These multiple research projects are planned to provide data on the structure and functioning of aquatic animal communities to help guide Everglades restoration. Some of the work has been a longterm effort funded originally by the National Park Service (NPS), then partially transferred to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). NPS has retained responsibility for continuing the long-term monitoring program for aquatic animals in the southern Everglades, whereas USGS has had the role of collaborating to analyze and publish the data sets. Although the information contained in those data bases is considerable and valuable, much work remains to be done to understand aquatic system ecology in south Florida wetlands.

The absence of historical data on the ecological structure and functioning of the mosaic of wetlands that comprised the predrainage Everglades makes it difficult to agree upon restoration targets. Despite the research conducted in the past decades, there remain vast gaps in understanding the structure and dynamics of biotic communities in response to system hydrology, disturbances, and interactions with the landscape. Specifically missing are the empirical studies that provide data on the distributions and dynamics of primary producers such as periphyton and vascular vegetation in response to hydrology and season, and their subsequent translation into invertebrates and small fishes that are the prey for wading birds and other consumers. The loss of large areas of specific wetland types, for example the short-hydroperiod wetlands, is thought to have resulted in the biotic degradation of the entire system, but the mechanisms involved in that degradation have not been well studied. To acquire information about the spatial extent of the specific areas that ought to be targeted for acquisition, it is necessary to document the ecology, life history parameters, and the functional responses of the biota under a variety of present-day hydrologic regimes. It is also important to test hypotheses on biotic interactions, and about biological responses to landscape conditions, experimentally.

This series of projects intends to develop empirical, long-term data bases required to understand critical ecological processes, and to provide scientifically credible data to important modeling efforts such as "Across Trophic Level System Simulation" (ATLSS) model. The studies include investigations of the factors regulating spatial relationships among habitats and biota, the effects of disturbances (fires, freezes, hurricanes, droughts, and floods) on ecological processes and a description of trophic interactions and food webs across the landscape. Major topics of investigation at this time include the inventory and monitoring of the native and introduced freshwater fishes, reptiles, and amphibians of southern Florida, including such potentially threatening animals as the Asian swamp eel. We are analyzing the long-term dynamics of freshwater fishes, macroinvertebrates, and aquatic vegetation in the southern Everglades, with relation to environmental changes. We have studied the diets and trophic relationships of the freshwater fish community with relationship to the bioaccumulation of mercury by fishes and invertebrates. We are also documenting the use of various refuges and survival strategies of the aquatic biota during drought in the southern Florida wetland landscape. All project dates are providing empirical data and ecological rules to help build ecological simulation models used in assessing restoration alternatives.

The major clients for these projects are the NPS units of south Florida--Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. Data will also be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in evaluating project impacts. The scope of the investigations requires the collaborations of many individuals with diverse expertise: Oron L. Bass, Walter Meshaka, and Sue Perry--Everglades National Park; Donald DeAngelis, USGS--University of Miami; Anne-Marie Eklund, NMFS--Southeast Fisheries Center; Mindy Nelson, University of Miami; Janet Reid, U.S. National Museum; and Joel C. Trexler, Florida International University.

A significant part of the funding for this research was provided from the U.S. Department of the Interior, South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Program "Critical Ecosystems Studies Initiative" (administered through the National Park Service); the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and, in part, from the U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Caribbean Science Center and Everglades National Park.

RECENT PRODUCTS OF THIS SERIES OF STUDIES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING PEER-REVIEWED PAPERS:

Busch, D.E., Loftus, W.F., and Bass, O.L., Jr., 1998, Long-term hydrologic effects on marsh plant community structure in the southern Everglades: Wetlands, v. 18, p. 230-241.

DeAngelis, D.L., Loftus, W.F., Trexler, J.C., and Ulanowicz, R.E., 1997, Modeling fish dynamics and effects of stress in a hydrologically pulsed ecosystem: Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Stress and Recovery, v. 6, p. 1-13.

Howard, K.S., Loftus, W.F., and Trexler, J.C., 1995, Seasonal dynamics of fishes in artificial culvert pools in the C-111 basin, Dade County, Florida: Final Report to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers as Everglades National Park Cooperative Agreement #CA5280-2-9024.

Loftus, W.F., 1995, An annotated inventory of the fishes of Everglades National Park, Florida, in An annotated inventory of the vertebrates of Everglades National Park, Report to Everglades National Park.

Loftus, W.F., Bass, O.L., and Trexler, J.C., 1997, Long-term fish monitoring in the Everglades: Looking beyond the park boundary, in Harmon, D. ed., Making protection work: Proceedings of the ninth conference on research and resource management in parks and on public lands: The George Wright Society Biennial Conference, p. 389-392.

Loftus, W.F., and Eklund, A.M., 1994, Long-term dynamics of an Everglades fish community, in Davis, S., and Ogden, J.C. eds., Everglades: the System and its Restoration: St. Lucie Press, Delray Beach, Florida, Chapter 19, p. 461-483.

Meshaka, W., Loftus, W.F., and Steiner, T.M., in review, An annotated inventory of the Herpetofauna of Everglades National Park, Florida: Florida Scientist.

Turner, A.M., Trexler, J.C., Jordan, F., Slack, S.J., Geddes, P., Chick, J., and Loftus, W.F., in press, Conservation of an ecological feature of the Florida Everglades: Pattern of standing crops: Conservation Biology.

(This abstract was taken from the Proceedings of the South Florida Restoration Science Forum Open File Report)