Florida Keys Ecosystems

The FKNMS is located off the tip of Florida containing over 1700 islands. These chains of islands are coral reefs that are just south from the Key Biscayne and extend southwest for approximately 126miles. These islands end about 90 miles north of Cuba. These islands are not suitable for people to live on because of there size. The FKNMS covers over 2800 square nautical miles. The FKNMS was established due to the demise of the coral reefs in the Keys. Low water quality, decline in coral reef habitats, and oil drilling eventually lead President George H. Bush to establish the FKNMS on November 16, 1990. FKNMS also contains the Key Largo and Looe Key sanctuaries, which were facing the same environmental challenges.

By the year 2050, climate

These banks contain coral rubble, seagrass and macroalgae with other invertebrate taxa, which play a key part in the ecosystem. The bank systems contain essential fish habitats, which provide sheltering and foraging grounds. Past studies have indicated these fish assemblages showed a high diversity and biomass of coral reefs. Most of the biomass in the Florida Keys ecosystem is made up of species that stay in channels for most of the day. These signs show that the bank systems are important for the FKNMS for providing a structural support and high productivity for the biodiversity. Exploitation of these essential fishes and pollution of the water could greatly destroy the bank systems and cause a rippling effect among the ecosystem. Knowing how important these bank systems are, they should receive additional protection through management zones. New management actions will help protect fish and stocks, to ensure the stability of recreational and commercial fisheries. To ensure a higher water quality and sustainable habitats, anchoring activities and vessel discharges will be restricted in the management zones. Some management zones containing sensitive wildlife habitats will be restricted to public

The loss of land from sea level rise will also cause the population to fall and we can expect the carrying capacity to reach limits. As global temperatures increase by 2.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels and sea level rise at about 12-37cm, we are expecting to see remaining land area in the keys to decline from 80% to 30%. The loss of the surrounding populations in the Florida Keys is contributing to low economic growth, which provides conservation funding for the Florida Keys. These socio-economic changes would restrict our conservation budgets for the Florida Keys. We can counter these events with good conservation management, strong community support and resilience efforts. Even as the ocean is warming, much of the coral cover will still remain. We will see a rise in sea-level but to a limited extent. Working to adapting and mitigating to these climate changes will prove successful. Efficient land-based conservation efforts and sanctuary management work will be crucial for facing these climate