Around the globe, invasive plants and animals have become a serious threat. Some 40% of all endangered species worldwide have been caused by the presence of exotic invasives, and introduced species are now the second-leading cause of extinctions, behind only habitat loss. In the United States, Florida's unique climate and its position as a center of the exotic-animal trade has made it particularly vulnerable to invasives. This book is an account of Florida's invaders, from the Burmese Python to the Lionfish to the Kudzu plant and many more, which are threatening the very ecology of the Sunshine State. Illustrated.
Florida has had many frontiers. Imagination, greed, missionary zeal, disease, war, and diplomacy have created its historical boundaries. Bodies of water, soil, flora and fauna, the patterns of Native American occupation, and ways of colonizing have defined Florida's frontiers. Paul E. Hoffman tells the story of those frontiers and how the land and the people shaped them during the three centuries from 1565 to 1860. For settlers to La Florida, the American Southeast ca. 1500, better natural and human resources were found on the piedmont and on the western side of Florida's central ridge, while the coasts and coastal plains proved far less inviting. But natural environment was only one important factor in the settlement of Florida. The Spaniards, the British, the Seminole and Miccosuki, the Spaniards once again, and finally Americans constructed their Florida frontiers in interaction with the Native Americans who were present, the vestiges of earlier frontiers, and international events. The near-completion of the range and township surveys by 1860 and of the deportation of most of the Seminole and Miccosuki mark the end of the Florida frontier, though frontier-like conditions persisted in many parts of the state into the early 20th century. For this major work of Florida history, Hoffman has drawn from a broad range of secondary works and from his intensive research in Spanish archival sources of the 16th and 17th centuries. Florida's Frontiers will be welcomed by students of history well beyond the Sunshine State.
When the conquistadors arrived in Florida as many as 350,000 native Americans lived there. Two and a half centuries later, Florida's Indians were gone. This text focuses on these native peoples and their lives, and attempts to explain what happened to them.
Florida's rivers comprise a tapestry of natural wonders. They support rich ecosystems. They define the landscape and lend character to the regions through which they pass. The first half of this book provides an overview of Florida's waterways, while the second half provides detailed information on 60 of Florida's rivers, covering each one from source to end. From the Blackwater River in the western Panhandle to the Ichetucknee and Kissimmee Rivers in central Florida to the Miami River in south Florida, it traces the flow of these streams as they weave through cypress swamps, pine-studded hills, and hardwood hammocks. It introduces plants and animals endemic to each. This book also takes the reader on a journey through time. It tracks the history of Florida's rivers, from the dawn of the Paleoindians through the Spanish conquest to the present. It traces human efforts to confine and harness these waters. Finally, it looks at conservation and examines efforts to preserve Florida's rivers and return them to their natural states.
The story of Florida, the 27th state of the Union, has been characterized by continuous growth. Named La Florida by Juan Ponce de Leon, the Sunshine State changed hands numerous times as various explorers who saw the natural beauty of the region decided to claim it for themselves. Prior to the 16th century, an estimated 350,000 Native Americans lived in this unsettled region. European explorers later introduced diseases that greatly reduced the Native American population. Florida was made a Spanish colony, changed ownership to Great Britain, and then went back under Spanish control with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In 1810, Floridians declared their independence from Spain. Sensing a prime opportunity, President James Madison and Congress claimed the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The United States took formal possession of Florida in 1821, and the state was admitted to the Union in 1845. Read the fascinating history in The Acquisition of Florida: America's Twenty-seventh State.
With the adults possessed by alien invaders, can Nick, Jessie, and Frasier save their town? Twelve-year-old twins Nick and Jessie are woken up in the middle of the night by a blazing white light followed by a loud explosion. As they rush to the window, rain suddenly begins pouring down, and the water starts to glow. It is the strangest thunderstorm they’ve ever seen, and it stops as quickly as it started. Nick has a feeling it may not have been a storm at all, but visitors from another planet. When he and Jessie decide to investigate a strange sound downstairs, they find their mom and dad digging a hole in the basement. At least, they think it’s their mom and dad. But since when does their mom let them eat all the junk food they want, and why isn’t their dad going to work? Nick and Jessie know something is wrong, and if their hunch is right, their parents’ bodies have been taken over by aliens. It’s up to Nick, Jessie, and their best friend, Frasier, to solve the mystery and protect their town from an extraterrestrial threat.
Anyone who has ever traveled to Florida immediately assumes they've got the state figured out. It usually involves the common tropes we see splashed across news and social media: Disney, Miami, alligators, heat, retirees and weird people. As a result, very few people try to dig any deeper. This book explores the darkest parts of Florida's past. These stories, told out in sequential order and broken down by theme, contain everything that has come to make up the Sunshine State: from the surprising, to the weird, to the horrifying, and, in some cases, inspiring. Topics covered include Florida in the Age of Exploration, pirates, Spanish colonialism, the Seminole Wars, slavery and race relations during the Civil War, Prohibition, segregation, disco and drugs, serial killers, economic ruin, urbanism, and Florida in the age of DeSantis.
"Dorcas and Willson provide a much needed examination of the growing impact of Burmese pythons as an invasiue spcies in the United States By highlighting The many dangers and detrimental effects the introduction of nonnative pythons has caused in the Everglades this book documents the mounting threat that invasives pose to ecosystems everywhere. The first book to focus solely on this issue, Invasive Pythons in the United States is well researched, well illustrated, and well timed" --Book Jacket.
The books in the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series demonstrate the University Press of Florida’s long history of publishing Latin American and Caribbean studies titles that connect in and through Florida, highlighting the connections between the Sunshine State and its neighboring islands. Books in this series show how early explorers found and settled Florida and the Caribbean. They tell the tales of early pioneers, both foreign and domestic. They examine topics critical to the area such as travel, migration, economic opportunity, and tourism. They look at the growth of Florida and the Caribbean and the attendant pressures on the environment, culture, urban development, and the movement of peoples, both forced and voluntary. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series gathers the rich data available in these architectural, archaeological, cultural, and historical works, as well as the travelogues and naturalists’ sketches of the area in prior to the twentieth century, making it accessible for scholars and the general public alike. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, under the Humanities Open Books program.
