Ecosystem History: Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems of Southern Florida

Project Investigator: Debra A. Willard Project Start Date: 1994 End Date: 2001 Proposals Project Summaries Data Metadata Publications Related Links Project Location Map

This project is designed to document the terrestrial ecosystem history of south Florida and is collaborating with other projects at the USGS and other agencies on Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, and the Buttonwood Embankment. The specific goals of the project are 1) document the patterns of floral and faunal change at sites throughout southern Florida over the last 150 years; 2) determine whether changes occurred throughout the entire region or whether they were localized; 3) examine the floral and faunal history of the region over the last few millennia; 4) determine the baseline level of variability in the communities prior to significant human activity in the region; and 5) determine whether the fire frequency, extent, and influence can be quantified, and if so, document the fire history for sites in the region. Data generated from this project will be integrated with data from other projects to provide biotic reconstructions for the area at selected time slices and will be useful in testing ecological models designed to predict floral and faunal response to changes in environmental parameters.

Accomplishments

• What Have the Scientists Learned?

Proposals

• 1998
• 1999

Project Summaries

• 2001

Data

• Core, Lead 210, and Pollen Assemblage Data (from OFR 2004-1448)
• Ecosystem History of South Florida Estuaries Data (from the data exchange pages)
• Florida and Biscayne Bay Pollen Data (from the data exchange pages)
• Pollen - Core 19A (from OFR 97-460)
• Pollen - Core 6A (from OFR 95-628)
• South Florida Pollen Data (from the data exchange pages)

Metadata

• Ecosystem History: Terrestrial and Fresh-Water Ecosystems of southern Florida (project metadata)
• Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay pollen data (data set metadata)
• South Florida Pollen Data (data set metadata)

Publications

Abstracts

• Changes of the sub-aqueous ecosystem in northeastern Florida Bay due to hydrologic changes in the southern Everglades (from the 2002 AGU Spring Meeting)
• Ecosystem History: Terrestrial and Fresh-Water Ecosystems of southern Florida
• Everglades Plant Community Response to 20th Century Hydrologic Changes (from the 2002 AGU Spring Meeting)
• Florida Bay Ecosystem: Measuring Historical Change (from the Florida Bay Science Conference Proceedings, 1995, and can be found on the Ecosystem History: Florida Bay and the Southwest Coast project page)
• Impact of Hydrologic Changes on the Everglades/Florida Bay Ecosystem: A Regional, Paleoecological Perspective (from the Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems Science Conference, November 1999)
• Paleoecological insights on fixed tree island development in the Florida Everglades: I. Environmental Controls (2002)
• Plant Communities of the Everglades: A History of the Last Two Millennia (from the South Florida Restoration Science Forum, May 1999)
• Pollen assemblages as paleoenvironmental proxies in the Florida Everglades (2001)
• The Biotic Record of Change in Florida Bay and the South Florida Ecosystem (from the Florida Bay Science Conference Proceedings, 1996, and can be found on the Ecosystem History: Florida Bay and the Southwest Coast project page)
• The effect of phosphorous enriched waters on the timing and rate of cattail growth in the northern Florida Everglades (from the 2002 AGU Spring Meeting)
• The Florida Everglades Ecosystem: Climatic and Anthropogenic Impacts over the Last Two Millennia (2001)
• The Florida Everglades Ecosystem: Climatic and Anthropogenic Impacts Over the Last Two Millennia (from the GEER Conference, December 2000)
• Vegetational Changes in South Florida Over the Last Two Millenia

Articles

• Forgotten Islands (available on-line from the Audubon Magazine)

Fact Sheets

• Ecosystem History: Terrestrial and Fresh-water Ecosystems of Southern Florida
• South Florida Ecosystems: Changes Through Time

Journal Articles

• Atlas of Pollen and Spores of The Florida Everglades
• Paleoecology and Ecosystem Restoration: Case Studies from Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Everglades
• The Impact of Anthropogenic Land-Cover Change on the Florida Peninsula Sea Breezes and Warm Season Sensible Weather

Maps

• Tree Island Map showing locations of Tree Islands cored

Open File Reports

• Palynological Census Data from Surface Samples in South Florida
• Pollen Census Data from Southern Florida: Sites Along a Nutrient Gradient in Water Conservation Area 2A

Posters

• A Paleoenvironmental Record from Manatee Bay, Barnes Sound, Florida
• What can soils tell us about the past that helps us today? (from the South Florida Restoration Science Forum site)

Related Links

• Deep Freeze and Sea Breeze - Changing Land and Weather in Florida (article on NASA Earth Observatory website)
• Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast
• Ecosystem History: Florida Bay and the Southwest Coast
• Florida Cooperative Geologic Mapping Project
• South Florida Ecosystem History Kid's Corner Photo Gallery
• South Florida Ecosystem History Project Home Page