This GIS data set represents mangroves in Florida. The data are reselected from land use and land cover data from Florida's water management districts.

Florida mangrove community includes 3 true species - Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinarus), and White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) with 1 associated species - Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus). Mangroves cover an area of 450,000 to 550,000 acres in Florida.

Mangroves are woody, salt-tolerant plants that occur along mudflats, estuary banks, and coastlines in tropical and subtropical environments around the world. They are able to thrive under harsh environmental conditions, and their extensive root systems provide the structure to support highly diverse and productive coastal ecosystems.While over 70 species of mangrove are recognized globally (Spaulding et al., 1997, ISBN: 9784906584031), only four are found in the along the coastal regions of the U.S. Gulf and Mexico: red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), and button mangrove (Conocarpus erectus). The predominant climactic factor restricting the geographic range of mangroves is believed to be freezing winter temperatures; thus, northward range expansion may be an indicator of a warming climate (Montagna et al., 2011; Giri et al., 2011).Data:Florida Mangroves (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)Texas Mangroves (NCEI; .zip)Mexico Mangroves (Gobierno de México)Metadata:Florida MangrovesTexas MangrovesMexico MangrovesThis is a component of the Gulf Data Atlas (V1.0) for the Biotic topic area.

Habitat maps of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve were created using WorldView-2 and Landsat-8 satellite imagery from 2010-2018. Landsat images were mapped using the Support Vector Machine machine learning method in ENVI, and WorldView images were mapped using a preliminary version of the SOALCHI decision tree algorithm. Habitats mapped include healthy mangrove, degraded mangrove, marsh, upland vegetation, soil, and water. Changes in habitats record damage caused by Hurricane Irma in September of 2017 as it made landfall in the reserve as a Category 4 storm. This data set is mosaicked georeferenced TIFF (.GeoTiff) files using all images from the month and year indicated by the filename. Time ranges from March 2013 to November 2018. This dataset also includes the .aux, ,cpg, .dbf,.tfw, and .ovr files exported with the TIFF image.

This pilot project has several related goals concerning a specific type of habitat thought to be important for juvenile sawfish habitat: mangrove shorelines. First, we will delineate and classify historic mangrove shorelines. Second, we will map and classify current mangrove shorelines. Third, we will determine amounts of shoreline change. Lastly, we will conduct an analysis to compare sawfish sightings and / or captures with the type of shoreline where those sightings-captures occurred. This will allow us to answer the question: Are juvenile sawfish selecting for a specific type of mangrove shoreline, and if so, what type of mangrove shoreline is it?

These data are associated with an article submitted for peer-review on June 9, 2020. The aim of the paper was to quantify the extent of mangrove damage resulting from Hurricane Irma in south Florida. Mangrove damage was quantified using remotely sensed imagery from satellite and airborne lidar sensors. The combination of the observations provided estimates of the change in forest cover and forest structure over the course of a year after the hurricane, ultimately leading to a spatially explicit map of mangrove resilience. Details regarding methods can be found in the supplemental information with the manuscript. The final south Florida Mangrove Resilience model following Hurricane Irma is provided in GEOTIFF format. The raster values range from 1 to 3. The spatial resolution is a nominal 30 m x 30 m (Landsat) resolution. […]

This project provides an integrated suite of vegetation and nutrient resource models of the land-margin ecosystem compatible with and undergirding other restoration models of hydrology and higher trophic levels identified as critical. This modeling project fills the gaps and needs of existing restoration models, ELM and ATLSS, for a vegetation and nutrient dynamics component and complements continuing empirical studies within the land-margin ecosystem of the Everglades restoration program. The proposed work has eight major objectives: 1. Re-measurement and analysis of mangrove permanent plots 10 years after the passage of Hurricane Andrew to verify forest structure models (SELVA-MANGRO) and to re-calibrate output accordingly. 2. Map historic marsh-mangrove ecotone boundaries in selected southwest Florida regions. 3. Survey land/water datums across the intertidal and develop tidal ebb/flow synoptic functions for incorporation into SELVA-MANGRO. 4. Site quality characterization across the mangrove landscape using ground surveys and research studies, aerial photography, and aerial videography. 5. Develop external SELVA-MANGRO model linkages and WEB-based access to SELVA-MANGRO for Everglades restoration evaluations. 6. Verify HYMAN (hydrology), NUMAN (nutrient/organic matter decomposition), and FORMAN (forest structure/primary productivity) unit ecological simulation models with application to Everglades restoration evaluations. 7. Link SALSA (Hydrology BOX model) to HYMAN and FORMAN models to develop a better link between vegetation response and hydrological fluxes to the Everglades system. 8. Conduct field and greenhouse studies on nutrient biogeochemistry and determine the effects of nutrients and hydroperiod on forest biomass allocation and soil formation.

Land-margin ecosystems (mangrove forests, brackish marshes, and coastal lakes) comprise some 40% of Everglades National Park. They support the important detrital foodwebs, fisheries, and wading bird colonies of the coastal zone. These systems are at the receiving end for the water management decisions made upstream which will impact the spatial distribution, timing, and quantity of freshwater flow. Additional factors which are important include disturbance history related to hurricanes and potential effects of projected sea-level rise. This project integrates the suite of spatial simulation models necessary to evaluate the response of land-margin ecosystems to upstream water management. Included are algorithms and databases of critical processes and spatio-temporal relations operating at the landscape, stand-level, and soil interface. These process and modeling studies are critical to the extended applications of the ATLSS and ELM modeling programs into the land-margin ecosystems of the Everglades.

Work conducted in 2008 will continue to establish baseline conditions for fish and macroinvertebrate communities in the mangrove creeks of Everglades National Park (ENP). This monitoring was begun in 2004, with the focus from 2004-2007 on testing methodologies and strategies for sampling fishes and macroinvertebrates in this difficult–to-sample mangrove habitat. Findings from the 2004-2007 work showed electrofishing catch per unit effort (CPUE) provided a reliable estimator of large-bodied fish abundance and species richness at salinities below 15 (Loftus and Rehage 2007, Rehage and Loftus 2007). For the smaller species, our data showed that minnow trap CPUE provides an adequate estimate of forage-fish and macroinvertebrate abundance in the mangrove prop-root microhabitat. Results also showed that there is significant biotic connectivity between freshwater marshes and the oligohaline/mesohaline mangrove habitats, particularly along the Shark Slough-Shark River ecotone. These data indicate that mangrove creeks serve as important dry-season habitat for a variety of freshwater taxa. As upstream marshes dry, fishes and decapods move into mangrove creeks. We hypothesize that the timing and spatial extent of this movement into creeks is affected by the pattern and timing of water recession in marshes, and the effects of this recession on salinity levels in the creeks. We suspect that animal movements into creeks results in a shift in energy flow from avian predators in the wetlands to piscine predators in the creeks. Ecotonal creeks are deep (> 1m), and prey that move into creeks become unavailable to many wading birds, instead serving as prey for freshwater, estuarine, and marine fish predators (along with alligators). In 2008, we continue to test these hypotheses. Sampling in FY08 will result in additional sampling events and increase replication, which should enhance our ability to detect changes in the fish and macroinvertebrate community in relation to changes in key ecological drivers, namely freshwater inflow and salinity. In particular, our objectives for 2008 include: (1) Continue data collection begun in 2004 to provide pre-CERP baseline conditions for the fish and macroinvertebrate community inhabiting mangrove creeks; (2) Relate patterns of variation in the fish and macroinvertebrate community of creeks to key hydrological and physiochemical variables; (3) Continue to develop an integrated experimental design that will optimize effort and information utility, incorporating both spatial (across the landscape) and temporal (seasonal and interannual) variability; (4) Continue to work with other PIs to integrate our results with theirs in testing the key hypotheses in MAP II. II. Statement of work (abbreviated) This MAP activity will enhance the ongoing biological monitoring in freshwater and estuarine regions of ENP by providing data from an infrequently sampled habitat that provides both a source and a sink for wetland forage fishes that are prey for wading birds. Relatively little is known about the fish community inhabiting mangrove creeks in ecotonal and estuarine regions of southwest Florida. Small-scale inventory studies in several creek systems showed a mixed assemblage of marine, estuarine, and freshwater fishes (Tabb and Manning 1961, Tabb et al. 1962, McPherson 1970, Odum 1971, Loftus and Kushlan 1987), but those studies are not recent and mostly provided inventory data. Without understanding the factors that control the survival and abundance of those fishes once they are confined to this dry-season habitat, it is impossible to predict the effects of CERP actions on this prey base in the future. Similarly, this activity also provides the only data for freshwater and estuarine fishes that support a valuable sport fishery in south Florida. Without these data on the effects of hydrology and salinity variation on patterns of fish abundance and diversity, the effects of CERP on those key fishery species will not be science-based.

Coastal Gradients across the freshwater-marine interface of the mangrove estuaries of Florida Bay and the Southwest Florida shelf are monitored to: - Track salinity gradients along historic flow paths that will be restored by CERP and relate to fresh water flow volumes and sea level. - Delineate the boundaries of coastal regions for the stratified random sample design - Measure freshwater flow volumes and nutrient inputs into the high-productivity salinity transition zone of the mangrove estuary to support the elevation of estuarine productivity in relation to freshwater inputs from CERP. - Measure freshwater flow volumes and nutrient inputs from Greater Everglades Wetlands to Florida Bay and Gulf estuaries.

The major products are planned as a series of USGS Open-File Reports, one for each complete, or near complete, set of photos. A photoset is defined as a collection of aerial photos that were taken during a discrete time, generally 30-60 days, with the same scale, film type, and camera. All OFRs will be distributed on CD-ROM and several on DVD. Each report will encompass a photoset with descriptive text sections such as Introduction, Metadata & Procedures, Study Area, and Acknowledgements. All scanned images will be in a downloadable format.

A foundation for Everglades restoration must include a clear understanding of the pre-drainage south Florida landscape. Knowledge of the spatial organization and structure of pre-drainage landscape communities such as mangrove forests, marshes, sloughs, wet prairies, and pinelands, is essential to provide potential endpoints, restoration goals and performance measures to gauge restoration success Information contained in historical aerial photographs of the Everglades can aid in this endeavor. The earliest known aerial photographs, from the mid to late 1920s, and resulted in the production of T-Sheets (Topographic Sheets) for the coasts and shorelines of south Florida. The T-Sheets are remarkably detailed, delineating features such as shorelines, ponds, and waterways, in addition to the position of the boundary between differing vegetation communities. If followed through time changes in the position of these ecotones could potentially be used to judge effects of changes in the landscape of the Everglades ecosystem, providing a standard by which restoration success can be ascertained. The overall objective is to create a digital archive of historical aerial photographs of Everglades national park and surrounding area of the greater Everglades and south Florida. The archive will be in readily available Geographic Information System formats for ease of accessibility. Each set of photos will be broadly disseminated to client agencies, academic institutions and the general public via Open-File Reports and through the Internet.

The images are available as .jpeg and as georeferenced .tiff files. With the exception of three images, all images are subset to 7500 pixels square. Individual photos can be selected from the 1940 flight lines image at http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/aerial-photos/40s_flight.html The numbering scheme for the aerial photos is an identification number consisting of the flight number followed by the photo or frame number.

A foundation for Everglades research must include a clear understanding of the pre-drainage south Florida landscape. Knowledge of the spatial organization and structure of pre-drainage landscape communities such as mangrove forests, marshes, sloughs, wet prairies. And pinelands, is essential to provide potential endpoints, restoration goals and performance measures to gauge restoration success. Information contained in historical aerial photographs of the Everglades can aid in this endeavor. The earliest known aerial photographs are from the mid-to-late 1920s and resulted in the production of what are called T-sheets (Topographic sheets) for the coasts and shorelines of far south Florida. The position of the boundary between differing vegetation communities (the ecotone) can be accurately measured. If followed through time, changes in the position of these ecotones could potentially be used to judge effects of drainage on the Everglades ecosystem and to monitor restoration success. The Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), a center of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Biological Resources Discipline (BRD), in collaboration with the Eastern Region Geography (ERG) of the Geography Discipline has created digital files of existing 1940 (1:40,000-scale) Black and White aerial photography for the South Florida region. These digital files are available through the SOFIA web site at http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/aerial-photos/index.html

This web map is used in an app entitled, Wildlife Management Areas, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Wildlife Management Areas are intended to minimize disturbance to sensitive or endangered wildlife and their habitats, such as bird nesting, resting or feeding areas, and turtle nesting beaches. There are forty-four (44) Wildlife Management Areas within Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. A list of the Wildlife Management Areas are provided below:Ballast and Man Keys Flats Wildlife Management AreaBarracuda Keys Wildlife Management AreaBarnes-Card Sound Wildlife Management AreaBay Keys Wildlife Management Area Boca Grande Wildlife Management AreaBig Mullet Key Wildlife Management AreaCayoa Agua Wildlife Management AreaChannel Key Banks Wildlife Management AreaCotton Key Wildlife Management Area Cottrell Key Wildlife Management Area Crane Key Wildlife Management AreaCrocodile Lake Wildlife Management Area Dove Key Wildlife Management Area East Bahia Honda Key Wildlife Management AreaEast Content and Upper Harbor Key Flats Keys Wildlife Management Area East Harbor Key Wildlife Management AreaEastern Lake Surprise Wildlife Management Area Happy Jack Key Wildlife Management AreaHorseshoe Key Wildlife Management Area Howe Key Mangrove Wildlife Management AreaLittle Mullet Key Wildlife Management Area Little Pine Key Mangrove Wildlife Management AreaLower Harbor Keys Wildlife Management Area Marathon Oceanside Shoreline Wildlife Management AreaMarquesas Keys Wildlife Management Area Marquesas Turtle Wildlife Management AreaMud Keys Wildlife Management Area Northeast Tarpon Belly Keys Wildlife Management AreaPelican Key Wildlife Management AreaPelican Shoal Wildlife Management Area Pigeon Key Wildlife Management AreaRed Bay Bank Wildlife Management Area Rodriguez Key Wildlife Management Area Sawyer Keys Wildlife Management Area Snake Creek Wildlife Management Area Snipe Keys Wildlife Management Area Tavernier Key Wildlife Management Area Torch Key Mangroves Wildlife Management AreaTortugas Bank Wildlife Management AreaWater Key Mangroves Wildlife Management AreaWest Bahia Honda Key Wildlife Management AreaWest Content Keys Wildlife Management Area Western Dry Rocks Wildlife Management AreaWhitmore Bight: Wildlife Management AreaWoman Key Wildlife Management Area

In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a series of studies to monitor several major creeks and rivers that discharge freshwater into northeastern Florida Bay and the southwest coast of Everglades National Park (ENP). These studies provide water-level, flow, salinity, and temperature data for model development and calibration and also serve as a long term data set to assist in detecting change in hydrology, as well as other physical, biological and chemical studies being conducted in these areas. These studies are being done as part of the USGS Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science program (PES), which is an effort by the USGS to provide earth science information needed to resolve land-use and water issues. Additional support is provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Everglades National Park (ENP) for PES. As part of these studies, a network of 34 hydrologic monitoring stations is already in place and historical data is currently available through the USGS South Florida Information Access (SOFIA) web page at URL: http://sofia.er.usgs.gov/. Real time information is available at the USGS National Water Information Systems URL: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/fl/nwis/rt. In 2003, CERP MAP funding through the South Florida Water Management District established 10 monitoring stations as part of the Coastal Gradients Network, Map Activity 3.1.3.3. The purpose of this MAP project with the USACE is to continue operation of these 10 stations for those MAP activities. Future funding for the northeastern Florida Bay and southwest coast estuarine studies is expected to continue from the USGS PES program in order support the larger integrated monitoring network. The MAP funding of monitoring stations within the Coastal Gradients network is a direct benefit to the overall integrated network and supplies critical hydrologic information where none previously existed.

Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this project is to operate and maintain ten (10) established hydrologic and water quality data collection platforms (DCP’s) in the coastal and fresh water marsh environments of the Everglades in order to support a larger integrated monitoring network (Fig. 1). The hydrologic and water quality information from this network is available for the development and calibration of hydrodynamic and water quality models of the Everglades, Florida Bay, and adjacent marine systems. Data will also provide information to evaluate impacts from project level CERP activity such as the C-111 Spreader Canal, the Combined Structural and Operational Plan (CSOP), and ModWaters.

The network of DCP’s collect information at points of interest along transects that represent major flow paths from the Everglades wetlands to the southern estuaries. The continuous data collected from surface and ground water along with nutrient loading computations is summarized in subsequent sections of this report. This long-term monitoring network spans the major flow paths from the Everglades wetlands to the southern estuaries which help provide a system-wide understanding of the ecosystem responses seen in the Everglades due to changes in water management practices and climatic variability. This data set contributes to the success of CERP by: a. Providing pre-CERP (baseline) and concurrent data on hydrologic and water quality parameters available for comparison during and after CERP modifications from projects such as the C-111 Spreader Canal, CSOP, and ModWaters. b. The ability to perform scientific investigations with physical data in order to increase ecosystem understanding. c. Having real-time and historic data available to detect unexpected responses within the ecosystem due to CERP activities.

In 2001 a mark-recapture study on mangrove terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) in the Big Sable Creek (BSC) complex within Everglades National Park was initiated. The summary data for terrapins in BSC were collected over 5 sampling trips in a two-year period (November 2001 - October 2003) and from analysis of individual terrapin capture histories.

Study objectives were to estimate adult survival probablility, capture probablilty, and abundance of terrapins at this study site. This allowed the establishment of the first baseline assessment for mangrove terrapins in the coastal Everglades.

Just like its climate, Earth’s land cover varies widely between regions. Some regions are characterized by deserts, while in others wetlands predominate. Boreal forests, also called taiga, cover much of the planet’s northern latitudes, while tropical forests are a common feature in equatorial countries. These diverse types of land cover can be further broken down into “ecoregions”—large expanses of land, each with a distinct biological and environmental character.Mapping land cover often involves defining a set of ecoregions and determining which part or parts of Earth’s surface match the criteria for each ecoregion. To define a set of ecoregions, scientists may supplement existing work, such as maps of species distribution and vegetation types, with new insights and data gathered from regional experts. The land cover types included in this map layer are based on biogeographic research (sources listed here), a framework last updated in 2017 that defines more than 846 land-based ecoregions within about a dozen biomes or habitat types. This map layer represents those broader categories, like deserts and tropical forests. A couple tips for navigating this layer: 1) If a region is shaded entirely in the color representing a particular biome, it indicates that that biome is the predominant one, but there may be characteristics of other biomes present as well. 2) The actual borders between biomes are often large regions unto themselves rather than precise lines. There’s even a name for these transition areas: ecotones!This map layer from RESOLVE Biodiversity and Wildlife Solutions includes the following biomes:Boreal Forests/Taiga: widespread in northern Russia and Canada, boreal forests are typically home to lots of conifers, mosses, and lichensDeserts and Xeric Shrubland: the evaporation rate may be greater than the rate of precipitation in these dry regions exemplified by the Sahara and GobiFlooded Grasslands and Savannas: like mangroves, this biome is waterlogged land that may support grasses, shrubs, and trees; the Everglades of South Florida are an exampleMangroves: the mangrove tree dominates these coastal regions, which frequently lie within intertidal zonesMediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub: these wooded regions are known for their hot, dry summers and cool, wet wintersMontane Grasslands and Shrublands: this biome, which features waxy, hairy plants, defines the Tibetan Plateau and parts of the Andes Bare Earth: occurring largely in Earth’s polar regions, bare earth includes tundra, a type of cold desert with sparse vegetationTemperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests: this biome may include oak, beech, and maple trees; in contrast to tropical forests, biodiversity here is usually concentrated near the forest floorTemperate Coniferous Forests: this biome has warm summers and cool winters with a wide variety of plant life including either needleleaf or broadleaf evergreen treesTemperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrubland: trees are less common in this biome, which goes by many names—such as prairie, pampas, and veldTropical and Subtropical Coniferous Forests: located mostly in North and Central American regions with low precipitation and moderate temperature variability making it ideal for needleleaf conifers to growTropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests: this biome is characterized by year-round warm temperatures but seasonal precipitation that results in a long dry periods and feature drought-deciduous trees, for example the forests of southern Mexico or central India Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands: prominent in East Africa, these regions are often too dry to support much tree growthTropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests: common in the region between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, this biome has steady temperatures year round and high precipitation allowing for evergreen and semi-evergreen treesTundra: found near the poles, this biome is characterized by a cold desert, dark winters and sunny summers with low growing vegetation

Introduction

Concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus are often higher in groundwater than in surface water. Seawater intrudes along the entire coastline of the southern Everglades (Fig 1). This brackish groundwater contains concentrations of total phosphorus (TP) as high as 2 M (Price et al. 2006), with higher groundwater TP concentrations with increasing salinity. The occurrence of the brackish groundwater corresponds with the mangrove ecotone along the coastal Everglades, and suggests that the mangroves may be utilizing this high TP groundwater as a nutrient source.
The goal of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is to restore the natural quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of flows into the Everglades. CERP is expected to restore the freshwater flows across Tamiami Trail and the northern boundary of ENP. The additional supply of freshwater to Shark Slough is expected to move the brackish groundwater closer towards the coastline, thereby moving the nutrient rich groundwater closer to the coast. The ecological implications for the movement of the brackish groundwater are currently unknown. This project directly addresses Hypothesis 9.2.4.4 in the "Assessment Strategy of the Monitoring and Assessment Plan" (RECOVER 2005): Sea level and freshwater flow as determinants of production, organic matter accretion, and resilience of coastal mangrove forests.

Objectives

The goal of this study is to determine the concentrations of both total and dissolved nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon) in groundwater and sediment water within the mangrove ecotone region of Shark River Slough. Samples will be collected from existing USGS wells. Many of these wells were sampled in 2003 and the nutrient concentrations in these wells were published in Price et al (2006). This additional sampling and analysis will determine if the nutrient concentrations in the brackish groundwater beneath the Shark River Slough region has changed since 2003. The data collected in this study will also provide background information on groundwater concentrations of nutrients within the mangrove ecotone, prior to the increase of freshwater flows across Tamiami Trail.

Introduction

Concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus are often higher in groundwater than in surface water. Seawater intrudes along the entire coastline of the southern Everglades (Fig 1). This brackish groundwater contains concentrations of total phosphorus (TP) as high as 2 M (Price et al. 2006), with higher groundwater TP concentrations with increasing salinity. The occurrence of the brackish groundwater corresponds with the mangrove ecotone along the coastal Everglades, and suggests that the mangroves may be utilizing this high TP groundwater as a nutrient source.
The goal of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is to restore the natural quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of flows into the Everglades. CERP is expected to restore the freshwater flows across Tamiami Trail and the northern boundary of ENP. The additional supply of freshwater to Shark Slough is expected to move the brackish groundwater closer towards the coastline, thereby moving the nutrient rich groundwater closer to the coast. The ecological implications for the movement of the brackish groundwater are currently unknown. This project directly addresses Hypothesis 9.2.4.4 in the “Assessment Strategy of the Monitoring and Assessment Plan†(RECOVER 2005): Sea level and freshwater flow as determinants of production, organic matter accretion, and resilience of coastal mangrove forests.

Objectives

The goal of this study is to determine the concentrations of both total and dissolved nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon) in groundwater and sediment water within the mangrove ecotone region of Shark River Slough. Samples will be collected from existing USGS wells. Many of these wells were sampled in 2003 and the nutrient concentrations in these wells were published in Price et al (2006). This additional sampling and analysis will determine if the nutrient concentrations in the brackish groundwater beneath the Shark River Slough region has changed since 2003. The data collected in this study will also provide background information on groundwater concentrations of nutrients within the mangrove ecotone, prior to the increase of freshwater flows across Tamiami Trail.

The South Florida Seagrass Fish and Invertebrate Assessment Network (FIAN) is an element of the Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP) a part of RECOVER, the Restoration, Coordination and Verification Program of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). FIAN is an element of the Southern Coastal System module of MAP (MAP activities 3.2.3.5 and 3.2.4.5). FIAN monitors seagrass-associated fish and invertebrate (penaeid and caridean shrimp and crabs) communities present in shallow waters of South Florida; the pink shrimp, Farfantepenaeus duorarum, as an indicator of restoration success, is a species of special interest. FIAN represents the first region-wide view of these communities and the pink shrimp.

The FIAN monitoring component of the Southern Estuaries module of MAP is designed to support the four broad objectives of MAP: (1) to establish a pre-CERP reference state, including variability, for each of the performance measures; (2) to determine the status and trends in the performance measures; (3) to detect unexpected responses of the ecosystem to changes in stressors resulting from CERP activities; and (4) to support scientific investigations designed to increase ecosystem understanding, cause-and-effect, and interpretation of unanticipated results.

The data developed in FIAN will be used to evaluate the success of CERP by contributing to the assessment of the estuarine response to restoration-related modifications to upstream hydrology in the freshwater Everglades. At present, FIAN provides input to the pink shrimp performance measure (RECOVER, 2004; SFWMD 2005). The pink shrimp emerged as an ecosystem attribute to be monitored from the Florida and Biscayne Bay conceptual ecological models. More generally these data will be used to relate seagrass-associated faunal communities to habitat and environmental conditions in South Florida shallow water estuaries.

FIAN is closely coupled with the MAP seagrass monitoring project FHAP-SF and other seagrass monitoring programs in South Florida, e.g. DERM. Close coupling with seagrass monitoring recognizes the importance of shallow seagrass systems to the function of coastal waters and their vulnerability to anthropogenic change. Estuaries downstream from CERP projects will be affected by changes in the quantity, timing, and distribution of freshwater inflows. Associated changes in estuarine salinity regimes and subsequent, long-term, changes in benthic vegetation are anticipated. We hypothesize that abundance and diversity of seagrass-associated fish and invertebrates including the pink shrimp in nearshore waters of South Florida will increase as the overlap of favorable salinity conditions with favorable seagrass/algal habitat increase.

Vegetation mapping will monitor the spatial extent, pattern, and proportion of plant communities within major landscape regions of the Greater Everglades Wetlands. Specific landscape changes to be monitored that pertain to the CERP include the following: · Changes in the extent and orientation of sloughs, tree islands, and sawgrass ridges as flow patterns, flow volumes, hydroperiods, and water quality are modified in the ridge and slough landscape · Changes in the extent and distribution of cattail as flow patterns, flow volumes, hydroperiods, and water quality are modified in the ridge and slough landscape · Changes in the extent and distribution of exotic plant communities · Changes in the distribution and configuration of tidal creeks, salt marshes, and mangrove forests as changing flow patterns and volumes interact with sea level and salinity in the mangrove estuaries of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico · Changes in the distribution of plant communities in calcitic wetlands, including tussock-forming Muhlenbergia and sawgrass communities in the major breeding locations of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, as hydrologic gradients change · Changes in the distribution of plant communities of eastern Big Cypress with the removal of L-28 and hydroperiod restoration in the Kissimmee Billy Strand Regional landscape patterns will be monitored using a combination of a transect and sentinel site sampling design (Section 3.1.3.1) and a stratified random sampling design (Section 3.1.3.10). Aerial photo-interpretation is currently the best tool available to produce dependable and accurate maps of the Everglades (Welch et al. 1995, Doren et al. 1999, Rutchey and Vilchek 1999, Richardson and Harris 1995). Aerial photography of the greater Everglades wetland system at a scale of 1/24,000 will be purchased at three-year intervals. Photography will be interpreted and ground-truthed to produce vegetation maps at three-year intervals for the randomly selected cells. Additional cells will be mapped to supplement the stratified random cells along the alignments of the coastal, marl prairie -slough, and WCA gradients that are described above. The vegetation classification scheme of Jones et al. (unpublished report) will be used to identify major plant communities that are defined by typical dominant species.

Understanding the factors controlling changes in wetland sediment surface elevation has been identified as a key component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). This is true for coastal saline wetlands such as mangrove forests and for interior freshwater wetlands such as the ridge and slough. Hydrology is a driving factor for plant species distribution in wetlands and for influencing primary production. Upstream freshwater inflows determine downstream salinity regimes which in turn influence plant species occurrence and productivity. Plant productivity, especially belowground productivity (i.e. roots) can produce peat which has a positive feedback on sediment elevation by raising it (Fig. 1). Disturbances (drought, fires and hurricanes) can influence elevation through a variety of mechanisms. Hurricanes may deposit sediment leading to a direct increase in wetland elevation. Hurricanes may also kill the vegetation which leads to peat collapse and loss of elevation (Cahoon et al. 2003). Prior to FY2004, the U.S. Geological Survey – Biological Resources Discipline was sampling wetlands hydrology at a number of sites in the coastal Everglades as part of the Mangrove Hydrology Sampling Network (Fig. 2, see Smith 2004). Both surface water and ground water sampling wells were installed along two transects. Sediment elevation and vegetation dynamics were sampled concurrently at these sites. Our work addresses several questions related to wetland sediment surface elevation in the coastal Everglades: (1) Wetland sediment surface elevation is more variable in freshwater than in estuarine wetlands; (2) Fluctuations in groundwater stage are more important in determining sediment surface elevation in downstream estuarine wetlands than are factors in the shallow root zone; (3) Surface water fluctuation is more important in controlling sediment elevation in upstream freshwater wetlands; and, (4) How do pulse disturbances, such as hurricanes, interact with long-term processes, such as sea-level rise, to affect wetland elevation? With regard to CERP, we address Hypothesis Cluster 9.2.4 of the 2005 Assessment Strategy for the Monitoring and Assessment Plan. Specifically we deal with Hypothesis #4: Sea level and freshwater flow as determinants of production, organic soil accretion and resilience of coastal mangrove forests (Recover 2005).