The geography and ecology of the Everglades involve the complex elements affecting the natural environment in the southern region of the U.S. state of Florida. Before drainage, the Everglades were an interwoven mesh of marshes and prairies covering 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2). The Everglades is simultaneously a vast watershed and many interconnected ecosystems. When Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote her definitive description of the region in 1947, she used the metaphor "River of Grass" to explain the blending of water and plant life. Sawgrass and sloughs are the enduring geographical icons of the Everglades. Pinelands and tropical hardwood hammocks are located throughout the sloughs; the trees, rooted in soil inches above the peat, marl, or water, support a variety of wildlife. The oldest and tallest trees are cypresses, whose roots are specially adapted to grow underwater. As the fresh water from Lake Okeechobee makes its way to Florida Bay, it meets salt water from the Gulf of Mexico; mangrove forests grow in this transitional zone , providing nursery and nesting conditions for many species of birds, fish, and invertebrates.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_and_ecology_of_the_Everglades

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1798:

French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile started between a British fleet commanded by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson and a French fleet under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile

1842:

A parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, celebrating the end of slavery in the West Indies was attacked by a mob, leading to three days of riots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_Riot

1907:

Robert Baden-Powell held the first scout camp at Brownsea Island in Dorset, England, beginning the Scouting movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsea_Island_Scout_camp

1944:

World War II: The Polish Home Army began the Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw against the Nazi occupation of Poland, a rebellion that lasted 63 days until it was quelled by the Germans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising

1991:

US President George H. W. Bush delivered a speech in the parliament of the Ukrainian SSR in which he warned against Ukrainian independence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Kiev_speech

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

olympicene: (organic chemistry) A pentacyclic aromatic hydrocarbon whose structure is in the form of the Olympic rings. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/olympicene

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I have no objection to any person’s religion, be it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other person, because that other person don’t believe it also.   --Moby-Dick https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick