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Defying the law of Biodiversity?
Biodiversity is often cited as being one of the main contributing factors which maintain the "efficiency and wellness" of the environment as well as its inhabitants, but under what circumstances is biodiversity detrimental to the environment? According to the Biology Society of Conservation, the decrease or rather the preservation of low biodiversity is an essential character the everglades depend on. The reason why biodiversity is so low is because of its correlation to low levels of nutrients.
It has been recorded that during the 1900's the northern third of the everglade was drained and high amounts of phosphorus were deposited in the marsh from runoff of the Everglades Agricultural Area.
In order to corroborate with the statement of biodiversity being disadvantageous to the everglades, conductors of this study compared the levels of algae, invertebrates, and fish in areas highly polluted by phosphorus versus areas which did not receive high-phosphorus run-off.
Results revealed that areas that were contaminated contained 2.5 times more phosphorus, low levels of algae, and much higher levels of fish. On the other hand the area that was not contaminated had unusually high levels of dense algae mats, unusual low levels of invertebrates and fish, and dominated by cattails. Conductors of this study came to a conclusion that the addition of nutrients will eventually lead to monocultures of cattails and increase of invertebrates that in return would increase biodiversity...