Project Summary Sheet

Project: Temporal Dynamics of Seagrass Associated Fish and Invertebrate Populations in Johnson Key Basin, Western Florida Bay

Web Sites: http://sofia.usgs.gov/; http://Everglades.fiu.edu/BRD; http://www.fcsc.USGS.gov (see http://cars.er.usgs.gov/); http://flaecohist.er.usgs.gov

Location (Subregions & Counties): Central Everglades including Florida Bay: Monroe County

Funding (Source): Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative (CESI); USGS Place-Based Studies

Principal Investigator(s): Michael B. Robblee, mike_robblee@usgs.gov, 305-242-7832

Project Personnel: Andre Daniels, andre_daniels@usgs.gov, 305-348-6997

Supporting Organizations: NPS/Everglades National Park

Associated / Linked Projects: Community Dynamics along a Salinity Gradient in Florida Bay (Michael Robblee, USGS; Gordon Thayer, Lawrence Rozas, Mike Meyer, NOAA, Ed Matheson, FWC/FMRI); Immigration Pathways Of Pink Shrimp Postlarvae Into And Within Florida Bay (Joan Browder, Maria Criales, NOAA; Michael Robblee, USGS)

Overview & Status: This project is a long-term study. Its purpose is to extend a quantitative record of seagrass associated fish and invertebrate abundance, including the pink shrimp, Farfantepenaeus duorarum, that exists for western Florida Bay starting in 1983. Objectives include: developing a quantitative baseline of seagrass associated invertebrate and fish abundance and species composition; relating abundance and species composition to salinity and temperature; comparing invertebrate and fish communities among bank, basin and near-key habitats; relating abundance and species composition to changes in seagrass habitat over time; and evaluating the relationship of pink shrimp abundance in Johnson Key Basin to salinity, seagrass habitat and recruitment. At this time field collections are current and sample processing (sorting, identification and enumeration) occurs in real time. The large backlog of completely unprocessed samples has been reduced such that only identification and enumeration is required for remaining backlogged samples. A database has been developed at Everglades National Park and data entry is ongoing. QA/QC of existing data and new data is occurring as data is being entered. All available data have been provided to existing projects where appropriate for the development of restoration related performance measures and modeling. This applies particularly for data on the pink shrimp.

Needs & Products: Two needs are of paramount importance to completing this project. First is the need to eliminate the sample backlog that currently consists of about 600 samples that need to be identified and enumerated. Second is the need to complete the Marine Benthic Database at Everglades National Park that involves completion of data entry forms and utilities for data exploration and standard reporting. Toward the first need adequate laboratory space remains a priority. At this time borrowed laboratory space at Florida International University is all that is available. Toward the second need USGS funding is being used to hire a dedicated individual for data entry and data QA/QC. Publications are planned which will thoroughly discuss these data in relation to salinity and seagrass habitat. No final report or data report is available yet, however the data report is in preparation. Despite delays data analysis is under way and project results are being presented at conferences, used in restoration workshops and in publications. Several examples include the following:

Browder, J. A., V. R. Restrepo, J. K. Rice, M. B. Robblee and Z. Zein-Eldin. 1999. Environmental influences on potential recruitment of pink shrimp, Penaeus duorarum, from Florida Bay nursery grounds. Estuaries. 22(2B):484-499.

Robblee, M.B., A. Daniels, P.L. Mumford and V. DiFrenna. 2001. Response of seagrass fish and invertebrates to habitat changes in Johnson Key Basin, Western Florida Bay (1985-1995). In: Proceedings 2001 Florida Bay Science Conference, Key Largo, Florida, April 23-26, 2001, p. 208-209.

Application to Everglades Restoration: Defining and evaluating restoration actions in terms of biological resources and related issues, such as salinity, are critical science needs for restoration in Florida Bay. This long-term project provides a dataset for evaluating the response of seagrass associated fish and invertebrates, particularly the pink shrimp, to conditions in Florida Bay and as a baseline to evaluate the success of upstream water management modifications for restoration. This project is strongly complemented by a short-term USGS/NOAA/FMRI focused study evaluating fish and invertebrate community dynamics along a salinity gradient in Florida Bays. In turn, these projects and a joint NOAA/USGS project on pink shrimp, Farfantepenaeus duorarum, recruitment to Florida Bay contribute to the development of a pink shrimp simulation model under development by NOAA for the purposes of evaluating the merit and success of upstream water management activities and for use as a performance measure for Florida Bay restoration. Additionally, this long-term database is being analyzed using General Additive Modeling techniques in order to develop empirical models for dominant fish and invertebrate species vs salinity and other appropriate dependent variables.