Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research. Field Guide to Research Sites

Transcription

1 Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Field Guide to Research Sites

2 Overview of FCE-LTER The FCE-LTER project is a collaboration of over 120 researchers, students, and technical staff. The team studies the ways in which hydrology, climate, and human activities affect ecosystem patterns in the estuarine ecotones, or regions where freshwater and saltwater mix, of the Florida Coastal Everglades. In addition to collecting data, conducting experiments, and building models, the FCE-LTER team also distributes data to other scientists, presents research results at scientific conferences, publishes papers in peerreviewed journals, trains graduate students to be professional scientists, and provides education and outreach to the south Florida community.

3 Human Dimensions Study Site South Florida Water Management District The FCE Human Dimensions study site includes the rural southernmost region of Miami-Dade County. The study site has undergone significant land conversion over the past few decades primarily from agricultural and undeveloped land to residential development. Now, pockets of exurban developments fragment these agricultural lands. Human Dimensions researchers are interested in understanding the economic, social and ecological consequences of this substantial land conversion and have delineated a transect for remote sensing and household interviews.

4 Shark River Slough Transect

5 SRS Transect Site 1 (SRS 1) SRS 1 anchors the northern end of the Shark River Slough transect to canal inputs approximately 1 mile south of the Tamiami Trail road. It is a freshwater sawgrass marsh interspersed with spikerush and Panicum slough underlain with thick peat soils.

6 SRS Transect Site 2 (SRS 2) Shark River Slough 2 (SRS-2) is located in the central part of FCE s Shark River Slough transect. This long hydroperiod site is characterized by a ridge and slough microtopography and has a limestone bedrock. The soil at this site, which is about 1m thick, is wetland peat and is very rich in organic matter content. This is also the most oligotrophic site along either FCE transect. The vegetation here is dominated by sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense, and spikerush, Eleocharis spp.

7 SRS Transect Site 3 (SRS 3) This estuarine ecotone site is located at the upstream edge of the oligohaline mangrove zone. Mangroves make their appearance in the landscape just south of this site. While the environment here is basically freshwater marsh, salinity is measurable late in the dry season (May) nearly every year.

8 SRS Transect Site 4 (SRS 4) Located in the upper reaches of Tarpon Bay, this oligohaline site receives substantial freshwater input from the north but is also influenced by the daily tidal inputs from the Gulf of Mexico. Salinities can reach 30 ppt during the dry season but concentrations are generally less that 10 ppt through most of the wet season. Marl and peat dominate the soil, while stunted black and red mangroves create a thick canopy overhead. Following the tidal creek north, the freshwater prairie is almost visible with characteristic sawgrass and spikerush vegetation.

9 SRS Transect Site 5 (SRS 5) This estuarine site is found near Gunboat Island in the Shark River, a centrally located area roughly equidistant between the oligohaline ecotone and the Gulf of Mexico. The mangrove forest at this site is generally taller than at SRS 4 but not as tall as SRS 6. The water depth averages 3 meters at this tidal site and the water current is particularly strong compared to most other sites in Shark River Slough.

10 SRS Transect Site 6 (SRS 6) SRS 6 is located at the marine end-member of the Shark River estuary near the Gulf of Mexico. Due to the site s proximity to a marine source of phosphorus, the mangrove forest canopy can reach 20m or more as is typical for nutrient-rich tropical mangrove forests. A carbon flux tower is stationed at this site to monitor carbon exchange across the canopy of the forest.

11 Taylor Slough Transect

12 TS Transect Site 1 (TS-Ph 1) This canal-side site is located where the western berm of the L-31W canal levee was graded to allow water to enter upper Taylor Slough. Water in the canal is controlled by the S-332D pump structure. The marsh here is characterized by limestone bedrock outcroppings and has little soil. The soil that is here is carbonate marl, which is poor in organic content. The dominant macrophytes of this site are sawgrass and Muhlenbergia.

13 TS Transect Site 2 (TS-Ph 2) TS-Ph 2 is located in the upper part of FCE s Taylor Slough watershed and is the deepest part of freshwater marsh along the transect. This short hydroperiod site is characterized by seasonally driven sheet flow. The bedrock at this site is composed of limestone and the soil, which is about 1m thick, is a marl-peat very low in organic matter content. The vegetation here is dominated by sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense, and spikerush, Eleocharis spp..

14 TS Transect Site 3 (TS-Ph 3) This site is located at the upstream edge of the oligohaline ecotone between freshwater marsh and dwarf mangrove forest. Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) dots a landscape dominated by sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense). TS-Ph 3 experiences dry soils for several months during the dry season and thus salinity is usually not detected here.

15 TS Transect Site 6 (TS-Ph 6) Taylor Slough 6 (TS-Ph 6) is the northernmost estuarine site in FCE s Taylor Slough watershed transect and is situated at the northern end of Taylor River. This site exhibits little to no salinity during the wet season due to freshwater inputs from the north but gradually increases to full-strength seawater as freshwater flow fades during the dry season. Vegetation here is dominated by dwarf red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) with a spattering of freshwater marsh vegetation (notably sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense, and spikerush, Eleocharis spp.).

16 TS Transect Site 7 (TS-Ph 7) This LTER site, located at the mouth of Taylor River, is a micro-tidal estuary exhibiting freshwater during the wet season and full-strength saltwater during the dry season. The vegetation community mainly consists of dwarf red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), though other mangroves and some freshwater vegetation are present.

17 TS Transect Site 9 (TS-Ph 9) TS-Ph 9 is located near Duck Key in oligotrophic northeastern Florida Bay. The site has low phosphorus availability and shallow muddy marine sediment. Submerged aquatic vegetation includes the dominant seagrass Thalassia testudinum as well as the calcareous green algae Penicillus spp. Of the marine FCE sites, T. testudinum at TS-Ph 9 has the lowest foilar %P and the highest shoot density per square meter. Salinity at this site ranges from with an average of 35.6 psu. Water depth is less than 2 meters.

18 TS Transect Site 10 (TS-Ph 10) TS-Ph 10 is located near Bob Allen Keys in the oligotrophic center of Florida Bay. The site has low phosphorus availability and shallow muddy marine sediment. Submerged aquatic vegetation includes the dominant seagrass Thalassia testudinum, the calcareous green algae Penicillus spp., as well as the green algae Batophora. T. testudinum at TS-Ph 10 has higher foilar %P than at TS-Ph 9 and an average shoot density of 295 m -2. Salinity at this site ranges from with an average of 31.8 psu. Water depth is less than 2 meters.

19 TS Transect Site 11 (TS-Ph 11) TS-Ph 11 is located near Sprigger Bank at the western, open boundary between Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The site has high phosphorus availability and halimeda-hash sediment. Submerged aquatic vegetation includes the seagrasses Thalassia testudinum, Syringodium filiforme, and Halodule wrightii, calcareous green algaes Halimeda spp. and Penicillus spp., as well as the red algae Laurencia. T. testudinum at TS-Ph 11 has higher foilar %P than at TS-Ph 9 and TS-Ph 10 and an average shoot density of 221 m -2. Salinity at this site ranges from with an average of 35.7 psu. Water depth is less than 2 meters.

20 Acknowledgements Many thanks to Oliva Pisani, Jay Munyon, Xavier Zapata, Rebecca Garvoille, Rebecca Bernard, Edward Casteneda, Greg Losada, Greg Koch, Evelyn Gaiser, and Mike Rugge for their contributions and assistance. Florida Coastal Everglades LTER Program Southeast Environmental Research Center Florida International University University Park, OE SW 8th Street Miami, FL 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 and #DEB