Invertebrates

The South Florida / Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network considers invertebrate inventories a very high priority for future research. Many of the network parks were established primarily because of their invertebrate diversity of their coral reefs and associated habitats. Other invertebrates are key commercial food sources, like lobster and shrimp that utilize park areas at different stages of their lives. Invertebrates are a key link in the food chain of the freshwater marshes, and other terrestrial systems. They serve as pollinators, parasites, disease vectors, and obligate species in terms of ecological processes. The role these organisms play in these ecosystems are just beginning to be understood, and future projects to identify species richness, abundance, and distribution will be crucial to our overall understanding of the system.