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Biscayne Bay and Everglades Restoration
Baseline ecosystem status and pollution data for Biscayne Bay are lacking. An inshore estuary east of the Everglades, Biscayne Bay is the marine component (vs. terrestrial) of Biscayne National Park (BNP).
Within BNP boundaries are the longest stretch of mangrove forest remaining on Florida's east coast, 14
threatened or endangered wildlife species, and the northernmost coral reefs in the continental U.S. The bay acts as a buffer zone for these reefs. Human impacts on the coastal marine environment of South Florida include:
- urban development,
- air, land, and water pollution,
- intense recreational and commercial use,
- introduction of pathogens and nutrients from sewage-disposal injection wells and shoreline landfills,
- physical damage to coral reefs and other bottom communities by derelict fishing gear, boat anchors and ship groundings
Nutrient enrichment spurs oxygen depletion in coastal waters, stressing or killing biota. Coastal land-use
practices (marina, agricultural and industrial development) cause contamination by chemical pollutants, pesticides, petroleum products, fertilizers, and heavy metals. Each impact alters the coastal ecosystems. Each impact has significant implications for human issues, including swimmers' health, fishery nurseries and resources, and management of coastal land development.
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
Of particular concern is the $8 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP, signed into law in December 2000) to remove canal and levee infrastructures within the watershed to restore a natural southward flow of water.
Resource managers urgently need information on stress responses in organisms that can be compared
with data acquired through remote sensing, water quality, and biotic community monitoring. In cooperation with Biscayne National Park (BNP), the National Park Service (NPS), and the University of South Florida (USF), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has begun a new project to evaluate pre-restoration conditions throughout Biscayne Bay using components found in surface sediments.
Project strategies are to assess grain size, heavy-metal concentrations, sources, pollution hotspots,
distributions of a pollution-sensitive group of marine microfaunas, and biotic community structure as reflected by skeletal sand grains.
Long established as paleoenvironmental and pollutant biomarkers, benthic or bottom-dwelling
foraminifera (forams) morphologically and geochemically record ambient environment in their shells. The goal is to provide essential baseline data that can readily be used to monitor changes in the estuarine ecosystems during and after implementation of the CERP.
continue to Coral-Reef Health
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
