South Florida Coastal Research Articles

Diversity of Hypnea (Rhodophyta) in South Florida, with description of H. spiniformis sp. nov.

The genus Hypnea is well known to be rich in cryptic species, with many new species being recognized recently based on molecular data. Therefore, we used mitochondrial (COI-5P) and plastid (rbcL) molecular markers, in addition to aspects of morphology, to investigate the diversity of Hypnea on the coast of South Florida. Molecular divergences and phylogenetic inferences indicated that four species were present: H. caraibica and H. cryptica, both new occurrences on the Florida coast; H. musciformis, already previously reported and H. spiniformis sp. nov. described in this work. Our data reinforce the importance of studies with an integrative taxonomy approach to delimit species and correctly identify them.

Mean circulation and its seasonal cycle on the West Florida Shelf as evidenced by multi-decadal time series of moored currents and winds

Time series from a moored array of current velocity and surface meteorological sensors, some with record lengths as long as 25 years, are used to describe both the long-term mean circulation and its seasonal variations on the West Florida Continental Shelf (WFS). The moorings are part of the University of South Florida's Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (USF-COMPS), a network of ocean observing assets along with numerical circulation models, all used to describe and understand physical and ecological processes on the WFS. These USF-COMPS observations reveal a coherent, shelf-wide mean circulation pattern with depth-averaged flow directed alongshore and down-coast. The vertical structure and the seasonal variations further describe an inner-shelf, wind-driven upwelling region separated from a deeper-ocean influenced offshore downwelling region by a coastal jet. By adding to the record lengths from previous analyses, the statistics are shown to be robust, with the inferences drawn from shorter records being borne out by the present longer-term analyses.

Ocean-atmosphere heat exchange seasonal cycle on the West Florida Shelf derived from long term moored data

Twenty-three years of surface meteorological and oceanographic data sampled from moored buoys are used to study the seasonal and interannual variations of ocean–atmosphere heat exchange and its influence on West Florida Continental Shelf (WFS) water temperature and stratification. The data are from the University of South Florida's Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (COMPS), part of the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA). Observed are incoming short and longwave radiation, air and sea surface temperatures (AT and SST), barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity, water column velocity profiles, and water column temperature at discrete depths. These data are used to estimate net shortwave and longwave radiation and sensible and latent heat fluxes via the COARE 3.6 algorithm. When combined, these radiative and turbulent heat flux influences are compared with the heating and cooling of the WFS water column and SST. On seasonal average, heating starts in February and lasts through August, with a maximum rate of change in May, while cooling starts in September and lasts through January, with the maximum rate of change in October. Also on seasonal average, SST varies from 18.4 °C in February to 30.4 °C in August at mooring C10 (at the 25 m isobath) and from 20.1 °C in February to 30.2 °C in August at mooring C12 (at the 50 m isobath), the differences in the seasonal range being due to increased ocean circulation influence in deeper water. Both the spring and fall transition onsets, February and August, respectively, occur when the sign of the net heat flux changes. The water column begins to stratify in March, peaking in June–July and lagging the surface heating by one or two months, then decreasing through September at C10 and October at C12. Stratification is also modified by persistent upwelling when the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current (LC) interacts with the WFS slope at its southwest corner near the Dry Tortugas. Interannual temperature anomalies from the seasonal cycle are also related to how the LC interacts with the WFS slope.

Sea surface temperature trends for Tampa Bay, West Florida Shelf and the deep Gulf of Mexico

Sea surface temperatures for Tampa Bay, the West Florida Continental Shelf (WFS) and the adjacent deep Gulf of Mexico are examined for trends. Data sets are from stations maintained by the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission, buoys maintained by the University of South Florida Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System and the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) National Data Buoy Center, the Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature analyses by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, and the Hadley Centre Sea Surface Temperature. These various data sets, each with different record lengths, require the consideration of trends both on the basis of record length and start time. Tampa Bay shows a warming trend, but with considerable inter-annual variability and start time bias resulting in a lack of statistical significance in more recent years. The WFS is also generally warming, and its inter-annual variability is largely controlled by the upwelling of cooler, deeper Gulf of Mexico water across the shelf break. The deep GOM shows statistically significant warming in most of the data except for the “gappy” records from buoys, both along the continental shelf and in the deep water. Trends in the Gulf of Mexico are mostly between 0.1 and 0.5 °C/decade, somewhat larger than the secular rise found globally, although within the range of the observed decadal variability.

First successful nest for the Vulnerable American crocodileCrocodylus acutuspopulation on the west coast of Florida, USA

AbstractThe American crocodileCrocodylus acutusoccurs across the Americas, with its northernmost distribution being in South Florida, USA. This species has undergone severe declines across its range and is categorized globally as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and as Threatened on the U.S. Federal Endangered Species List. Long-term monitoring studies in the USA have documented a shift in American crocodile nesting activity and an expansion of its range throughout the southern and eastern coasts of South Florida. However, no successful American crocodile nests have been recorded until now on the west coast of South Florida. Here we document the American crocodile nest monitoring conducted during 1997–2021 at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the first successful nest from the west coast of South Florida forC. acutus. Marco Airport and McIlvane Marsh are the two main American crocodile nesting areas identified at the Reserve, with 92 nests and 3,586 eggs recorded during 1997–2021. We found most nests at Marco Airport (95.7%) and only four nests (4.3%) at McIlvane Marsh. To date, none of the nests found at Marco Airport have produced successful hatchlings. In contrast, hatchlings have been produced at McIlvane Marsh since nests were first documented there in 2020. We discuss the implications of our findings in terms of the future conservation of the species.

Nest-site choice by loggerhead sea turtles as a risk-management adaptation to offset hatching failure by unpredictable storms and predators

IntroductionAlong the coasts of Florida, United States, the nesting season of the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, overlaps with the hurricane season. Nesting loggerhead females do not extend parental protection beyond depositing eggs in sandy, excavated nests in locations that provide a viable range of temperatures, moisture, and respiratory gas exchange. Thereafter, a female’s clutches are subjected to the uncertainties of desiccation, predation, flooding, or beach erosion.MethodsHere, we used data from a 1996-2004 study of 94 tagged loggerhead females nesting on a small barrier island off the Gulf Coast of south Florida, United States. We tested the hypothesis that the distribution of nest sites by loggerhead females was a randomized response to unpredictable hatching failure.ResultsWe show that nest site choice accounted for 19.2% of variation in hatching success whereas breeding year and breeding month accounted for the remaining 81.8% of variation in hatching success. We show that the emergence site along the beach-length axis, nest site choice along the beach-width axis, and distances between nest locations did not fit a uniform-random distribution or a normal distribution. Instead, we show that loggerhead females employed a “Goldilocks” distribution in which nest sites were “neither too clustered nor too dispersed.” Moreover, loggerhead females selected nest sites with limited overlap with nest sites from previous breeding seasons.DiscussionWe propose that nest site choice by this population of loggerhead females constitutes a significant maternal risk-management adaptation that deserves thoughtful consideration as we continue to assess the impacts of climate change on the future of loggerhead sea turtles.

Spatial distribution of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in waters from Central and South Florida.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are notoriously persistent pollutants that are found ubiquitously present in aquatic environments. They pose a big threat to aquatic life and human health given the bioaccumulation feature and significant adverse health effects associated. In our previous study, PFAS were found in surface waters from Biscayne Bay and tap waters from the East coast of South Florida, at levels that arouse human health and ecological concerns. Considering that Florida supports millions population as well as treasured, sensitive coastal and wetland ecosystems, we have expanded the PFAS monitoring study on the occurrence, composition, spatial distribution, and potential sources encompassing tap waters from counties on the West coast of South Florida and Central Florida, and surface waters from Tampa Bay, Everglades National Park adjacent canals, Key West, including Biscayne Bay area. A total of 30 PFAS were analyzed based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). PFAS were detected in all tap water (N = 10) and surface water samples (N = 38) with total concentrations up to 169ng L-1. Higher PFAS concentrations (> 60ng L-1) are mostly observed from polluted rivers or coastal estuaries in Biscayne Bay, and sites nearby potential points sources (military airbases, wastewater facilities, airports, etc.). Our findings on current PFAS contamination levels from diverse aquatic environments provide additional information for the development of more stringent screening levels that are protective of human health and the environmental resources of Florida, which is ultimately anticipated as scientific understanding of PFAS israpidly growing.

Bacterial Metabolic Potential and Micro-Eukaryotes Enriched in Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Lesions

The epizootic disease outbreak known as stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is arguably the most devastating coral disease in recorded history. SCTLD emerged off the coast of South Florida in 2014 and has since moved into the Caribbean, resulting in coral mortality rates that have changed reef structure and function. Currently, the cause of SCTLD is unknown, but there is evidence from 16S rRNA gene sequencing and bacterial culture studies that the microbial community plays a role in the progression of SCTLD lesions. In this study, we applied shotgun metagenomics to characterize the potential function of bacteria, as well as the composition of the micro-eukaryotic community, associated with SCTLD lesions. We re-examined samples that were previously analyzed using 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing from four coral species: Stephanocoenia intersepta, Diploria labyrinthiformis, Dichocoenia stokesii, and Meandrina meandrites. For each species, tissue from apparently healthy (AH) corals, and unaffected tissue (DU) and lesion tissue (DL) on diseased corals, were collected from sites within the epidemic zone of SCTLD in the Florida Keys. Within the micro-eukaryotic community, the taxa most prominently enriched in DL compared to AH and DU tissue were members of Ciliophora. We also found that DL samples were relatively more abundant in less energy-efficient pathways like the pentose phosphate pathways. While less energy-efficient processes were identified, there were also relatively higher abundances of nucleotide biosynthesis and peptidoglycan maturation pathways in diseased corals compared to AH, which suggests there was more bacteria growth in diseased colonies. In addition, we generated 16 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) belonging to the orders Pseudomonadales, Beggiatoales, Rhodobacterales, Rhizobiales, Rs-D84, Flavobacteriales, and Campylobacterales, and all MAGs were enriched in DL samples compared to AH samples. Across all MAGs there were antibiotic resistance genes that may have implications for the treatment of SCTLD with antibiotics. We also identified genes and pathways linked to virulence, such as nucleotide biosynthesis, succinate dehydrogenase, ureases, nickel/iron transporters, Type-1 secretion system, and metalloproteases. Some of these enzymes/pathways have been previously targeted in the treatment of other bacterial diseases and they may be of interest to mitigate SCTLD lesion progression.

Multifunctional Performance of Coastal Structures Based on South Florida Coastal Environs

Sealey, K.S.; Andiroglu, E.; Lamere, J.; Sobczak, J., and Suraneni, P., 2021. Multifunctional performance of coastal structures based on South Florida coastal environs. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(3), 656–669. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Coastal communities around the globe are facing the related challenges of sea-level rise, more frequent and extreme storm events, and deteriorating coastal water quality. A multidisciplinary research team with expertise in architecture, ecology, economics, engineering, design, and public art surveyed existing coastal structures to elucidate criteria for a multifunctional performance assessment of these structures in South Florida. Eight coastal survey sites were evaluated to understand their function. Two key variables that affect the coastal structure function are the spatial extent of the structure and the age of the structure. The functional performance was ranked as poor, fair, or good based on (1) ecological functionality (rugosity, minimization of pollution, and coastal plant diversity), (2) engineering functionality (storm, wave, and flood resilience and affordability), and (3) stakeholder functionality (waterfront access, views, and wildlife views). These aspects of functionality were equally weighted to evaluate the impact of each component on the coastal environs. Generally, coastal structure design considers primarily engineering functionality, and these designs consequently have poor ecological functionality. Multifunctionality improved with the horizontal extent of the structure, the occurrence of coastal plants in a buffer zone, and increased public access and use.

Accelerating Sea Level Rise and the Fate of South Florida Coastal Wetlands

Accelerating Sea Level Rise and the Fate of South Florida Coastal Wetlands

Johannesbaptistia floridana sp. nov. (Chroococcales, Cyanobacteria), a novel marine cyanobacterium from coastal South Florida (USA)

Mat dwelling species of cyanobacteria are diverse and integral to coastal marine sediment systems. Though observed throughout the globe, much of this diversity remains undescribed, especially on South Florida coast where cyanobacteria are pronounced. To help elucidate this diversity, one species of cyanobacteria from the marine sediments of South Florida was studied. Typical morphological features including uniseriate pseudofilaments with facultative intercellular gaps and cell division in one plane, transversely to the longer cell axis, indicated that the species belonged to the genus Johannesbaptistia De Toni. The combination of 16S rRNA gene and 16S-23S rRNA internal transcriber spacer (ITS), along with the diagnosable morphological characteristics suggest uniqueness from previously described species, thus supports the erection of the novel species Johannesbaptistia floridana sp. nov.

Increasing Protein Intake to Help Older Adults Increase Muscle Strength and Function: A Pilot, Single-Arm Investigation Using Coaching and a Per-Meal Protein Prescription.

To evaluate the effects of nutrition education, diet coaching, and a protein prescription (PP) on protein intake, and associations with muscle strength and function. Prospective pretest posttest single-arm study. Urban area, East coast of South Florida. Participants: 20 white, non-Hispanic adults, aged 73.3 + 10.4 years. 10-week telephone-based diet coaching, nutrition education and a per-meal PP. Protein and energy intakes, weight, grip strength (GS), and 5-chair-rise (5CR), timed up and go (TUG), 3-meter walk (3mW) tests at baseline and 10 weeks. Pre to 10-week post values significantly improved (p<0.05) for protein intake/kg body weight (0.8 + 0.3 to 1.2 + 0.3g), protein intake/meal (17.2 ± 4.8g to 26.4 ± 6.g), protein intake/100 kcal (3.74 + 1.16 to 5.97 + 0.98g), GS (22.4 to 23.4kg), and times for TUG (10 to 8sec), 3mW (4 to 3sec), and 5CR (13 to 11sec). Given the positive findings of this unique pilot investigation, additional studies, which include a larger more diverse group of participants and provide for control group(s), are needed to better investigate the effectiveness of this approach and its effects on muscle strength and function.

Into the Extreme: US Environmental Systems and Politics beyond Earth by Valerie Olson

Reviewed by: Into the Extreme: US Environmental Systems and Politics beyond Earth by Valerie Olson Blair Bainbridge Valerie Olson, Into the Extreme: US Environmental Systems and Politics beyond Earth. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2018. 280 pp. Since its launch in 2006, New Horizons’ journey through the solar system has been filled with historical firsts. After zooming past the outer planets in record time, this NASA space probe successfully captured the first ever up-close images of Pluto and its moons in 2015. Now, after a short slumber in the distant Kuiper Belt region of the solar system, it is back online, preparing to make history once more. In January 2019, New Horizons will fly by what a recent press release has called the “most primitive world ever observed by spacecraft” (Wall 2018). Originally called 2014 MU69, this Kuiper Belt object was the subject of a recent re-naming competition. The name settled on: Ultima Thule, (meaning, “beyond Thule”), a term used in medieval literature to refer to “the extreme limit of travel and discovery”1 and places “beyond the known world” (Wall 2018). The name was praised by New Horizons’ primary investigator, Alan Stern, who found its symbolism apposite beyond its spatial connotations. Not only would reaching this new world be an “ultimate” achievement for NASA’s space exploration program, Stern claimed; MU69 would also serve as “humanity’s next Ultima Thule” (Wall 2018). Stern’s comparison of New Horizons’ space exploration to the opening of new spatial and conceptual frontiers for humanity writ large is what anthropologist Valerie Olson would describe as a kind of “systems work” (6), and is the main subject of her new monograph, Into the Extreme. Olson defines systems work as a set of processes and techniques that “conceptually and physically formalize social, material, and spatial connections and separations, often in terms of a system–environment relationship” (6). Taking on systems as an ethnographic object rather than [End Page 1417] as an analytical tool, Olson seeks to understand how systems interlink disparate things into integrated wholes, and to what sociopolitical ends. The crux of this book lies in Olson’s argument that systems are “relational technologies” (5); in the most basic sense, its five themed chapters can be seen as ethnographic manifestations of this claim across multiple scales, sites, and objects of analysis. Moving across a wide range of speculative scientific projects, from haptic spacesuits to underwater human habitats, Olson puts forth NASA spaceflight programs as central loci of systems thinking and practice, that is, systems work, in the US from the postwar era to the present. In doing so, she reveals the integral contributions of outer space systems work to contemporary American technoscientific visions and aspirations for the future, shaped out of deep-seated settler colonial ideologies but irreducible to them. Into the Extreme investigates the unfolding of a pervasive contemporary relational imagination, an imagination which the discipline of anthropology has routinely embraced. As such, anthropologists of all stripes will want to pay attention to this book. Into the Extreme draws on Olson’s seven years of fieldwork (2005–2012) at four NASA centers, five medical centers in the US and Canada, as well as aerospace companies, conferences, and field testing sites. Olson follows projects that came about during NASA’s “Constellation” era, an initiative begun by George W. Bush in 2006 to go “back to the moon and Mars and ‘beyond’” (7), with a $230 billion USD budget to boot. These projects include NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations’ (NEEMO) Aquarius habitat, an underwater space analog research station off the coast of South Florida (Chapter 1); biomedical research on astronaut veterans, candidates, and hopefuls, whose ecologically integrated bodies come to exemplify the human as system (Chapter 2); speculative design projects for comfortable dwelling in the extreme, including sensitive, skintight space suits and transitional and transportable habitats (Chapters 3 and 4); and near-earth object (NEO) research and political activism, involving advocacy for new off-world mining opportunities as well as new transnational disaster-preparedness strategies (Chapter 5). Olson provides an important genealogy of the systems concept in the Introduction, which is a key part of what makes Into the Extreme a worthwhile...

Meeting National Standard 8: Ground-truthing Social Indicators of Fishing in South Atlantic Coastal Communities

National Standard 8 of the reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Management Act mandates that fi sheries managers consider a community’s dependence on fi sheries when crafting regulations. This article compares fi ndings regarding dependence on commercial and recreational fi sheries from direct observations and interviews in 21 U.S. South Atlantic communities to fi ndings from publicly available data sources such as the U.S. census. The comparisons revealed that, in over 80% of the 21 ports examined, data developed from direct observations and interviews and those developed from publicly available data sources yielded similar National Standard 8 and South Atlantic Fisheries Based on fi eld research in 21 South Atlantic coastal communities reaching from Wanchese, N.C., to Palm Beach Shores, Fla., this article compares data from direct observations and interviews in the communities to data from publicly available sources such as fi sheries statistics and the U.S. census, providing baseline information for social impact assessments, fi sheries management plans, and other policy initiatives. The study emerged from ongoing attempts to meet the mandate of National Standard 8 (50 CFR Ch. VI (01 Oct 10 Edition: §600.345:60): “Conservation and management measures shall...take into account the importance of fi shery resources to fi shing results. Where there were large discrepancies between the two sets of fi ndings, in most cases, the ports were located in large metropolitan areas where fi shing constituted a small proportion of the economy. These fi ndings indicate that the use of publicly available data sources is an effi cient way for fi sheries managers and others to meet the mandate of National Standard 8 in a timely fashion, yet they also suggest that rapid ethnographic procedures can aid in characterizing fi shing communities that differ in terms of size, rural vs. urban settings, gentrifi cation, resilience, and other features that could assist fi shery managers in evaluating the impacts of fi shing regulations. communities by utilizing economic and social data that are based upon the best scientifi c information available...” While concern for fi shing communities is secondary to the concern for rebuilding and maintaining healthy fi shery resources, National Standard 8 (NS8) nevertheless demands that social and economic data be developed to address questions such as a community’s dependence on or engagement with fi shery resources, its ability for sustained participation in fi sheries, and whether or not a Fishery Management Plan or policy initiative will adversely affect the community. National Standard 8 defi nes a fi shing community as “a community that is substantially dependent on or substantially engaged in the harvest or processing of fi shery resources to meet social and economic needs, and includes fi shing vessel owners, operators, and crew, and fi sh processors that are based in such communities. A fi shing community is a social or economic group whose members reside in a specifi c location and share a common dependency on commercial, recreational, or subsistence fi shing or on directly related fi sheries-dependent services and industries (for example, boatyards, ice suppliers, tackle shops)” (50 CFR Ch. VI (1 Oct 10 Edition: §600.345:61). The 21 fi shing communities we profi led range from small, unincorporated communities like Wanchese and Sneads Ferry, N.C., to large metropolitan areas like Wilmington, N.C., Charleston, S.C., Savannah, Ga., or the heavily populated strip of south Florida coast around Palm Beach Shores. In addition to those just mentioned, the others were: Hatteras Village, Beaufort, Morehead City, Atlantic Beach, and Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina; Little River and Murrells Inlet in South Carolina; Brunswick, St. Simons Island, and St. Marys in Georgia; and Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine, Cape Canaveral, Sebastian, Ft. Pierce, and Palm Beach Shores in Florida (Fig. 1).

South Florida Coastal Sediment Ecological Risk Assessment.

This study evaluated the degree of sediment contamination in several South Florida estuaries. During the 2010 National Condition Assessment, Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute collected water column, sediment and biotic data from estuaries across the entire state of Florida. Sediments were analyzed for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, zinc and total polychlorinated biphenyls and were compared relative to empirically derived sediment quality guidelines. As a result of this data collection and assessment effort, it was determined that the degree of contamination with respect to sediment was low for all southern Florida estuaries assessed, except the Miami River which was determined to be considerably contaminated. However only one monitoring location was used to assess the Miami River, and as such should be viewed with caution. A low degree of contamination was determined for Biscayne Bay sediments, possibly indicating a recovery from its previously reported higher contaminant level.

Assessing Cold-Snap and Mortality Events in South Florida Coastal Ecosystems: Development of a Biological Cold Stress Index Using Satellite SST and Weather Pattern Forcing

Water temperature is considered both a controlling and lethal factor in coastal ecosystems, influencing behavioral and physiological responses in marine organisms. Abrupt weather events such as severe cold front passages and accompanied changes in weather conditions have led to sharp decreases in water temperatures, metabolic stress, and incidences of mortality in marine organisms. In this paper, we assess the weather-related factors associated with physical and biological response in South Florida systems through historical sea surface temperature (SST) from satellites and the use of a synoptic climatology spanning over 30 years. We utilize previous categorizations of sea-level pressure and newly developed categorizations of 850-mb temperature reanalysis data to define circulation and temperature patterns across the southeastern US and adjacent Gulf of Mexico. Systematic connections are seen between particular circulation and temperature patterns characteristic of enhanced north-to-south circulation and cold air outbreaks, SST, and turtle strandings data over the Florida Panhandle region for the period 2006–2013. Identified weather forcing variables associated with sharp SST decreases and turtle stuns are presented and assist in the formulation of a moving cold-stress index for South Florida coastal ecosystems. Results demonstrate the potential of using synoptic climatological analysis and derived indices for tracking and modeling changes in SST and other indicators related to biological health.

Integrated conceptual ecological model and habitat indices for the southwest Florida coastal wetlands

The coastal wetlands of southwest Florida that extend from Charlotte Harbor south to Cape Sable, contain more than 60,000ha of mangroves and 22,177ha of salt marsh. These coastal wetlands form a transition zone between the freshwater and marine environments of the South Florida Coastal Marine Ecosystem (SFCME). The coastal wetlands provide diverse ecosystem services that are valued by society and thus are important to the economy of the state. Species from throughout the region spend part of their life cycle in the coastal wetlands, including many marine and coastal-dependent species, making this zone critical to the ecosystem health of the Everglades and the SFCME. However, the coastal wetlands are increasingly vulnerable due to rising sea level, changes in storm intensity and frequency, land use, and water management practices. They are at the boundary of the region covered by the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), and thus are impacted by both CERP and marine resource management decisions. An integrated conceptual ecological model (ICEM) for the southwest coastal wetlands of Florida was developed that illustrates the linkages between drivers, pressures, ecological process, and ecosystem services. Five ecological indicators are presented: (1) mangrove community structure and spatial extent; (2) waterbirds; (3) prey-base fish and macroinvertebrates; (4) crocodilians; and (5) periphyton. Most of these indicators are already used in other areas of south Florida and the SFCME, and therefore will allow metrics from the coastal wetlands to be used in system-wide assessments that incorporate the entire Greater Everglades Ecosystem.

Numerical study of the sensitivity of mangroves in reducing storm surge and flooding to hurricane characteristics in southern Florida

The sensitivity of the mangrove effect on reducing storm surge flooding to hurricane characteristics is investigated by using the numerical model Coastal and Estuarine Storm Tide (CEST). First, the attenuation of storm surge by mangroves is incorporated into the model by updating Manning’s coefficient based on the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) 2001. Then CEST is verified by comparing the model results with field observations in South Florida for Hurricane Wilma. Secondly, a set of numerical experiments using synthetic hurricanes with different intensity, forward speed, radius of maximum wind speed and travel direction are conducted for the sensitivity study. Results indicate that storm surge magnitudes and flooding areas are reduced by the mangrove zone more for fast moving hurricanes than slow moving hurricanes in the west coast of South Florida. In addition, increasing hurricane intensity and hurricane size lower the effect of mangroves on attenuating storm surge and reducing the flooding area. The mangrove zone plays a more effective role in reducing flooding areas from hurricanes that travel from east to west than from hurricanes that travel from west to east. The mangrove reduction effect is most sensitive to changes in hurricane forward speed. A 6.7m/s to 2.2m/s decrease in forward speed can result in a decrease in flood area reduction by mangroves that is equivalent to the decrease in flood area reduction by mangroves from Category 3 to 5 hurricanes.

Perception of Coastal Hazards in Terms of Physical, Biological, and Human-Induced Cascades: An Example from the Southeast Florida Coastal Zone (SFCZ)

ABSTRACT Finkl, C.W. and Makowski, C., 2013. Perception of Coastal Hazards in Terms of Physical, Biological, and Human-Induced Cascades: An Example from the Southeast Florida Coastal Zone (SFCZ). Discussions of coastal hazard impacts commonly emphasize geomorphological, geodynamic, and meteohydrodynamic physical events. A true census of all coastal hazards must also, however, include not-so-obvious biological and anthropogenic impacts. Biological coastal hazards are now more common because increasing human presence along shores fosters contact with hazardous biological flora and fauna. Human-induced hazards, often viewed as normal daily activities, cryptically lead to unwanted erosion and deposition or to the pollution of coastal marine environments. The South Florida Coastal Zone (SFCZ) is a good example of how all three categories of coastal hazards (physical processes, biological ecodynamics, and anthropogenic machinations) collectively constitute a negative-pressure cascade upon the coast. Accurate id...

Environmental Predictors of Pathogenic Vibrios in South Florida Coastal Waters

In 2007, diseases caused by Vibrio vulnificus and other Vibrio species became nationally notifiable in the United States because of the potential severity of bloodstream infections. Direct contact of open wound with seawater and the ingestion of contaminated oysters are the principal modes of transmission. Presently, no clear environmental predictors of oyster contamination are known. This study is the first to report an apparent association between rainfall and Vibrio counts at five South Florida beaches. Using multiple regression and ANOVA, the relationship between Vibrio populations and various environmental factors were examined. Vibrio counts ranged from 135 CFU/100 mL at Hollywood Beach to 186,000 CFU/100 mL at North Miami Beach. Vibrio vulnificus and parahemolyticus were detected (less than 1% of all identified isolates) at two and four beaches respectively. Temperature and rainfall dates were the most significant correlates of the incidence of pathogenic Vibrio species.