Biosphere Journal Entry

Biosphere Journal Entry

Florida Cold Snap Threatens Wildlife (January 18, 2010)

The cold snap gripping Florida brought record low temperatures and rare January snow. The blast of Arctic air also threatens wildlife not used to such harsh weather. Wildlife officials have rescued hundreds of sea turtles stunned by the cold. Many have been brought indoors to tanks at zoos and wildlife centers. In the Florida Keys, there were so many rescued turtles that some were brought to hotel rooms. Large numbers of manatees huddled in warm discharge water near power plants.

Frigid weather killed thousands of tropical fish held in freshwater ponds dotting Florida. The deaths are a big blow to the state's tropical fish industry, which supplies about half of the fish sold to pet stores in the United States. The extreme cold also threatens the state's citrus trees and other crops.

The unusual cold is not entirely a bad thing for the state. It's been challenging the survival skills of invasive species such as iguanas and pythons, a huge headaches for Florida. These invaders crowd out native species and gobble up ecosystem resources. But they're not well adapted to living in cold conditions. There have been reports of iguanas suddenly dropping out of trees from the cold. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission put out a press release encouraging hunters to take advantage of the cold to find stunned pythons in Everglades National Park. In recent years, the invasive snake population has exploded in the park, threatening its fragile ecosystem.