March 2002
Ten Thousand Islands, west of Big Cypress National Preserve

Aerial telemetry using H-antennas
South Florida
Mangrove forests or mangrove islands are very important in this marine environment. Mangrove leaves, trunks and branches fall into the water
and decay into detritus, which is the basis of an elaborate food chain. Mangroves provide protected habitat, breeding grounds and nursery areas to
many terrestrial and marine animals such as wading birds, fish fry, and shrimp. Mangroves also provide shoreline protection from wind, waves
and floods.
Ten Thousand Islands are comprised of hundreds of mangrove islands that extend northward from the northwest corner of Everglades National
Park. These uninhabited islands stretch for 60-miles along the Gulf Coast. Surrounding the Ten Thousand Islands is an estuary, formed from
where freshwaters from the land meet with saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico.