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Environmental Sciences

SERC Research Reports

Everglades

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Monitoring Of Tree Island Condition In The Southern Everglades: Hydrologic Driven Decadal Changes In Tree Island Woody Vegetation Structure And Composition: 2012 Annual Report, Pablo L. Ruiz, Michael S. Ross, Jay P. Sah Mar 2013

Monitoring Of Tree Island Condition In The Southern Everglades: Hydrologic Driven Decadal Changes In Tree Island Woody Vegetation Structure And Composition: 2012 Annual Report, Pablo L. Ruiz, Michael S. Ross, Jay P. Sah

SERC Research Reports

This report examines the interaction between hydrology and vegetation over a 10-year period, between 2001/02 and 2012 within six permanent tree island plots located on three tree islands, two plots each per tree island, established in 2001/02, along a hydrologic and productivity gradient. We hypothesize that: (H1) hydrologic differences within plots between census dates will result in marked differences in a) tree and sapling densities, b) tree basal area, and c) forest structure, i.e., canopy volume and height, and (H2) tree island growth, development, and succession is dependent on hydrologic fluxes, particularly during periods of prolonged droughts or below average …


Monitoring Of Tree Island Condition In The Southern Everglades: Annual Report 2011, Jay P. Sah, Michael S. Ross, Pablo L. Ruiz, Suresh Subedi Mar 2012

Monitoring Of Tree Island Condition In The Southern Everglades: Annual Report 2011, Jay P. Sah, Michael S. Ross, Pablo L. Ruiz, Suresh Subedi

SERC Research Reports

Tree islands, a prominent feature in both the marl prairie and ridge and slough landscapes of the Everglades, are sensitive to large-scale restoration actions associated with the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) authorized by the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2000 to restore the south Florida ecosystem. More specifically, changes in hydrologic regimes at both local and landscape scales are likely to affect the internal water economy of islands, which in turn will influence plant community structure and function. To strengthen our ability to assess the “performance” of tree island ecosystems and predict how these hydrologic alterations would translate into …


Monitoring Of Tree Island Conditions In The Southern Everglades: The Effects Of Hurricanes And Hydrology On The Status And Population Dynamics Of Sixteen Tropical Hardwood Hammock Tree Islands, Pablo L. Ruiz, Jay P. Sah, Michael S. Ross, Diana L. Rodriguez, Allison M. Lambert Jan 2011

Monitoring Of Tree Island Conditions In The Southern Everglades: The Effects Of Hurricanes And Hydrology On The Status And Population Dynamics Of Sixteen Tropical Hardwood Hammock Tree Islands, Pablo L. Ruiz, Jay P. Sah, Michael S. Ross, Diana L. Rodriguez, Allison M. Lambert

SERC Research Reports

In 2005 we began a multi-year intensive monitoring and assessment study of tropical hardwood hammocks within two distinct hydrologic regions in Everglades National Park, under funding from the CERP Monitoring and Assessment Program. In serving as an Annual Report for 2010, this document, reports in detail on the population dynamics and status of tropical hardwood hammocks in Shark Slough and adjacent marl prairies during a 4-year period between 2005 and 2009. 2005-09 was a period that saw a marked drawdown in marsh water levels (July 2006 - July 2008), and an active hurricane season in 2005 with two hurricanes, Hurricane …


Everglades Ridge, Slough, And Tree Island Mosaics: Year 2 Annual Report, Michael S. Ross, James B. Heffernan, Jay P. Sah, Pablo L. Ruiz, Adam A. Spitzig, Ewan Isherwood Jan 2010

Everglades Ridge, Slough, And Tree Island Mosaics: Year 2 Annual Report, Michael S. Ross, James B. Heffernan, Jay P. Sah, Pablo L. Ruiz, Adam A. Spitzig, Ewan Isherwood

SERC Research Reports

Status and history of the Ridge-Slough Mosaic The Florida Everglades is a large subtropical wetland with diverse hydrologic, edaphic, and vegetative characteristics. Historically, a significant portion of this system was a slow moving river originating from the Kissimmee River floodplain, flowing into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee, and draining south-southwest over extensive peatlands into Florida Bay (McVoy 2011). Human-induced alterations to the hydrologic regime, including reduction, stabilization, and impoundment of water flow through diversion and compartmentalization of water via canals and levees have degraded pre-drainage vegetation patterns and microtopographic structure (Davis and Ogden 1994, Ogden 2005, McVoy 2011). The …


The Monitoring And Assessment Plan (Map) Greater Everglades Wetlands Module- Landscape Pattern- Ridge, Slough, And Tree Island Mosaics: Year 1 Annual Report, James B. Heffernan, Michael S. Ross, Matthew J. Cohen, Todd Z. Osborne, Jay P. Sah, Pablo L. Ruiz, Leonard J. Scinto Oct 2009

The Monitoring And Assessment Plan (Map) Greater Everglades Wetlands Module- Landscape Pattern- Ridge, Slough, And Tree Island Mosaics: Year 1 Annual Report, James B. Heffernan, Michael S. Ross, Matthew J. Cohen, Todd Z. Osborne, Jay P. Sah, Pablo L. Ruiz, Leonard J. Scinto

SERC Research Reports

In the current managed Everglades system, the pre-drainage, patterned mosaic of sawgrass ridges, sloughs and tree islands has been substantially altered or reduced largely as a result of human alterations to historic ecological and hydrological processes that sustained landscape patterns. The pre-compartmentalization ridge and slough landscape was a mosaic of sloughs, elongated sawgrass ridges (50-200m wide), and tree islands. The ridges and sloughs and tree islands were elongated in the direction of the water flow, with roughly equal area of ridge and slough. Over the past decades, the ridge-slough topographic relief and spatial patterning have degraded in many areas of …


Tree Islands In Everglades Landscapes: Current Status, Historical Changes, And Hydrologic Impacts On Population Dynamics And Moisture Relations, First Annual Report, Michael Ross, Steve Oberbauer, Pablo Ruiz, Nilesh Timilsina, Daniel Gomez, Jay Sah, Susanna Stofella, Leonel Sternberg Dec 2005

Tree Islands In Everglades Landscapes: Current Status, Historical Changes, And Hydrologic Impacts On Population Dynamics And Moisture Relations, First Annual Report, Michael Ross, Steve Oberbauer, Pablo Ruiz, Nilesh Timilsina, Daniel Gomez, Jay Sah, Susanna Stofella, Leonel Sternberg

SERC Research Reports

In 2005 we initiated a project designed to better understand tree island structure and function in the Everglades and the wetlands bordering it. Focus was on the raised portions at the upstream end of the islands, where tropical hardwood species adapted to well-drained conditions usually are the most prominent component of the vegetation. The study design is hierarchical, with four levels; in general, a large number of sites is to be surveyed once for a limited set of parameters, and increasingly small sets of islands are to be sampled more intensively, more frequently, and for more aspects of ecosystem function. …