Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast

Project Investigator: G. Lynn Wingard Project Start Date: 1995 End Date: 2000 Proposals Project Summaries Data Metadata Publications Related Links

Summary

Our project will compile data in order to reconstruct the ecosystem history for the entire region over the last 150 years.

This project has now ended. For related information, please see the Historical Changes in Salinity, Water Quality and Vegetation in Biscayne Bay Project Page. For more information on the Ecosystem History program, please visit the Florida Ecosystem History Project Website.

Recent negative trends have been observed in the ecosystem of Florida Bay, including algal blooms, seagrass die-offs, and declining numbers or shellfish, adversely affecting the fishing and tourist industries. Many theories of cause and effect exist to explain the adverse trends, but these theories have not been scientifically tested. Prior to finalizing plans for ecosystem restoration, the relative roles of human activities versus natural ecosystem variations need to be established. This project addresses this need by focusing on two primary goals. First, to determine the characteristics of the ecosystem prior to significant human alteration, including the natural range of variation in the system; this establishes the baseline for restoration. Second, to establish the extent, range, and timing of changes to the ecosystem over approximately the last 150 years and to determine if these changes correlate to human alteration, meteorological patterns, or a combination of factors. In addition, data on recovery times of certain components of the ecosystem will be obtained allowing biologists to estimate responses to proposed restoration efforts. This project is planned as a five year study, to be completed in 1999.

This project is one segment in a group of coordinated USGS projects examining the biota, geochronology, geochemistry, sedimentology, and hydrology of southern Florida, Florida Bay and the surrounding areas. Data are being compiled from terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments in onshore and offshore sites in order to reconstruct the ecosystem history for the entire region over the last 150 years.

Accomplishments

• What Have the Scientists Learned?

Proposals

• 1998
• 1999

Project Summaries

• 2001

Data

• Age Depth Data for Biscayne Bay Cores (from OFR 2007-1203)
• Age Depth Data for Florida Bay Cores (from OFR 2007-1203)
• Ecosystem History of South Florida Estuaries Data (from the data exchange pages)
• Lead-210 Data for Biscayne Bay cores (from OFR 2007-1203)
• Lead-210 Data for Florida Bay cores (from OFR 2007-1203)
• Lead-210 Data for Surficial Samples from Rankin Basin, Florida Bay, Florida (from OFR 2007-1203)

Metadata

• Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast (project metadata)
• Ecosystem History of South Florida Estuaries Data (data set metadata)

Publications

Abstracts

• A Paleosalinity Record from Manatee Bay, Barnes Sound, Florida
• Diatoms as Indicators of Environmental Change in Sediment Cores from Northeastern Florida Bay (from the GEER Conference, December 2000)
• Ecological Controls on Benthic Foraminifer Distributions in Biscayne Bay, Florida (from the GEER Conference, December 2000)
• Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast
• Florida Bay Ecosystem: Measuring Historical Change (from the Florida Bay Science Conference Proceedings, 1995, and can be found on the Ecosystem History: Florida Bay and the Southwest Coast project page)
• Temporal Salinity and Seagrass Changes in Biscayne Bay (from the South Florida Restoration Science Forum, May 1999)
• The Biotic Record of Change in Florida Bay and the South Florida Ecosystem (from the Florida Bay Science Conference Proceedings, 1996, and can be found on the Ecosystem History: Florida Bay and the Southwest Coast project page)

Fact Sheets

• Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast
• South Florida Ecosystems: Changes Through Time

Open File Reports

• A Paleoecologic Reconstruction of the History of Featherbed Bank, Biscayne National Park, Biscayne Bay, Florida (OFR 00-191)
• Ecosystem History of South Florida: Biscayne Bay Sediment Core Descriptions (OFR 97-437)
• Lithostratigraphy, Petrography, Biostratigraphy, and Strontium-Isotope Stratigraphy of the Surficial Aquifer System of Western Collier County, Florida (OFR 98-205)
• Modern Benthic Foraminifer Distributions in Biscayne Bay: Analogs for Historical Reconstructions (OFR 97-034)
• Synthesis of Age Data and Chronology for Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay Cores Collected for Ecosystem History of South Florida's Estuaries Projects (OFR 2007-1203)

Posters

• A Paleoenvironmental Record from Manatee Bay, Barnes Sound, Florida

Related Links

• Ecosystem History: Florida Bay and the Southwest Coast
• Ecosystem History: Terrestrial and Fresh-water Ecosystems of Southern Florida
• South Florida Ecosystem History Project Home Page
• South Florida Ecosystem History Kid's Corner Photo Gallery
• Florida Cooperative Geologic Mapping Project