According to a new report from the Florida Policy Institute, more than 5.7 million Floridians are vulnerable to extreme heat. Florida ranks highest in the country for heat-related emergency room visits and comes in sixth for heat-related deaths. According to the Miami Herald, these numbers are likely an undercount. Due to climate change, extreme temperatures are only likely to increase. This year, Florida has seen earlier heat waves and record-breaking temperatures. Until now, efforts to pass laws that would protect outdoor workers have failed. However, a new proposal from the federal government has been released that would grant workers a 15-minute break every two hours when temperatures reach 90 degrees or above.  

For the first time, a US species has gone locally extinct due to sea level rise. Though the Key Largo tree cactus can still be found in parts of the Caribbean, the US population was limited to the Florida Keys, and there is little to no chance of reestablishing it in that area. Since 2015, researchers had noted that the cactus population was dwindling as its habitat was increasingly flooded with saltwater. Scientists fear that this is a warning for the fate of other low-lying coastal species, currently one in four native plant species in South Florida are threatened with regional extinction.  

Due to a decline in the Florida citrus industry, some farmers have turned to a promising alternative from India called the pongamia tree. Though they don’t bear edible fruit, pongamia trees are resilient to disease and harsh climatic conditions like drought and can be harvested for renewable energy sources and plant-based proteins.  

Recent satellite imagery by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection shows that about 50% of Lake Okeechobee’s surface is wrought with bloom conditions. While blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, is naturally occurring, conditions such as extreme heat can cause visible blooms, and may produce toxins. In recent years, bloom conditions have become the norm on Lake Okeechobee, creating worry around the scheduled release of the lake into connected estuaries in the coming months. 

Environmental groups and the state of Florida have reached an agreement to settle a federal lawsuit regarding the mismanagement of a former phosphate plant, colloquially known as the Piney Point wastewater disaster. In 2021, the wastewater plant dumped over 200 million gallons of polluted water into Tampa Bay, likely causing a massive red tide event that killed thousands of fish and displaced dozens of residents. The settlement enumerates various requirements, including the issuing of a permit by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to oversee and manage any future discharges from Piney Point, and a payment of $75,000 from the state to the Tampa Bay Estuary Program for monitoring water quality near the facility.  

In 2020, an unusual number of juvenile manta rays was spotted off the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County. Now, the Florida Manta Project thinks the area is a nursery habitat for manta rays. The Florida Manta Project is researching the possibility that these waters may harbor offspring from a reproductive habitat further north in North and Central Florida where other manta rays’ mate.  

The Florida native Suwannee Alligator Snapping Turtle has been officially listed as a federally threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The turtle can only be found in the Suwannee River Basin of Georgia and Florida. Alligator snapping turtles are the largest snapping turtles in the world, with males weighing in at over 200 pounds. Reasons for the turtle’s dwindling population include habitat destruction, illegal collecting, and fishing bycatch.  

For years, the Florida native Atala butterfly was on the verge of extinction. Now, its population has become so robust that it is threatening rare cycad species. The host plant for the atala butterfly is the coontie, but has diversified its diet to other cycad species. Experts are now searching for the best way to protect both the rare plants, and the atala, which is still considered at risk.  

Interagency efforts to save the federally endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow have been steadily successful. Through captive breeding programs, wildlife biologists have been able to rear, raise, and release young sparrows into their historic ranges in Central Florida. The main threats to the species include habitat destruction, fragmentation, and degradation. After a decade-long uphill battle, the captive-bred sparrows are faring better than expected in the wild, but there is still atwork to be done to bring this species back from the brink of extinction. 

Lionfish are an invasive species in Florida that negatively impact Florida’s coastal waters. With no natural predators, there is nothing to keep their population in check, and they have a diet of at least 167 species. One way the state manages them is through hunting incentives like the Lionfish Challenge, a summerlong competition where fishers can turn in their killed lionfish for prizes. So far this year, 185 participants have harvested 11,501 lionfish.