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Application of Paleoecology to Ecosystem Restoration: A Case Study from South Florida’s Estuaries

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Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies

Part of the book series: Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research ((DPER,volume 20))

Abstract

Paleoecological analyses of biotic assemblages from cores collected throughout south Florida’s estuaries indicate gradually increasing salinities over approximately the last 2000 years, consistent with rising sea level. Around the beginning of the twentieth century these gradual patterns of change began to shift, corresponding to the beginning of human alteration of the environment via canal construction, railroad construction and other land use changes. Between 1950 and 1960, at a time of significant construction of water management structures another distinctive shift in the biological assemblages occurred. Analysis of the assemblages provides essential information on long-term patterns of change in the estuaries and provides a basis for predicting future trajectories of change. Paleosalinity estimates derived from the cores are providing input to linear regression models to determine related freshwater flow into the estuaries of south Florida. These analyses are being used to help establish performance measures and targets for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration, established following an Act of Congress in 2000. Restoration of south Florida’s ecosystems is slated to be a 30–50 year effort that will require detailed knowledge of past decadal to centennial-scale changes in climate, freshwater flow and salinity. This historical perspective provides information that allows land managers to set realistic and sustainable goals for restoration, and provides insight into the potential response of south Florida’s ecosystem to various future scenarios of global change.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A listing of all cores, and the faunal and floral data tables associated with each, can be found at http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/index.php (see Wingard for estuarine data; Willard for pollen data).

  2. 2.

    Results of the core analyses have been published in Brewster-Wingard et al. 1998, 2001; Brewster-Wingard and Ishman 1999; Cronin et al. 2001; Dwyer and Cronin 2001; Huvane 2001; Huvane and Cooper 2001; Ishman et al. 1998; Trappe and Brewster-Wingard 2001; Willard et al. 1997; Wingard et al. 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007. Data and links to USGS open-file reports related to the cores can be found at http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/flaecohist/

  3. 3.

    For a list and description of the key models used visit South Florida Water Management Districts Model Portal at http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/pg_grp_sfwmd_hesm/pg_sfwmd_hesm_home?navpage=home. Primary models used to examine salinity and freshwater influx in the estuaries are the (1) Natural Systems Model 4.6.2, South Florida Water Management District; (2) Fathom (Cosby et al. 1999; Nuttle et al. 2000); and (3) USGS SICS/TIME models (Langevin et al. 2005; Swain 2005).

Abbreviations

CERP:

Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan

CWP:

Cumulative Weighted Percent

IPCC:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

NRC:

National Resource Council

RECOVER:

Restoration Coordination and Verification

SFWMD:

South Florida Water Management District

USACE:

United States Army Corps of Engineers

USGS:

United States Geological Survey

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Acknowledgements

This project is funded by the U.S. Geological Survey Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science effort, G. Ronnie Best, Coordinator. The work described was conducted under a number of Everglades National Park (Study # EVER-00141) and Biscayne National Park (Study # BISC-02027 and BISC-05001) permits and I appreciate the continued support of the Parks and access to the research areas. The work would not have been possible without the field and laboratory assistance provided by a number of people over the years; while the numbers are too great to list each individually, I would particularly like to thank James B. Murray (U.S. Geological Survey), Joel Hudley (University of North Carolina) and Jeffery Stone (University of Nebraska at Lincoln). The manuscript benefited from early reviews by Thomas Cronin and Harry Dowsett, U.S. Geological Survey and from the comments of two anonymous reviewers. Bethany Stackhouse, U.S. Geological Survey, assisted in the preparation of the figures.

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  1. US Geological Survey, Reston, VA, USA

    G. Lynn Wingard

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  1. G. Lynn Wingard
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Correspondence to G. Lynn Wingard .

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  1. Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kaarina Weckström

  2. Institute of Geography and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Krystyna M. Saunders

  3. Water Research Network, Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University Australia, Mt Helen, Victoria, Australia

    Peter A. Gell

  4. School of Life Sciences, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    C. Gregory Skilbeck

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Wingard, G.L. (2017). Application of Paleoecology to Ecosystem Restoration: A Case Study from South Florida’s Estuaries. In: Weckström, K., Saunders, K., Gell, P., Skilbeck, C. (eds) Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, vol 20. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0990-1_22

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