The L-31E Surface Water Rediversion Project Final Report: Implementation, Results, and Recommendations

Throughout the Biscayne Bay watershed, existing coastal wetland communities have been cut off from sheet flow for decades. With the expectation that reconnection of these wetlands to upstream water sources would alter existing hydrologic conditions and recreate a more natural sheet flow to Biscayne National Park, a demonstration project on freshwater rediversion was undertaken. The objectives of the project were to document the effects of freshwater diversion on: (a) swamp and nearshore water chemistry and hydrology; (b) soil development processes; (c) macrophyte and benthic algal community composition, structure and production; (d) abundance of epiphytic and epibenthic invertebrates; (e) zonation, production, and phenology of primary producers in the nearshore environment, and (f) exchanges of nutrients and particulates between nearshore and mangrove ecosystems.

Tree Islands in the Shark Slough Landscape: Interactions of Vegetation, Hydrology, and Soils

Executive Summary: This report presents what we have learned about tree islands of Shark Slough and adjacent marshes of Everglades National Park (ENP), based on ecological studies carried out in these wetlands during the period 2000-2003. The tree islands of Shark Slough share many features with tree islands elsewhere in the Everglades. Their current composition and community structure is determined to a large extent by recent hydrology, as well as by disturbances (fire, freezes, hurricanes, man). Tree islands have historical, cultural, and biological values that are recognized by nearly all parties to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). Maintaining and/or restoring the health of tree islands are major objectives of CERP. Consequently, there is a need within CERP for tools to assess the health of tree islands, and to relate these measures to the hydrologic regime to which they are exposed.

Action Plan to Conserve the Native Plants of Florida

In this document, a strategy aimed at conserving the native flora of Florida is presented. The strategy is developed in a four-step sequence. Following the Introduction (Part I), The Florida Native Plant Resource (Part II) describes the resource and the threats to it. That section includes a brief description of the vegetation of Florida prior to the demographic explosion of the last century, a report on the current status of plants in the state, and discussion of some factors responsible for the evident and continuing decline in the quality and quantity of the vegetation resource. In Part III (The Florida Plant Conservation Process), an explicit goal for plant conservation in Florida is expressed, a model describing the plant conservation process is presented, and activities included with each component of the model are examined and evaluated for the state as a whole. Finally, in Part IV (Recommendations To Improve The Process), changes are presented that we believe would help create a more effective plant conservation environment in Florida.