Peat is responsible for holding water longer into the dry season than do other soils, and also absorb and retain scarce dry season rainfall. Such water retention plays an important role in maintaining enough soil moisture necessary for the survival of marsh plants. Peat accumulation in the Everglades ranges from 1.5 m in the upper reaches to 0.75 m in the lower end, and also smooths out the topographic irregularities of the basin. Surface water accumulation is a result of in situ rainfall and an almost unnoticeable sheet flow from marshes immediately upgradient. Fires have always been a frequent occurrence in Florida's ecology, and also play an important role for marsh health.
Fires limit the invasion of woody vegetation and retards or occasionally reverses peat accumulation.
Summer fires are frequently ignited by lightning, and generally occur when soil moisture levels are high and plants are growing. Since organic soils fail to burn when the soil moisture content is above 65 percent, wet season fires are limited to the vegetation above water rarely consuming any soil. Florida's marsh plant associations carry fire to varying degrees. Jamaican Saw Grass has been shown to contain substances within its leaves that make it more combustible than other plants, thus, ensuring that fires are able to propagate and spread out as far as possible to prevent later successional species to crowd it out of habitat. Nutrients in the Everglades freshwater marshes are derived from rainfall and anthropogenic discharges.