don’t have any benefits or negative effects.

Parasitic - mistletoe growing on a mangrove tree takes some of the food and nutrients on the tree.

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Since a lot of Biscayne is an aquatic ecosystem, the herbivores have a lot of competition for food. Parrotfish and Green sea turtles eat the turtle grass. If the population of turtle grass were to diminish, there would be more competition for food between the two species since turtle grass is so limited.

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A keystone species is an animal that is largely relied on in an ecosystem, so much that if it was removed from the ecosystem it would change extremely.

An example of this in Biscayne is Spiny Lobsters. They were threatened in the 1970s, but after laws and regulations were passed, the population was able to get back up to steady numbers.

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Biscayne National Park should get more funding because it provides a safe haven for turtles and coral. If there is more funding, laws could be enforced that protect the endangered species, and those populations could start growing again. Also, the money could go to getting more marine debris cleaned up. Cleaning this debris could make the environment cleaner. In return, fewer animals are killed.

More funding could also go to making Biscayne more user-friendly. More signs informing up could inform the visitors about pollution and how to keep Biscayne clean. It could also make it more accessible for people with disabilities, so ALL people could visit Biscayne.

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Florida National Parks

National Park Service

National Library of Medicine

Science Direct

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Commission