Cold Took Heavy Toll On Florida Wildlife

[Twizted Paths]

Despite four decades of slogging through Everglades marshes and mangroves, wildlife ecologist Frank Mazzotti had never experienced anything like the aftermath of frigid January. The confirmed casualty count so far:

• At least 70 dead crocodiles.

• More than 60 manatee carcasses.

• A bright-side observance of multiple frozen-stiff Burmese pythons, the scourge of the Everglades.

And also, perhaps the biggest fish kill in modern Florida history.

``What we witnessed was a major ecological disturbance event equal to a fire or a hurricane,'' said Mazzotti, a University of Florida associate professor. ``A lot of things have happened that nobody has seen before in Florida.''

The cold was simply brutal on many tropical plants and animals. Toxic iguana-sicles dropping into the mouths of unfortunate pooches was only the tip of the iceberg that descended for two weeks on South Florida.

While scientists are still surveying losses, it's already clear that the record chill wiped out shallow corals in the Keys and devastated manatees. A preliminary assessment that Everglades National Park scientists completed last week also documented a broad and heavy toll on everything from crocodiles to cocoplums to butterflies.

Dave Hallac, the park's chief of biological resources, summed up the impact in a word: ``substantial.''

Cold spells, like hurricanes and fires, are part of the natural cycle in South Florida, and scientists believe the system will recover -- but some species will certainly rebound more slowly than others.

``I wouldn't expect any catastrophic long-term kind of effects,'' said Luiz Barbieri, chief of marine fisheries research for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. ``Most likely, this has happened occasionally over thousands of years. The system has adapted to these episodic mortality events.''

Still, mortality numbers like this haven't been seen in decades in the park.

A record number of endangered manatees died from cold stress, most of them -- more than 60 -- found in park waters stretching into the Ten Thousand Islands on the Southwest Coast. More than 70 carcasses of North American crocodile were counted, a significant hit to a species removed from the endangered list only three years ago.

About 40 species of pineland plants suffered varying degrees of frost damage. On some tree island, cocoplums looked like they were burned. Half of the population of a caterpillar that morphs into the exceedingly rare Florida leafwing butterfly died.

Then there were the literally countless dead fish -- from tiny pilchards to large snook and tarpon.

The report -- compiled by Hallac and colleagues Jeff Kline, Jimi Sadle, Sonny Bass, Tracy Ziegler and Skip Snow and based on aerial and water surveys and reports from a host of other observers -- underplayed actual losses. It's impossible to cover an area as vast as the park, and carcasses can sink, float into thick mangroves and easily go overlooked.

TAKING ACTION

While the park has experienced colder days, January's chill was long and intense, punctuated with overcast skies, rain and one sub-freezing plunge. Mazzotti called it a ``perfect storm'' that left literally no warm refuges.

The chill was particularly dramatic in coastal waters. The park recorded temperatures that hovered below 68 degrees, a cold-stress limit for manatees, for 18 days; and below 60, the stress limit for snook, for 14 days.

``I'm really worried about the snook down here,'' said Hallac. ``It was amazing to see how many of the large, more mature, spawning-age fish were killed.''

The FWC has already closed snook season until Sept. 1. After reviewing catch reports and samples taken by scientists in coming months, the agency will decide whether to extend the ban on keeping the popular fish or changing regulations to protect any others, Barbieri said.

Cold-blooded reptiles and tropical plants and fish fared the worst, but some Glades species weathered the nasty weather well. Birds, for instance, emerged largely unruffled, and some were observed scavenging fish.

Only one death of an alligator, which reside happily in Louisiana, was reported. Crocs, at the northern end of their range in South Florida, died by the dozens, including one familiar to many anglers who fish Flamingo. The 13-foot, 450-pound croc, tagged as a hatchling in 1986, frequently lurked near the Whitewater Bay boat ramp.

The cold did benefit the park's battle to control exotic invaders. Frost slammed Old World Climbing Fern, an aggressive vine that smothers natives. Other exotics, from Asian swamp eels to the infamous Burmese python, also took hits scientists intend to further study.

THE STRUGGLE AHEAD

Scientists said recovery rates will vary among species. While snook, popular with sports anglers, has gotten the most attention from the public, the cold may have been more crippling to Goliath grouper, Barbieri said.

The fish, which can grow to massive size, nearly disappeared from Florida but had rebounded so well in recent years that wildlife managers had begun considering lifting a ban on keeping them. Goliaths died in massive numbers in the shallow Glades, considered a prime nursery. They also grow far more slowly than snook, taking six years or more to reach maturity, Barbieri said.

For some hard-hit areas and species, other outside factors can hinder recovery. Everglades marshes and coral reefs aren't nearly as healthy as they were hundreds of years ago.

Invasive plants, such as Brazilian pepper, weren't around to crowd out battered natives.

``If you're totally healthy and get a cold or flu, it's not a problem. If you've got diabetes and heart problems, it could be a lot more serious,'' Hallac said. ``The park is in that kind of compromised condition.''

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Love how the dead burms were mentioned but glossed over.

Thank you Mother Nature for helping us prove our point

 

[matt b]

not saying that any of this is good news but it does show that nature will take care of itself.
its states "A bright-side observance of multiple frozen-stiff Burmese pythons, the scourge of the Everglades." this should be a sign that if many of the non native species couldn't handel a cold snap if the everglades, what makes the politicians think they can survive one else where.
just this disaster alone should make them go back and rethink the possibility of pythons/boas taking over the world. even though im sure some one will blame the cold spell or even the death of the crocs and manatees on the invading snakes

 

[StormyWilde]

"A bright-side observance of multiple frozen-stiff Burmese pythons, the scourge of the Everglades."

This just the day after I watch a show on Animal Planet about the problem with these snakes in Florida. Also where the show tried to say it would be possible for a snake to survive in new york city. Now, im from NY, not NYC but still, I had to call BS when they said that and this just seems to prove a point.

 

[farfrumugen]

im from buffalo as well and their is no way they would survive up here...lol
adam jeffery

 

[drizzt08]

I live in north Alabama and its like low teens to mid twenties some days so theres no way they could live here either lol
Mitchel Lack