Left to right: Greg Koch, Kim de Mutsert, Sharon Ewe, Edward Castaneda taking a break during sampling, Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

SRS-5 autosampler, Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Measuring sawgrass in macrophyte plots at SRS-3 (Emilie Verdon, Damon Rondeau), Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Left to right: Justin Baker, Arturo Saldivar, Edward Castaneda. Pulling core to determine standing crop (fine root biomass) in mangrove forest at SRS-4, Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Calvin Liu measuring mangrove tree heights, Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Left to right: Roger Holland and Victor H. Rivera-Monroy. Constructing boardwalk in mangrove forest, Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Dolphin in lower Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Mangrove forest damaged by Hurricane Wilma, mouth of Shark River

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Oliva Pisani (FIU PhD student) collecting a water sample in Shark River

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Using soil profiles of seeds and molecular markers as proxies for sawgrass and wet prairie slough vegetation in Shark Slough, Everglades National Park

We measured the abundance of Cladium jamaicense (Crantz) seeds and three biomarkers in freshwater marsh soils in Shark River Slough (SRS), Everglades National Park (ENP) to determine the degree to which these paleoecological proxies reflect spatial and temporal variation in vegetation. We found that C. jamaicense seeds and the biomarkers Paq, total lignin phenols (TLP) and kaurenes analyzed from surface soils were all significantly correlated with extant aboveground C. jamaicense biomass quantified along a vegetation gradient from a C. jamaicense to a wet prairie/slough (WPS) community. Our results also suggest that these individual proxies may reflect vegetation over different spatial scales: Paq and kaurenes correlated most strongly (R 2 = 0.88 and 0.99, respectively) with vegetation within 1 m of a soil sample, while seeds and TLP reflected vegetation 0–20 m upstream of soil samples. These differences in the spatial scale depicted by the different proxies may be complementary in understanding aspects of historic landscape patterning. Soil profiles of short (25 cm) cores showed that downcore variation in C. jamaicense seeds was highly correlated with two of the three biomarkers (Paq, R 2 = 0.84, p<0.005; TLP, R 2 = 0.97, p<0.0001), and all four of the proxies indicated a recent increase in C. jamaicense biomass at the site. Using a preliminary depth-to-age relationship based on matching charcoal peaks with available ENP fire records (1980-present) specific to our coring site, we found that peak-depths in C. jamaicense seed concentration appeared to correspond to recent minimum water levels (e.g., 1989 and 2001), and low seed abundance corresponded to high water levels (e.g., 1995), consistent with the known autecology of C. jamaicense. In summary, the combination of C. jamaicense seeds and biomarkers may be useful for paleoecological reconstruction of vegetation change and ultimately in guaging the success of ongoing efforts to restore historic hydrologic conditions in the South Florida Everglades.

Marl Prairie/Slough Gradients; Patterns and Trends in Shark Slough and Adjacent Marl Prairies (CERP monitoring activity 3.1.3.5), First Annual Report (2005)

The work on CERP monitoring item 3.1.3.5 (Marl prairie/slough gradients) is being conducted by Florida International University (Dr Michael Ross, Project Leader), with Everglades National Park (Dr. Craig Smith) providing administrative support and technical consultation. As of January 2006 the funds transferred by ACOE to ENP, and subsequently to FIU, have been entirely expended or encumbered in salaries or wages. The project work for 2005 started rather late in the fiscal year, but ultimately accomplished the Year 1 goals of securing a permit to conduct the research in Everglades National Park, finalizing a detailed scope of work, and sampling marsh sites which are most easily accessed during the wet season. 46 plots were sampled in detail, and a preliminary vegetation classification distinguished three groups among these sites (Sawgrass marsh, sawgrass and other, and slough) which may be arranged roughly along a hydrologic gradient from least to most persistently inundated . We also made coarser observations of vegetation type at 5-m intervals along 2 transects totaling ~ 5 km. When these data were compared with similar observations made in 1998-99, it appeared that vegetation in the western portion of Northeast Shark Slough (immediately east of the L-67 extension) had shifted toward a more hydric type during the last 6 years, while vegetation further east was unchanged in this respect. Because this classification and trend analysis is based on a small fraction of the data set that will be available after the first cycle of sampling (3 years from now), the results should not be interpreted too expansively. However, they do demonstrate the potential for gaining a more comprehensive view of marsh vegetation structure and dynamics in the Everglades, and will provide a sound basis for adaptive management.

Sunrise River, Shark River

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The successional dynamics of lightning-initiated canopy gaps in the mangrove forests of Shark River, Everglades National Park, USA

Gap succession is a significant determinant of structure and development in most forest communities. Lightning strikes are an important source of canopy gaps in the mangrove forest of Everglades National Park. I investigated the successional dynamics of lightning-initiated canopy gaps to determine their influence on forest stand structure of the mixed mangrove forests ( Rhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa, and Avicennia germinans ) of the Shark River. I measured gap size, gap shape, light environment, soil characteristics, woody debris, and fiddler crab abundance. I additionally measured the vegetative composition in a chronosequences of gap successional stages (new, recruiting, and growing gaps). I recorded survivorship, recruitment, growth and soil elevation dynamics within a subset of new and growing gaps. I determined the relationship between intact forest soil elevation and site hydrology in order to interpret the effects of lightning disturbance on soil elevation dynamics. ^ Gap size averaged 289 ± 20 m2 (± 1SE) and light transmittance decreased exponentially as gaps filled with saplings. Fine woody debris was highest in recruiting gaps. Soil strength was lower in the gaps than in the forest. The abundance of large and medium fiddler crab burrows increased linearly with total seedling abundance. Soil surface elevation declined in newly formed lightning gaps; this loss was due to a combination of superficial erosion (8.5 mm) and subsidence (60.9 mm). A distinct two-cohort recruitment pattern was evident in the seedling/sapling surveys, suggesting a partitioning of the succession between individuals present before and after lightning strike. In new gaps, the seedling recruitment rate was twice as high as in forest and the sapling population increased. At the growing gap stage, R. mangle seedling mortality was 10 times greater and sapling mortality was 13 times greater than recruitment. Growing gaps had reduced seedling stem elongation, sapling growth and adult growth. However, a few individuals (R. mangle saplings) were able to recruit into the adult life stage. In conclusion, the high density of R. mangle seedlings and saplings imply that lightning strike disturbances in these mangrove forests favor their recruitment over that of A. germinans and L. racemosa. ^

American alligator swimming in the Shark River estuary

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Adam Rosenblatt (PhD student) holding one of his study subjects, an American alligator, in the Shark River estuary

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.