Big Cypress National Preserve consists of five habitats that are connected by the water that flows through them. The water falls to the land as precipitation, and then starts to flow. Its journey takes it from the habitat with the highest elevation of 17 feet above sea level and flows gently through as the other ecosystems as they drop down from a just a few feet in difference, to a few inches then escapes out to the ocean. Each habitat contains distinctive types of plants, soils and animals depending on the elevation, and the length of its hydroperiod (A hydroperiod is the length of time an area has surface water present).