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Determining the Effects of Fire on Ridge Shape Complexity In the Central Everglades
Title
Determining the Effects of Fire on Ridge Shape Complexity In the Central Everglades.
Creator
Dombrowski, Jacob, Benscoter, Brian, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract/Description
Self-organized spatial patterning of microtopographic features is a trademark characteristic of the Everglades landscape. Anthropogenic modifications to Everglades’ hydrology have reduced and degraded pattern, where ridges occur at higher elevations and spread into open water sloughs under dryer conditions. Wildfire is an important ecological force in the central Everglades and may maintain ridge-slough patterning through reducing ridge size and complexity, and thus preserve habitat...
Show moreSelf-organized spatial patterning of microtopographic features is a trademark characteristic of the Everglades landscape. Anthropogenic modifications to Everglades’ hydrology have reduced and degraded pattern, where ridges occur at higher elevations and spread into open water sloughs under dryer conditions. Wildfire is an important ecological force in the central Everglades and may maintain ridge-slough patterning through reducing ridge size and complexity, and thus preserve habitat heterogeneity. To investigate fire as a patterning mechanism in the central Everglades I examined the shape complexity and area distribution of ridges along a chronosequence of time since fire. Shape complexity did not change following fire, but small and large ridges became more prominent and eventually spread as time since fire increased, suggesting fire may maintain ridge area distribution. Documentation of fires’ effect on ridge size will inform ecosystem and conceptual models detailing the complex interactions that maintain the Everglades ridge-slough patterning.
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004683, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004683
Subject Headings
Burning of land -- Environmental aspects, Everglades National Park (Fla.) -- Environmental conditions, Fire ecology -- Florida -- Everglades National Park, Landscape ecology
Format
Document (PDF)
Wading bird prey production and prey selection in a dynamic wetland
Title
Wading bird prey production and prey selection in a dynamic wetland.
Creator
Klassen, Jessica A., Gawlik, Dale E., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract/Description
Anthropogenic impacts, such as habitat destruction and spread of exotic species, are contributing to the sixth major extinction event in Earth’s history. To develop effective management and conservation plans, it is important to understand the ecological drivers of at-risk populations, assess the ability of a population to adapt to environmental change, and develop research methods for long-term ecosystem monitoring. I used wading birds nesting in the Florida Everglades, USA as a model system...
Show moreAnthropogenic impacts, such as habitat destruction and spread of exotic species, are contributing to the sixth major extinction event in Earth’s history. To develop effective management and conservation plans, it is important to understand the ecological drivers of at-risk populations, assess the ability of a population to adapt to environmental change, and develop research methods for long-term ecosystem monitoring. I used wading birds nesting in the Florida Everglades, USA as a model system to address the challenges of managing and monitoring populations within an ecosystem greatly impacted by anthropogenic activities. Specifically, my project investigated 1) the prey selection of wading bird species, and the role of prey and foraging habitat availability on annual nesting numbers, 2) the ability of using diet change to predict species adaptability to a rapidly changing environment, and 3) the use of sensory data to provide low-cost, long-term monitoring of dynamic wetlands. I found that tricolored herons, snowy egrets, and little blue herons consumed marsh fish larger than those generally available across the landscape. Additionally, number of nests initiated by tricolored herons, snowy egrets, and little blue herons was strongly correlated with the annual densities of large fish available within the Everglades landscape. Conversely, number of nests initiated by wood storks, great egrets, and white ibises was more correlated with the amount of foraging habitat availability across the nesting season. Wood stork diets changed considerably since the 1960’s, consisting of mainly sunfish and exotic fish as opposed to marsh fishes dominant in historical diet studies. Storks also consumed more exotic fish species than they did historically. This diet plasticity and the species’ ability to exploit anthropogenic habitats may be conducive to maintaining population viability as storks experience widespread human-induced changes to their habitat. Sensory-only data models generated complementary results to models that used site-specific field data. Additionally, sensory-only models were able to detect different responses between size classes of fish to the processes that increase their concentrations in drying pools. However, the degree to which sensory variables were able to fit species data was dependent upon the ability of sensors to measure species-specific population drivers and the scale at which sensors can measure environmental change.
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004716
Subject Headings
Charadriiformes -- Habitat -- Florida -- Everglades, Ciconiiformes -- Habitat -- Florida -- Everglades, Everglades National Park (Fla.) -- Environmental conditions, Predation (Biology), Wetland ecology, Wildlife conservation
Format
Document (PDF)
Mapping wetland vegetation with LIDAR in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA
Title
Mapping wetland vegetation with LIDAR in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA.
Creator
De Stoppelaire, Georgia H., Xie, Zhixiao, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Geosciences
Abstract/Description
Knowledge of the geospatial distribution of vegetation is fundamental for resource management. The objective of this study is to investigate the possible use of airborne LIDAR (light detection and ranging) data to improve classification accuracy of high spatial resolution optical imagery and compare the ability of two classification algorithms to accurately identify and map wetland vegetation communities. In this study, high resolution imagery integrated with LIDAR data was compared jointly...
Show moreKnowledge of the geospatial distribution of vegetation is fundamental for resource management. The objective of this study is to investigate the possible use of airborne LIDAR (light detection and ranging) data to improve classification accuracy of high spatial resolution optical imagery and compare the ability of two classification algorithms to accurately identify and map wetland vegetation communities. In this study, high resolution imagery integrated with LIDAR data was compared jointly and alone; and the nearest neighbor (NN) and machine learning random forest (RF) classifiers were assessed in semi-automated geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) approaches for classification accuracy of heterogeneous vegetation assemblages at Everglades National Park, FL, USA.
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Date Issued
2014
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004276
Subject Headings
Everglades National Park (Fla.)--Environmental conditions., Geographic information systems--Florida--Everglades Region., Ecosystem management--Florida--Everglades Region., Vegetation monitoring--Florida--Everglades National Park., Wetland management--Florida--Everglades National Park., Coastal zone management--Remote sensing--Florida--Everglades National Park., Environmental mapping--Florida--Everglades National Park., Environmental monitoring--Remote sensing--Florida--Everglades National Park.
Format
Document (PDF)
Development, evaluation, and application of spatio-temporal wading bird foraging models to guide everglades restoration
Title
Development, evaluation, and application of spatio-temporal wading bird foraging models to guide everglades restoration.
Creator
Beerens, James M., Noonburg, Erik G., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract/Description
In south Florida, the Greater Everglades ecosystem supports sixteen species of wading birds. Wading birds serve as important indicator species because they are highly mobile, demonstrate flexible habitat selection, and respond quickly to changes in habitat quality. Models that establish habitat relationships from distribution patterns of wading birds can be used to predict changes in habitat quality that may result from restoration and climate change. I developed spatio-temporal species...
Show moreIn south Florida, the Greater Everglades ecosystem supports sixteen species of wading birds. Wading birds serve as important indicator species because they are highly mobile, demonstrate flexible habitat selection, and respond quickly to changes in habitat quality. Models that establish habitat relationships from distribution patterns of wading birds can be used to predict changes in habitat quality that may result from restoration and climate change. I developed spatio-temporal species distribution models for the Great Egret, White Ibis, and Wood Stork over a decadal gradient of environmental conditions to identify factors that link habitat availability to habitat use (i.e., habitat selection), habitat use to species abundance, and species abundance (over multiple scales) to nesting effort and success. Hydrological variables (depth, recession rate, days since drydown, reversal, and hydroperiod) over multiple temporal scales and with existing links to wading bird responses were used as proxies for landscape processes that influence prey availability (i.e., resources). In temporal foraging conditions (TFC) models, species demonstrated conditional preferences for resources based on resource levels at differing temporal scales. Wading bird abundance was highest when prey production from optimal periods of wetland inundation was concentrated in shallow depths. Similar responses were observed in spatial foraging conditions (SFC) models predicting spatial occurrence over time, accounting for spatial autocorrelation. The TFC index represents conditions within suitable depths that change daily and reflects patch quality, whereas the SFC index spatially represents suitability of all cells and reflects daily landscape patch abundance. I linked these indices to responses at the nest initiation and nest provisioning breeding phases from 1993-2013. The timing of increases and overall magnitude of resource pulses predicted by the TFC in March and April were strongly linked to breeding responses by all species. Great Egret nesting effort and success were higher with increases in conspecific attraction (i.e., clustering). Wood Stork nesting effort was closely related to timing of concurrently high levels of patch quality (regional scale) and abundance (400-m scale), indicating the importance of a multi-scaled approach. The models helped identify positive and negative changes to multi-annual resource pulses from hydrological restoration and climate change scenarios, respectively.
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Date Issued
2014
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004078, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004078
Subject Headings
Everglades National Park (Fla.) -- Environmental conditions, Restoration ecology -- Florida -- Everglades National Park, Water birds -- Florida -- Geographical distribution, Water birds -- Habitat -- Florida -- Everglades National Park, Wetland restoration -- Florida -- Everglades National Park
Format
Document (PDF)
Understanding Variability of Biogenic Gas Fluxes from Peat Soils at High Temporal Resolution Using Capacitance Moisture Probes
Title
Understanding Variability of Biogenic Gas Fluxes from Peat Soils at High Temporal Resolution Using Capacitance Moisture Probes.
Creator
Munzenrieder, Cali, Comas, Xavier, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Geosciences
Abstract/Description
Peatlands act as carbon sinks while representing major sources of biogenic gases such as methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), two potent greenhouse gases. Gas production and release in these peats soils are also influenced by overall warm temperatures and water table fluctuations due to the naturally shallow water table in the Florida Everglades. Releases of biogenic gases from Florida Everglades peat soils are not well understood and the temporal distribution and dynamics are uncertain....
Show morePeatlands act as carbon sinks while representing major sources of biogenic gases such as methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), two potent greenhouse gases. Gas production and release in these peats soils are also influenced by overall warm temperatures and water table fluctuations due to the naturally shallow water table in the Florida Everglades. Releases of biogenic gases from Florida Everglades peat soils are not well understood and the temporal distribution and dynamics are uncertain. The general objective of this work was geared towards a methodological approach which aimed to examine the feasibility of capacitance moisture probes to investigate biogenic gas dynamics in various Florida Everglades peat soils at high temporal resolution. This work has implications for establishing capacitance moisture probes as a method to monitor gas dynamics in peat soils at high temporal resolution and better understanding patterns of gas build-up and release from peat soils in the Everglades.
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004700
Subject Headings
Everglades National Park (Fla.) -- Environmental conditions, Gas dynamics, Geographic information systems, Grassland ecology, Greenhouse gases, Wetland ecology
Format
Document (PDF)
Post-fire Succession and Carbon Storage in the Northern Everglades
Title
Post-fire Succession and Carbon Storage in the Northern Everglades.
Creator
Reger, Lisa Marie, Benscoter, Brian, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract/Description
Fire plays a key role in the ecology of the Everglades and is a ubiquitous tool for managing the structure, function, and ecosystem services of the Greater Everglades watershed. Decades of hydrologic modifications have led to the alteration of plant community composition and fire regime in much of the Everglades. To create a better understanding of post-fire recovery in sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) communities, sawgrass marshes in the northern Everglades were studied along a chronosequence...
Show moreFire plays a key role in the ecology of the Everglades and is a ubiquitous tool for managing the structure, function, and ecosystem services of the Greater Everglades watershed. Decades of hydrologic modifications have led to the alteration of plant community composition and fire regime in much of the Everglades. To create a better understanding of post-fire recovery in sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) communities, sawgrass marshes in the northern Everglades were studied along a chronosequence of time since fire and along a nutrient gradient. Areas closer to a water nutrient source and with fewer mean days dry contained greater total and dead aboveground graminoid biomass whereas live graminoid biomass was greater in areas with less time since fire and with fewer days dry. Post-fire characteristics of sawgrass marshes can provide insight on the effectiveness of fire management practices in the maintenance and restoration of quality habitat in the northern Everglades.
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004625, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004625
Subject Headings
Everglades National Park (Fla.)--Environmental conditions., Swamp ecology--Florida--Everglades., Restoration ecology--Florida--Everglades., Forest fires--Florida--Everglades., Prescribed burning--Florida--Everglades., Ecosystem management--Florida--Everglades.
Format
Document (PDF)
Water and Soil Salinity Mapping for Southern Everglades using Remote Sensing Techniques and In Situ Observations
Title
Water and Soil Salinity Mapping for Southern Everglades using Remote Sensing Techniques and In Situ Observations.
Creator
Khadim, Fahad Khan, Su, Hongbo, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
Abstract/Description
Everglades National Park is a hydro-ecologically significant wetland experiencing salinity ingress over the years. This motivated our study to map water salinity using a spatially weighted optimization model (SWOM); and soil salinity using land cover classes and EC thresholds. SWOM was calibrated and validated at 3-km grids with actual salinity for 1998–2001, and yielded acceptable R2 (0.89-0.92) and RMSE (1.73-1.92 ppt). Afterwards, seasonal water salinity mapping for 1996–97, 2004–05, and...
Show moreEverglades National Park is a hydro-ecologically significant wetland experiencing salinity ingress over the years. This motivated our study to map water salinity using a spatially weighted optimization model (SWOM); and soil salinity using land cover classes and EC thresholds. SWOM was calibrated and validated at 3-km grids with actual salinity for 1998–2001, and yielded acceptable R2 (0.89-0.92) and RMSE (1.73-1.92 ppt). Afterwards, seasonal water salinity mapping for 1996–97, 2004–05, and 2016 was carried out. For soil salinity mapping, supervised land cover classification was firstly carried out for 1996, 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2015; with the first four providing average accuracies of 82%-94% against existing NLCD classifications. The land cover classes and EC thresholds helped mapping four soil salinity classes namely, the non saline (EC = 0~2 dS/m), low saline (EC = 2~4 dS/m), moderate saline (EC = 4~8 dS/m) and high saline (EC >8 dS/m) areas.
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Date Issued
2017
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004860, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004860
Subject Headings
Everglades National Park (Fla.)--Environmental conditions., Florida Bay (Fla.)--Environmental conditions., Remote sensing., Multispectral imaging., Environmental monitoring--Remote sensing., Geographic information systems., Soils--Remote sensing., Soil moisture--Measurement., Soil mapping.
Format
Document (PDF)