Paleosalinity as a Key for Success Criteria in South Florida Restoration

Project Investigator: G. Lynn Wingard Project Personnel: Thomas M. Cronin, Charles W. Holmes, James Murray, Robert Stamm, Gary Dwyer Project Start Date: 2001 End Date: 2005 Recent Funding: (FY05) USGS GE PES Work Plans Project Summaries Data Metadata Publications

Summary

To develop methodology for extracting water chemistry information from calcareous shelled animals; an understanding of the biology of the organisms; and to apply this information to shells found in soft sediment cores that span the last 100-300 years of South Florida history.

Please be sure to visit the South Florida Ecosystem History website

The objectives of this project are to 1) test and develop the methodology for extracting water chemistry information from selected calcareous shelled animals that grow within the water; 2) develop an understanding of the biology of the selected organisms so that the water chemistry data extracted from the shells can be put in temporal context; and 3) to apply this information to shells found in soft sediment cores that span the last 100-300 years of South Florida history in order to determine the seasonal variation in salinity and water sources prior to significant human alteration of the environment. These data will provide land managers with the necessary information to establish targets and performance measures as restoration of more natural timing and delivery of water proceeds.

A test comparison of instruments (SHRIMP, laser ablation, and ion microprobe) has been completed in FY02 and the ion microprobe has been selected as the best instrument for the metal elemental analyses of the shells. Growth experiments in the field and the laboratory are proceeding, and selected organisms showing growth have been removed and prepared for analyses on the microprobe. Analyses of these shells are currently proceeding. Data from the analyses will be correlated to salinity and temperature data from the growth sites to calibrate the shell chemistry data to water chemistry. Organisms from cores in Florida Bay at Russell Bank, Dragover, Bob Allen, Whipray, and Rankin have been selected for analyses and are in the process of being prepared for sectioning. A report on the methodologies and calibration will be completed within FY02.

Work Plans

• 2003
• 2004
• 2005

Project Summaries

• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005

Data

• Ecosystem History of South Florida Estuaries Data (from the data exchange pages)

Metadata

• Paleosalinity as a Key for Success Criteria in South Florida Restoration (project metadata)
• Ecosystem History of South Florida Estuaries Data (data set metadata)

Publications

Abstracts

• Evidence of Freshwater Influx into Rankin Basin, Central Florida Bay, Everglades National Park, Prior to 1900 (from the GEER Conference, April 2003)
• Molluscan Shells as Recorders of Environmental Change in South Florida (from the GEER Conference, April 2003)
• Ostracode Shell Chemistry as a Paleosalinity Proxy in Florida Bay (from the GEER Conference, December 2000)
• Salinity History of Florida Bay: An Evaluation of Methods, Trends, and Causes (from the GEER Conference, April 2003)

Bibliographies

• Project Bibliography

Fact Sheets

• Florida in a Tank--The Role of Experiments in Ecosystem Restoration (Fact Sheet 2004-3116)
• Shells as Recorders of Environmental Change--A Study in Florida Bay (Fact Sheet 2004-3141)

Information Sheets

• Summary of Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Workshop: 1. Paleoecology and Ecosystem History, April 29, 2002

Open File Reports

• Salinity and Temperature Tolerance Experiments on Selected Florida Bay Mollusks (OFR 2006-1026)

Posters

• Reconstructing the History of South Florida's Ecosystem: The Role of Modern and Paleoecological Data (Penrose Conference 1998, please note that this is a 2.5 MB PDF file and requires the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader® to be read)