Biodiversity of the Florida Keys
biting the hand that feeds you
This past week I went down south to visit my parents (hi mom!) in the Florida Keys. I’ve got a lot of complicated feelings about travel, more specifically tourism, but mostly it just felt nice to see and be with my family again.
I’m a slow traveller, the type who would rather spend a month or year in a place than a week, and I think that’s because I’m curious, and I get hooked. I’m interested in the land and it’s story, and while the archipelago of the Florida Keys doesn’t have much land, they’ve got a beautiful geologic and biological history.
Biodiversity of the Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are an archipelago, or chain of islands, stretching about 120 miles out from mainland Florida, with the Atlantic on the southern “front” side, and the Florida Bay/Gulf of Mexico on the north “back” side. In addition to being a popular tourist destination, the just offshore of the Keys on the Atlantic side is the Florida Keys Reef Tract, the third largest barrier reef in the world.
Walking on bones
As far as geology goes, the Keys are young. 125,000 years ago the islands themselves were underwater, a series of sandbars and reeds. As sea levels fell during the last ice age, these sand bars and reefs poked their heads above the water to become the Florida Keys, but it wasn’t until 15,000 years ago with the end of the ice age and melting of ice caps that sea levels rose to roughly present levels, and the Keys began to resemble what they look like today.
First Man on the Islands
While the Bering Land Bridge theory postulates that the first Indigenous Americans came to the Americas via a land bridge in the Bering Straits 13,500 years ago, many Indigenous cultures maintain that their people have been in the Americas much much longer, and modern evidence consistently discovers older and older evidence of humans on the American continent.
Evidence from the Monte Verde settlement in Chile suggests that humans settled on the Pacific Coast as many as 14,000 years ago, and likely reached the continent via the Pacific rather than north through the Bering Straits. More recent (controversial) archeological sites like the Topper Site, SC, and the Gault Site, TX begin to suggest that human settlement existed across the Americas closer to 20,000 years ago.
Meanwhile, off the coast of Manasota Key, FL, a now underwater burial site was carbon dated to 7,000 years ago. The Tequesta and Calusa tribes called the Keys their home officially as early as 1,300 years ago, but based on the findings to the north, the Keys were likely visited much earlier.
Both the Tequesta and Calusa tribes of Southern Florida seemed to have been gone from the area by the mid-18th century, either due to the Creek (Seminole) tribe pushing south, or complications from first contact with Europeans.
Ponce De Leon was one of the first Europeans to make content with the Calusa, and later would be killed by a Calusa poisoned arrow. Both the Calusa and Tequesta tribes were all but gone from the Keys and Southern Florida by the 1700s, likely pushed south by the English, or perhaps joined up with the Seminole.
Reef Species
About 25% of the world’s fish depend on Coral Reefs. Reefs have been called the “rainforests of the sea”, and reefs like The Northwest Hawaiian Island coral reefs support as many as 7,000 different species. For comparison, Lake Superior is home to only 86 fish species. (Note that the stat for the Hawaiian Reefs accounts for all species while Lake Superior only fish.)
Reefs like the Florida Keys Reef Tract tangibly benefit humans in a few ways; in addition to cultural importance and just lookin’ pretty, they provide an erosion barrier for small islands like the Keys— Remember in Moana when the main character attempts to paddle beyond the reef and is met with breaking waves? The Disney movie did a really great job illustrating what reefs can do for small islands— they act as a natural breakwater for large waves, providing a little oasis of warm, shallow, and relatively calm water behind their shelter.
Reefs also are a source of medicines, food, and income for local communities, but many threats to reef life come from humans and unsustainable tourism itself. Swallowed plastics and propeller strikes are two of the greatest risks to sea turtle populations, and every species of sea turtle is considered endangered. Plus, most of us learned in Middle School that rising global temperatures and ocean acidification put additional strain on our reefs.
Mangroves & the Oceans Forest
Reefs get the most attention from visitors, but it is Mangroves that I’m most interested in.
Mangroves are a small tree that grows in the waters protected by the reefs, with channels and tidal streams cut out by the ebb and flood of changing water levels. The roots of Mangroves are tangled together. At low tide, the Mangroves look like they’re walking on water, hovering above the tidal streams.
For young fish and prey species, the mangroves offer protection. In lagoons, jellyfish bob near the surface. Stingrays sun on sandy bottoms, and fish flicker near the surfaces.
The changing tides cut streams and channels through the Mangroves, perfect for travel by a small, sit on top, recreational kayak. Paddle slow and quiet, and appreciate the marine life.
Suggested read: “Kayaking the Keys: 50 Great Paddling Adventures in Florida's Southernmost Archipelago” Kathleen Patton
Kayaking in the Keys doesn’t offer the same visual “wow” factor that kayaking in places like Lake Superior or the San Juan Islands might, rather a chance to paddle among other creatures that are part of the reef & mangrove ecosystem, and a chance to reflect on the ways that we as humans are part of that ecosystem too.
The marvels of the Florida Keys aren’t so much on land, where every scrap of limestone above the high tide line is private property, multibillion dollar homes used twice a year, or investment properties, but rather in the water itself.
It’s impossible to truly talk about the Biodiversity of any place without recognizing the ways in which humans are part of that system, a keystone species responsible for a rippling impact on all other species in our vicinity.
Kayaking, sliding through mangrove tunnels by the power of your own body, observing quietly, is a relatively low impact activity, but what about the act of being a tourist itself?
What about the impact of the flight down or infrastructure it took to erect hundreds of hotels on the shores of islands already inhabited by thousands of different species?
Beyond the strain on the biodiversity of reefs and mangroves themselves, I can’t help but think of the strain on the normal people, the waiters getting food for you, the local teachers, the hospital staff there to save you in an emergency, the guides and outdoor educators who make sure you have a safe a comfortable trip, the people who come over to repair the properties you stay at— when a place, a piece of the environment, a local community, culture, lifestyle, becomes commodified and turned to a destination, when the houses sell for millions and the food prices rise and minimum wage stays the same, what is left for the people essential to sustain this tourism?
We say “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”, but what if you’re left to starve?
Recommended Gear:
Sit on Top Kayaks from Wilderness Systems: The first boat I ever paddled was a Wilderness Systems, and I recently just added a Wilderness Systems Tempest to my current fleet. Wilderness Systems makes some of the bestselling and consistently highest-rated beginner friendly boats. While a sea kayak can certainly be used in the Keys, a sit on top is sufficient for all but open water crossings in these protected waters.
Patagonia’s 55 L Black Hole Bag: This is the largest bag that will still fit under an airplane seat when packed with a little space inside. I’ve had mine for 5 years, carted it to Armenia, around Armenia and back, and it still is in like new condition despite heavy use.
Stio Women’s Second Light Windshell: [affiliate link//gifted: opinions my own]. When headed to warm places, I usually try and bring one lightweight fleece (usually thrifted), and some kind of lightweight windbreaker with waterproofing. The Stio Windshell (pictured below) packs down small enough to fit in the smallest pocket of a fanny pack, and provides wind protection and light waterproofing. I used it on chilly morning sunrise missions, and as an extra layer after coming out of the water on a snorkel trip.
It’s designed to pack down for trail running, of which I’ve been doing very little.
Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, learned something, or just want to do me a solid, share it with a friend!
x Maddy
