Florida Bay Science Program: a synthesis of research on Florida Bay
This report documents the progress made toward theobjectives established in the Strategic Plan revised in1997 for the agencies cooperating in the program. These objectives are expressed as five questions that organized the research on the Florida Bay ecosystem: Ecosystem History What was the Florida Bay ecosystem like 50, 100, and 150 years ago? Question 1—Physical Processes How and at what rates do storms, changing freshwater flows, sea level rise, and local evaporation and precipitation influence circulation and salinity patterns within Florida Bay andexchange between the bay and adjacent waters? Question 2—Nutrient Dynamics What is the relative importance of the influx of external nutrients and of internal nutrient cycling in determining the nutrient budget for Florida Bay? What mechanisms control the sources and sinks of the bay’s nutrients? Question 3—Plankton Blooms What regulates the onset, persistence, and fate of planktonic algal bloomsin Florida Bay? Question 4—Seagrass Ecology What are the causes and mechanisms for the observed changes in the seagrass community of Florida Bay? What is the effect of changing salinity, light, and nutrient regimes on thesecommunities? Question 5—Higher Trophic Levels What is the relationship between environmental and habitat changeand the recruitment, growth, and survivorship of animals in Florida Bay?Each question examines different characteristics of the Florida Bay ecosystem and the relation of these to the geomorphological setting of the bay and to processes linking the bay with adjacent systems and driving change.This report also examines the additional question of what changes have occurred in Florida Bay over the past 150 years.
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | monograph biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
2007
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| Subjects: | Ecology, Conservation, Planning, Florida Bay, physical processes, nutrients, plankton, sea grass, animals, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1834/18095 |
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