Population Structure and Spatial Delineation of Consumer Communities in the Everglades National Park

Project Investigators: William Loftus, Joel Trexler Project Personnel: Tom McElroy, Tim Collins Project Start Date: 1996 End Date: 2002 Proposals Project Summaries Publications

Summary

Project objectives are to identify population structure of selected aquatic species in the Everglades and to estimate migration rate from genetic data on gene flow for incorporation in the ATLSS model.

In modeling the dynamics of aquatic animal populations in southern Florida wetlands, the dispersal distances, rates of movements, and timing of movement are important but poorly understood. The small size of the wetland animals precludes the use of standard marking techniques for studying movement, and the large, open system of these wetlands makes recapturing marked animals improbable. Genetic markers, used to determine population structure, offer an indirect way of assessing the degree of movement and mixing in these populations, and the landscape-level patterns of animal movement. In a series of studies in this multi-year project, our objectives are to identify population structure of selected aquatic species in the Everglades and to estimate migration rate from genetic data on gene flow for incorporation in the ATLSS model. Data from studies on whether levee and canal systems act as barriers to dispersal of aquatic animals in the Everglades are applicable to the Restudy. We are also using genetic techniques to learn if populations of introduced Asian Swamp Eels have the same source of origin, thereby establishing whether new collection locations represent dispersal events or new introductions. Results have management implications for restoration, modeling, and control of introduced species.

Proposals

• 2001

Project Summaries

• 2001
• 2002

Publications

Abstracts

• Experimental Studies of Population Growth and Predator-Prey Interactions of South Florida Fishes (from the GEER Conference, December 2000)
• Experimental Studies of Predator and Prey Interactions (from the South Florida Restoration Science Forum, May 1999)
• Patterns of Movement of Florida Gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) in the Everglades Revealed by Radio Telemetry (from the GEER Conference, April 2003)
• Population Structure and Spatial Delineation of Consumer Communities in Everglades National Park (from the GEER Conference, December 2000)
• Population Structure and Spatial Delineation of Consumer Communities in the Everglades National Park (from the South Florida Restoration Science Forum, May 1999)
• The Asian Swamp Eel: A Recent Invader in Peninsular Florida (from the July 2001 Annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists)

Bibliographies

• Population Structure and Spatial Delineation of Consumer Communities in the Everglades National Park - Bibliography

Flyers

• Florida Caribbean Science Center Restoration Ecology Branch
• Studies of aquatic community structure and dynamics in the seasonally variable wetlands of southern Florida (available from the FISC (Florida Integrated Science Center) - Biology website. Please note that this is a (0.2 Mb) PDF file and requires the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader® to be read)
• The Swamp Eel: A New Invasive Fish

Posters

• Trophic Patterns in the Everglades Freshwater Fish Community Across Habitats and Seasons (poster presented at the 2000 Greater Everglades Restoration Conference)