Abstract
Three sequential hurricanes made landfall over the South Florida peninsula in August and September 2004. The storm systems passed north of the Everglades wetlands and northeastern Florida Bay, but indirect storm effects associated with changes in freshwater discharge during an otherwise drought year occurred across the wetland–estuary transition area. To assess the impacts of the 2004 hurricane series on hydrology, nutrients, and microbial communities in the Everglades wetlands to Florida Bay transition area, results are presented in the context of a seasonal cycle without hurricane activity (2003). Tropical activity in 2004 increased rainfall over South Florida and the study area, thereby temporarily relieving drought conditions. Not so much actual rainfall levels at the study site but more so water management practices in preparation of the hurricane threats, which include draining of an extensive freshwater canal system into the coastal ocean to mitigate inland flooding, rapidly reversed hypersalinity in the wetlands-estuary study area. Although annual discharge was comparable in both years, freshwater discharge in 2004 occurred predominantly during the late wet season, whereas discharge was distributed evenly over the 2003 wet season. Total organic carbon (TOC), ammonium (\( \operatorname{NH} ^{ + }_{4} \)), and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentrations increased during the hurricane series to concentrations two to five times higher than long-term median concentrations in eastern Florida Bay. Spatiotemporal patterns in these resource enrichments suggest that TOC and SRP originated from the Everglades mangrove ecotone, while \( \operatorname{NH} ^{ + }_{4} \) originated from the bay. Phytoplankton biomass in the bay increased significantly during storm-related freshwater discharge, but declined at the same time in the wetland mangrove ecotone from bloom conditions during the preceding drought. In the bay, these changes were associated with increased nanophytoplankton and decreased picophytoplankton biomass. Heterotrophic bacterial production increased in response to freshwater discharge, whereas bacterial abundance decreased. Hydrochemical and microbial changes were short-lived, and the wetland–bay transition area reverted to more typical oligotrophic conditions within 3 months after the hurricanes. These results suggest that changes in freshwater discharge after drought conditions and during the hurricane series forced the productivity and P-enriched characteristics of the wetland’s mangrove ecotone, although only briefly, to the south into Florida Bay.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boyer, J.N. and H.O. Briceño. 2006. FY2005 Annual report of the water quality monitoring project for the Florida Keys national marine sanctuary. EPA Agreement #X994621-94-0. SERC Tech. Report T-327. http://serc.fiu.edu/wqmnetwork/Report%20Archive/2005CWQMN.pdf.
Boyer, J.N., J.W. Fourqurean, and R.D. Jones. 1999. Seasonal and long-term trends in the water quality of Florida Bay (1989–1997). Estuaries 22:417–430.
Burkholder, J., D. Eggleston, H. Glasgow, C. Brownie, R. Reed, G. Janowitz, M. Posey, G. Melia, C. Kinder, R. Corbett, D. Toms, T. Alphin, N. Deamer, and J. Springer. 2004. Comparative impacts of two major hurricane seasons on the Neuse River and western Pamlico Sound ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101:9291–9296.
Childers, D.L., J.N. Boyer, S.E. Davis, C.J. Madden, D.T. Rudnick, and F.H. Sklar. 2006. Relating precipitation and water management to nutrient concentrations in the oligotrophic “upside-down” estuaries of the Florida Everglades. Limnology and Oceanography 51:602–616.
Davis, S.E., C. Coronado-Molina, D.L. Childers, and J.W. Day. 2003a. Temporally dependent C, N, and P dynamics associated with decay of Rhizophora mangle L. leaf litter in oligotrophic mangrove wetlands of the southern Everglades. Aquatic Botany 75:199–215.
Davis, S.E., D.L. Childers, J.W. Day, D.T. Rudnick, and F.H. Sklar. 2003b. Factors affecting the concentration and flux of materials in two southern Everglades mangrove wetlands. Marine Ecology Progress Series 253:85–96.
Davis, S.E., J.E. Cable, D.L. Childers, C. Coronado-Molina, J.W. Day, C.D. Hittle, C.J. Madden, E. Reyes, D. Rudnick, and F. Sklar. 2004. Importance of storm events in controlling ecosystem structure and function in a Florida gulf coast estuary. Journal of Coastal Research 20:1198–1208.
Davis, S.E., D.L. Childers, and G.B. Noe. 2006. The contribution of leaching to the rapid release of nutrients and carbon in the early decay of wetland vegetation. Hydrobiologia 569:87–97.
Fogel, M.L., C. Aguilar, R. Cuhel, D.J. Hollander, J.D. Willey, and H.W. Paerl. 1999. Biological and isotopic changes in coastal waters induced by Hurricane Gordon. Limnology and Oceanography 44:1359–1369.
Fourqurean, J.W., R.D. Jones, and J.C. Zieman. 1993. Processes influencing water column nutrient characteristics and phosphorus limitation of phytoplankton biomass in Florida Bay, FL, USA—inferences from spatial distributions. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 36:295–314.
Froelich P.N. 1988. Kinetic control of dissolved phosphate in natural rivers and estuaries: A primer on the phosphate buffer mechanism. Limnology and Oceanography 33:649–668.
Giesenhagen, J.C., A.E. Detner, J. de Wall, A. Weber, R.R. Gradinger, and F.J. Jochem. 1999. How are Antarctic planktonic microbial food webs and algal blooms affected by melting of sea ice? Microcosm studies. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 20:183–201.
Houston, S.H. and M.D. Powell. 2003. Surface wind fields for Florida Bay hurricanes. Journal of Coastal Research 19:503–513.
Jacquet, S., H. Havskum, T.F. Thingstad, and D. Vaulot. 2002. Effects of inorganic and organic nutrient addition on a coastal microbial community (Isefjord, Denmark). Marine Ecology Progress Series 228:3–14.
Jochem, F.J. 2001. Morphology and DNA content of bacterioplankton in the northern Gulf of Mexico: analysis by epifluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 25:179–194.
Jochem, F.J., M.J. McCarthy, and W.S. Gardner. 2004. Microbial ammonium cycling in the Mississippi River plume during the drought spring of 2000. Journal of Plankton Research 26:1265–1275.
Kirchman, D.L. 2001. Measuring bacterial biomass production and growth rates from leucine incorporation in natural aquatic environments. In Methods in microbiology, volume 30, ed. J.H. Paul, 227–237. London: Academic.
Koch, M.S., R.E. Benz, and D.T. Rudnick. 2001. Solid-phase phosphorus pools in highly organic carbonate sediments of northeastern Florida Bay. Estuaries, Coastal and Shelf Science 52:279–291.
Lavrentyev, P.J., H.A. Bootsma, T.H. Johengen, J.F. Cavaletto, and W.S. Gardner. 1998. Microbial plankton response to resource limitation: Insight from the community structure and seston stoichiometry in Florida Bay, USA. Marine Ecology Progress Series 165:45–57.
Lawrence, D., M.J. Dagg, H. Liu, S.R. Cummings, P.B. Ortner, and C. Kelble. 2004. Wind events and benthic-pelagic coupling in a shallow subtropical bay in Florida. Marine Ecology Progress Series 266:1–13.
Mallin, M.A., M.H. Posey, G.C. Shank, M.R. McIver, S.H. Ensign, and T.D. Alphin. 1999. Hurricane effects on water quality and benthos in the Cape Fear Watershed: Natural and anthropogenic impacts. Ecological Applications 9:350–362.
Marie, D., F. Partensky, S. Jacquet, and D. Vaulot. 1997. Enumeration and cell cycle analysis of natural populations of marine picoplankton by flow cytometry using nucleic acid stain SYBR Green I. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 63:186–193.
McKinnon, A.D., M.G. Meekan, J.H. Carleton, M.J. Furnas, S. Duggan, and W. Skirving. 2003. Rapid changes in shelf waters and pelagic communities on the southern Northwest Shelf, Australia, following a tropical cyclone. Continental Shelf Research 23:93–111.
Noe, G.B., L.J. Scinto, J. Taylor, D.L. Childers, and R.D. Jones. 2003. Phosphorus cycling and partitioning in an oligotrophic Everglades wetland ecosystem: A radioisotope tracing study. Freshwater Biology 48:1993–2008.
Paerl, H.W., J.D. Bales, L.W. Ausley, C.O. Buzzelli, L.B. Cowder, L.A. Eby, J.M. Fear, M. Go, B.L. Peierls, T.L. Richardson, and J.S. Ramus. 2001. Ecosystem impacts of three sequential hurricanes (Dennis, Floyd, and Irene) on the United States’ largest lagoonal estuary, Pamlico Sound, NC. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98:5655–5660.
Peierls, B.L., R.R. Christian, and H.W. Paerl. 2003. Water quality and phytoplankton as indicators of hurricane impacts on a large estuarine ecosystem. Estuaries 26:1329–1343.
Pitts, P.A. 2001. Interactions between Florida Bay and Atlantic shelf waters in response to Tropical Storm Gordon. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 52:225–235.
Price, R.M., P.K. Swart, and J.W. Fourqurean. 2006. Coastal groundwater discharge—An additional source of phosphorus for the oligotrophic wetlands of the Everglades. Hydrobiologia 569:23–36.
Roman, C.T., N.G. Aumen, J.C. Trexler, R.J. Rennema, W.F. Loftus, and M.A. Soukup. 1994. Hurricane Andrew’s impact on freshwater resources. Bioscience 44:247–255.
Rudnick, D.T., Z. Chen, D.L. Childers, J.N. Boyer, and T.D. Fontaine. 1999. Phosphorus and nitrogen inputs to Florida Bay: The importance of the Everglades watershed. Estuaries 22:398–416.
Samuelsson, K., J. Berglund, P. Haecky, and A. Andersson. 2002. Structural changes in an aquatic microbial food web caused by inorganic nutrient addition. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 29:29–38.
Scully, N.M., N. Maie, S.K. Dailey, J.N. Boyer, R.D. Jones, and R. Jaffé. 2004. Early diagenesis of plant-derived dissolved organic matter along a wetland, mangrove, estuary ecotone. Limnology and Oceanographgy 49:1667–1678.
Solorzano, L. and J.H. Sharp. 1980. Determination of total dissolved phosphorus and particulate phosphorus in natural waters. Limnology and Oceanography 25:754–758.
Sutula, M., J.W. Day, J. Cable, and D. Rudnick. 2001. Hydrological and nutrient budgets of freshwater and estuarine wetlands of Taylor Slough in southern Everglades, Florida (U.S.A.). Biogeochemisrty 56:287–310.
Tilmant, J.T., M.B. Robblee, D. Smith, R.W. Snow, and H. Wanless. 1994. Hurricane Andrew’s effects on marine resources. Bioscience 44:230–237.
Veldhuis, M.J.W. and G.W. Kraay. 2000. Application of flow cytometry in marine phytoplankton research: Current applications and future perspectives. Scientia Marina 64:121–134.
Webber, D.F., M.K. Webber, and J.C. Roff. 1992. Effects of flood waters on the planktonic community of the Hellshire Coast, southeastern Jamaica. Biotropica 24:362–374.
Williams, C.J. and F.J. Jochem. 2006. Ectoenzyme kinetics in Florida Bay: Implications for bacterial carbon source and nutrient status. Hydrobiologia 569:113–127.
Acknowledgments
We thank Daniel L. Childers, Evelyn E. Gaiser, the NSF-FCE-LTER, SERC, and SFWMD for long-term data and logistical and laboratory assistance. We also thank the Florida Institute of Oceanography’s Florida Keys Marine Lab for boat transport. This research was funded by NOAA COP grant NA04NOS4780020 and by the NSF LTER under NSF grant 9910514. This is contribution 370 of the Southeast Environmental Research Center at Florida International University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Williams, C.J., Boyer, J.N. & Jochem, F.J. Indirect Hurricane Effects on Resource Availability and Microbial Communities in a Subtropical Wetland-Estuary Transition Zone. Estuaries and Coasts: J CERF 31, 204–214 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-007-9007-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-007-9007-6