Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

New Perspectives On An Iconic Landscape From Comparative International Long-Term Ecological Research, Evelyn E. Gaiser, Elizabeth P. Anderson, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Ligia Collado-Vides, James W.F. Ourqurean, Michael R. Heithaus, Rudolf Jaffé, David Lagomasino, Nicholas J. Oehm, Rene M. Price, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Tiffany G. Troxler

Geography

Iconic ecosystems like the Florida Coastal Everglades can serve as sentinels of environmental change from local to global scales. This characteristic can help inform general theory about how and why ecosystems transform, particularly if distinctive ecosystem properties are studied over long time scales and compared to those of similar ecosystems elsewhere. Here we review the ways in which long-term, comparative, international research has provided perspectives on iconic features of the Everglades that have, in turn, informed general ecosystem paradigms. Studies in other comparable wetlands from the Caribbean to Australia have shed light on distinctive and puzzling aspects such as the …