Trajectories of Vegetation Response to Water Management in Taylor Slough, Everglades National Park, Florida

Ecosystem management practices that modify the major drivers and stressors of an ecosystem often lead to changes in plant community composition. This paper examines how closely the trajectory of vegetation change in seasonally-flooded wetlands tracks management-induced alterations in hydrology and soil characteristics. We used trajectory analysis, a multivariate method designed to test hypotheses about rates and directions of community change, to examine vegetation shifts in response to changes in water management practices within the Taylor Slough basin of Everglades National Park. We summarized vegetation data by non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination, and examined the time trajectory of each site along environmental vectors representing hydrology and soil phosphorus gradients. In the Taylor Slough basin, vegetation change trajectories closely followed the hydrologic changes caused by the operation of water pumps and detention ponds adjacent to the canals. We also observed a shift in vegetation composition along a vector of increasing soil phosphorus, which suggests the need for implementing measures to avoid P-enrichment in southern Everglades marl prairies. This study indicates that shifts in vegetation composition in response to changes in hydrologic conditions and associated parameters may be detected through trajectory analysis, thereby providing feedback for adaptive management of wetland ecosystems.

Effect of Hydrologic Restoration on the Habitat of The Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, Annual Report of 2004-2005

The major activities in Year 3 on ‘Effect of hydrologic restoration on the habitat of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (CSSS)’ included presentations, field work, data analysis, and report preparation. During this period, we made 4 presentations, two at the CSSS – fire planning workshops at Everglades National Park (ENP), one at the Society of Wetland Scientists’ meeting in Charleston, SC, and a fourth at the Marl Prairie/CSSS performance measure workshop at ENP. We started field work in the third week of January and continued till June 3, 2005. Early in the field season, we completed vegetation surveys along two transects, B and C (~15.1 km). During April and May, vegetation sampling was completed at 199 census sites, bringing to 608 the total number of CSSS census sites with quantitative vegetation data. We updated data sets from all three years, 2003-05, and analyzed them using cluster analysis and ordination as in previous two years. However, instead of weighted averaging, we used weighted-averaging partial least square regression (WA-PLS) model, as this method is considered an improvement over WA for inferring values of environmental variables from biological species composition. We also validated the predictive power of the WA-PLS regression model by applying it to a sub-set of 100 census sites for which hydroperiods were “known” from two sources, i.e., from elevations calculated from concurrent water depth measurements onsite and at nearby water level recorders, and from USGS digital elevation data. Additionally, we collected biomass samples at 88 census sites, and determined live and dead aboveground plant biomass. Using vegetation structure and biomass data from those sites, we developed a regression model that we used to predict aboveground biomass at all transects and census sites. Finally, biomass data was analyzed in relation to hydroperiod and fire frequency.

A Geospatial Database of Tree Islands within the Mustang Corner Fire Incident of 2008

Fire, which affects community structure and composition at all trophic levels, is an integral component of the Everglades ecosystem (Wade et al. 1980; Lockwood et al. 2003). Without fire, the Everglades as we know it today would be a much different place. This is particularly true for the short-hydroperiod marl prairies that predominate on the eastern and western flanks of Shark River Slough, Everglades National Park (Figure 1). In general, fire in a tropical or sub-tropical grassland community favors the dominance of C4 grasses over C3 species (Roscoe et al. 2000; Briggs et al. 2005). Within this pyrogenic graminoid community also, periodic natural fires, together with suitable hydrologic regime, maintain and advance the dominance of C4 vs C3 graminoids (Sah et al. 2008), and suppress the encroachment of woody stems (Hanan et al. 2009; Hanan et al. unpublished manuscript) originating from the tree islands that, in places, dominate the landscape within this community. However, fires, under drought conditions and elevated fuel loads, can spread quickly throughout the landscape, oxidizing organic soils, both in the prairie and in the tree islands, and, in the process, lead to shifts in vegetation composition. This is particularly true when a fire immediately precedes a flood event (Herndon et al. 1991; Lodge 2005; Sah et al. 2010), or if so much soil is consumed during the fire that the hydrologic regime is permanently altered as a result of a decrease in elevation (Zaffke 1983).

Monitoring of Tree Island Conditions in the Southern Everglades: The Effects of Hurricanes and Hydrology on the Status and Population Dynamics of Sixteen Tropical Hardwood Hammock Tree Islands

In 2005 we began a multi-year intensive monitoring and assessment study of tropical hardwood hammocks within two distinct hydrologic regions in Everglades National Park, under funding from the CERP Monitoring and Assessment Program. In serving as an Annual Report for 2010, this document, reports in detail on the population dynamics and status of tropical hardwood hammocks in Shark Slough and adjacent marl prairies during a 4-year period between 2005 and 2009. 2005-09 was a period that saw a marked drawdown in marsh water levels (July 2006 - July 2008), and an active hurricane season in 2005 with two hurricanes, Hurricane Katrina and Wilma, making landfall over south Florida. Thus much of our focus here is on the responses of these forests to annual variation in marsh water level, and on recovery from disturbance. Most of the data are from 16 rectangular permanent plots of 225-625 m2 , with all trees mapped and tagged, and bi-annual sampling of the tree, sapling, shrub, and herb layer in a nested design. At each visit, canopy photos were taken and later analyzed for determination of interannual variation in leaf area index and canopy openness. Three of the plots were sampled at 2-month intervals, in order to gain a better idea of seasonal dynamics in litterfall and litter turnover. Changes in canopy structure were monitored through a vertical line intercept method.

Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Habitat Monitoring and Assessment - 2010 Final Report

For the last two decades, the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (CSSS), a federally endangered species, has been a pivot point for water management operations in the Everglades, primarily because a decline in sparrow population in the early 1990s was attributed in part to managementinduced alterations in hydrologic regimes. With a goal of understanding the response of landscape-level processes to hydrological restoration and its interaction with fire, a study intended to monitor vegetation structure and composition throughout the marl prairie landscape has been conducted since 2003 with funding from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In the first three years (2003-2005), vegetation structure and composition was characterized in relation to the existing hydrologic regime and fire history. During 2006-2010, vegetation was resampled to assess vegetation change within the sparrow habitat. This document summarizes the vegetation change pattern observed between the two sampling periods in sub-population A, C, E and F, emphasizing the work accomplished in FY 2010.

Monitoring of Tree Island Condition in the Southern Everglades: Annual Report 2011

Tree islands, a prominent feature in both the marl prairie and ridge and slough landscapes of the Everglades, are sensitive to large-scale restoration actions associated with the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) authorized by the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2000 to restore the south Florida ecosystem. More specifically, changes in hydrologic regimes at both local and landscape scales are likely to affect the internal water economy of islands, which in turn will influence plant community structure and function. To strengthen our ability to assess the “performance” of tree island ecosystems and predict how these hydrologic alterations would translate into ecosystem response, an improved understating of reference conditions of vegetation structure and function, and their responses to major stressors is important. In this regard, a study of vegetation structure and composition in relation to associated physical and biological processes was initiated in 2005 with initial funding from Everglades National Park and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). The study continued through 2011 with funding from US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) (Cooperative Agreement # W912HZ-09-2-0019 Modification No.: P00001).

(Table 1) Concentrations of amino acids in sediments from DSDP Site 68-502

In this chapter, we will report on the amino acids in the total acid hydrolysate of eight sediment samples from Leg 68 Site 502. This site was located on a topographic high at a depth of 3051 meters in the Colombian Basin of the western Caribbean Sea. Four holes were cored at the site by means of the hydraulic piston corer to a maximum sediment depth of 218 meters. The composite section is a virtually continuous, undisturbed sediment record covering almost 8 million years from the Holocene to late Miocene. Age estimates for the section are based on excellent magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic records. Four lithostratigraphic units (A, B, C, and D) were recognized, based on differences in color and content of clay, ash, foraminifers, and siliceous microfossils (Prell, Gardner, et al., 1980): A, yellowish brown to light brownish gray foraminifer-bearing (> 10%) nannofossil marl; B, gray to olive gray foraminifer-bearing nannofossil marl with occasional ash beds; C, light gray to dark greenish gray calcareous clay and foraminifer-bearing (< 10%) nannofossil marl; D, pale green to grayish green calcareous, ash-bearing clay with siliceous microfossils. The calcium carbonate content of these sediments increases from about 27 to about 49% from late Miocene to middle Pliocene (about 3.6 Ma) and remains uniform at about 48 to 50% from that time throughout the Quaternary. The eight sediment samples for amino acid analyses came from the third (502B) and fourth (502C) holes at Site 502. Samples ranged in sub-bottom depth from 4.3 to 225 meters spanning time from 0.3 to 7.7 Ma.

(Appendix) Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of ODP Site 160-964

Nitrogen isotopes of chlorins, degradation products of chlorophyll, reflect the isotopic composition of nutrient N utilized by marine phytoplankton communities. Here we show that in sediments of the eastern Mediterranean Pleistocene and Holocene, values of d15N for chlorins and total nitrogen vary in concert, with a consistent offset of ~5 per mil reflecting the fractionation imparted during chlorophyll biosynthesis. Samples from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Sites 964 and 969 were analyzed at a sampling resolution of ~4-10 cm, clustered around sapropel events 2, 3, 4 and 5 (~100-170 ka). In low organic content sediments, chlorin values of ~0 per mil coincident with total nitrogen values of ~+ 5 per mil indicate that the latter reflects the original biomass and is not a consequence of diagenetic isotope enrichment. In sapropel horizons, the chlorin and total nitrogen values are 5 per mil more negative (~-5 per mil and ~ 0 per mil, respectively), resembling previously-reported, modern-day water-column particulates (~0 per mil). We suggest that nutrient conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean correspond to three scenarios and that the similarity between sapropel and modern-day bulk d15N is coincidental. Organic-poor marl sediments formed under oligotrophic conditions where surface productivity resulted from upwelling of Atlantic-sourced nitrate. Sapropels were characterized by enhanced diazotrophy that was likely fueled by increased riverine P fluxes to surface waters. Present-day conditions are dominated by anthropogenic N sources. These scenarios agree with a model of sapropel formation in which stratification caused by increased fresh-water inputs led to N fixation due to P:N nutrient imbalance. Enhanced production combined with stratification promoted and maintained anoxic deep waters, consequently increasing organic matter preservation. Such a model may be relevant to interpreting other episodes of intense organic matter deposition in past oceans.

Fossil associations from the middle and upper Eocene strata of the Pamplona Basin and surrounding areas (Navarre, western Pyrenees)

Fossil associations from the middle and upper Eocene (Bartonian and Priabonian) sedimentary succession of the Pamplona Basin are described. This succession was accumulated in the western part of the South Pyrenean peripheral foreland basin and extends from deep-marine turbiditic (Ezkaba Sandstone Formation) to deltaic (Pamplona Marl, Ardanatz Sandstone and Ilundain Marl formations) and marginal marine deposits (Gendulain Formation). The micropalaeontological content is high. It is dominated by foraminifera, and common ostracods and other microfossils are also present. The fossil ichnoasssemblages include at least 23 ichnogenera and 28 ichnospecies indicative of Nereites, Cruziana, Glossifungites and ?Scoyenia-Mermia ichnofacies. Body macrofossils of 78 taxa corresponding to macroforaminifera, sponges, corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, annelids, molluscs, arthropods, echinoderms and vertebrates have been identified. Both the number of ichnotaxa and of species (e. g. bryozoans, molluscs and condrichthyans) may be considerably higher. Body fossil assemblages are comparable to those from the Eocene of the Nord Pyrenean area (Basque Coast), and also to those from the Eocene of the west-central and eastern part of South Pyrenean area (Aragon and Catalonia). At the European scale, the molluscs assemblages seem endemic from the Pyrenean area, although several Tethyan (Italy and Alps) and Northern elements (Paris basin and Normandy) have been recorded. Palaeontological data of studied sedimentary units fit well with the shallowing process that throughout the middle and late Eocene occurs in the area, according to the sedimentological and stratigraphical data.

Strontium isotopes and sedimentology of a marine Triassic succession (upper Ladinian) of the westernmost Tethys, Spain

Chemical Stratigraphy, or the study of the variation of chemical elements within sedimentary sequences, has gradually become an experienced tool in the research and correlation of global geologic events. In this paper 87Sr/ 86Sr ratios of the Triassic marine carbonates (Muschelkalk facies) of southeast Iberian Ranges, Iberian Peninsula, are presented and the representative Sr-isotopic curve constructed for the upper Ladinian interval. The studied stratigraphic succession is 102 meters thick, continuous, and well preserved. Previous paleontological data from macro and micro, ammonites, bivalves, foraminifera, conodonts and palynological assemblages, suggest a Fassanian-Longobardian age (Late Ladinian). Although diagenetic minerals are present in small amounts, the elemental data content of bulk carbonate samples, especially Sr contents, show a major variation that probably reflects palaeoenvironmental changes. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios curve shows a rise from 0.707649 near the base of the section to 0.707741 and then declines rapidly to 0.707624, with a final values rise up to 0.70787 in the upper part. The data up to meter 80 in the studied succession is broadly concurrent with 87Sr/86Sr ratios of sequences of similar age and complements these data. Moreover, the sequence stratigraphic framework and its key surfaces, which are difficult to be recognised just based in the facies analysis, are characterised by combining variations of the Ca, Mg, Mn, Sr and CaCO3 contents

Évolution pléistocène de la Seine fluviatile préservée en Baie de Seine

New high-resolution seismic data complemented with bedrock samples allowed us to propose a revised geological map of the Bay of Seine and to better define the control by the geological substrate on the morphogenesis and evolution of the Seine River during Pleistocene times. The new data confirm previous works. The Bay of Seine can be divided into two geological parts: a Mesozoic monocline domain occupying most of the bay and a syncline domain, mostly Tertiary, in the north, at the transition with the Central English Channel area. The highlighting of Eocene synsedimentary deformations, marked by sliding blocks in the syncline domain, is one of the most original inputs of this new study in the Bay of Seine that underlines the significant role of the substrate on the formation of the Seine paleo-valley. In the monocline domain, three terraces, pre-Saalian, Saalian and Weischelian in age respectively, constitute the infill of the paleovalley, preferentially incised into the middle to upper Jurassic marl-dominated formations, and bounded to the north by the seaward extension of the Oxfordian cuesta. The three terraces are preserved only along the northern bank of the paleovalley, evidencing a NE-to-SW migration of the successive valleys during the Pleistocene. We assume this displacement results from the tectonic tilt of the Paris Basin western margin. In the North, the paleo-Seine is incised into the axis of the tertiary syncline, and comprises three fill terraces that are assumed to have similar ages than those of the terraces. The fill terrace pattern is associated to the subsiding character of this northern domain of the Bay of Seine.

Verteilungsmuster der Mesofauna im hohen Ober-Hauterive Nordwestdeutschlands

The vertical distribution pattem of mesofaunal elements is described from clay-marl bedding rhythms from the Frielingen section (Hannover, NW Germany), which exposes latest Hau- terivian sediments (early Cretaceous). Some mesofaunal groups show a correlation with the pale- dark bedding rhythms. The pale, marly beds are chracterised by bryozoans. In addition remnants of crinoids, echinoids, asteroids, ophiuroids and holothuroids are more common in pale layers than in dark ones. Converseley, the relative abundance of serpulids, fish remains, bivalves and gastropods shows no relationship to the bedding rhythms.