projects > dynamics of land margin ecosystems > project summary
Project Summary SheetFiscal Year 2003 Project Summary Report Project Title: Everglades Restoration Project Start Date: 1 October 2002 Project End Date: 30 September 2007 Web Sites: http://sofia.usgs.gov and http://time.er.usgs.gov Location (Subregions, Counties, Park or Refuge): The Everglades, lower west coast, lower east coast, Florida Bay, Collier, Miami-Dade, Monroe Funding Source: USGS's Greater Everglades Science Initiative (PBS), potential funding from SFWMD and BRD Global Change Program Principal Investigator(s): T.J. Smith III Project Personnel: Gordon H. Anderson (USGS), Kevin R.T. Whelan (USGS), Fara Ilami (CSC) Supporting Organizations: NPS, SFWMD, FWS, EPA Associated / Linked Projects: "Vegetation & Hydrology of Land-Margin Ecosystems in south Florida", "Understanding and Predicting Global Climate Change Impacts on the Vegetation and Fauna of Mangrove Forested Ecosystems in Florida"
Overview & Objective(s): Coastal ecosystems of the greater Everglades ecosystem are ignored by many of the models that have been used to evaluate CERP. The domains for the NSM, SFWMM and ATLSS models do not include the mangrove, marsh and back-bay systems found along the southwest coast or along the shore of Florida Bay. Recently initiated modeling efforts such as TIME do include these productive ecosystems in their model domain. Additionally, CERP has recognized the importance of these systems and several performance measures (e.g. soil accretion) are proposed in the RECOVER Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP). This project has three objectives (tasks): 1) operate and maintain the Mangrove Hydrology sampling network; 2) measure rates of mangrove forest growth and production in relation to hydrologic parameters; and, 3) measure rates of sediment surface elevation change and soil accretion or loss in coastal mangrove forests and brackish marshes of the Everglades. Status: Although just initiated this FY, this project pays the salary of G.H. Anderson and carries on previously base funded activities of the PI by providing a bare minimum of operating expenses. These activities will be briefly discussed below. Hydrology Task: Maintenance of the mangrove hydrology network continued to consume a significant portion of time and budget. We initiated work to rebuild all of the platforms. More importantly we began to replace older equipment with new material from the Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility, a WRD operation in Bay St. Louis, MS. The network still yields data that are being used by an increasing number of collaborators including all investigators associated with the National Science Foundation's "Florida Coastal Everglades" Long-term Ecological Research project, and PIs with the TIME project. Vegetation Task: Sampling of the permanent mangrove forest plots continued to show interesting dynamics among the three mangrove species. This year marked the 10th year anniversary following Hurricane Andrew. The red mangrove increased in abundance in almost all plots, whereas no change in abundance of the black mangrove has been recorded for over five years and the white mangrove is extremely variable. Seedlings of the white mangrove dominate the seedling flora across the mangrove marsh ecotone. Sediment Surface Elevation Task: Measurements of wetlands sediment surface elevation were conducted quarterly over the year and have yielded surprising results. Upstream, freshwater wetlands respond to hydrologic forcing in the opposite manner than do downstream, saline wetlands. As water level drops in freshwater sites, the sediment surface elevation increases. In saline wetlands the opposite is true. Recent & Planned Products: The following abstracts all appeared in: Best, G.R. 2003. U.S. Geological Survey Greater Everglades Science Program: 2002 Biennial Report. USGS Open-File Report 03-54.
Additional publications / products / presentations:
Relevance to Greater Everglades Restoration Information Needs: Long-term sampling of hydrology, vegetation and soils in the coastal wetlands of the Everglades has been recognized as a priority by CERP and in the DOI and USGS science plans. This project addresses all of those needs by maintaining an integrated network of sampling stations located on key rivers of the lower Everglades. Mangrove and marsh vegetation is sampled regularly in permanent plots located adjacent to surface- and ground-water sampling wells and sediment surface elevation tables. The data are available for use in all CERP modeling efforts, development of performance measures and tracking impacts of restoration as it occurs. Key Findings:
|
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
This page is: http://sofia.usgs.gov/projects/summary_sheets03/everrestore.html
Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster
Last updated: 12 June, 2007 @ 12:27 PM(TJE)