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1995 - 2007 Ecosystem History of South Florida's Estuaries Database version 6

Entry ID: USGS_SOFIA_eco_hist_db1995-2007

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Summary

Abstract: The 1995 - 2007 Ecosystem History of South Florida's Estuaries Database contains listings of all sites (modern and core), modern monitoring site survey information (water chemistry, floral and faunal data, etc.), and published core data. Two general types of data are contained within this database: 1) Modern Field Data and 2) Core data - primarily faunal assemblages. Data are available for modern ...

Purpose: Scientists over the past few decades have noticed that the South Florida ecosystem has become increasingly stressed. The purposes of the ecosystem history projects (started in 1995) are to determine what south Florida's estuaries have looked like over time, how they have changed, and what is the rate and frequency of change. To accomplish this, shallow sediment cores are collected within the bays, ... and the faunal and floral remains, sediment geochemistry, and shell biochemistry are analyzed. Modern field data are collected from the same region as the cores and serve as proxies to allow accurate interpretation of past depositional environments. The USGS South Florida Ecosystem History Project is designed to integrate studies from a number of researchers compiling data from terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems within south Florida. The project is divided into 3 regions: Biscayne Bay and the Southeast coast, Florida Bay and the Southwest coast, and Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems of Southern Florida. The purpose of the projects is to provide information about the ecosystem's recent history based on analyses of paleontology, geochemistry, hydrology, and sedimentology of cores taken from the south Florida region. Data generated from the South Florida Ecosystem History project will be integrated to provide biotic reconstructions for the area at selected time slices and will be useful in testing ecological models designed to predict floral and faunal response to changes in environmental parameters. Biscayne Bay is of interest to scientists because of the rapid urbanization that has occurred in the Miami area and includes Biscayne National Park. Dredging, propeller scars, and changes in freshwater input have altered parts of Biscayne Bay. Currently, the main freshwater input to Biscayne Bay is through the canal system, but many scientists believe subsurface springs used to introduce fresh groundwater into the Bay ecosystem. Study of the modern environment and core sediments from Biscayne Bay will provide important information on past salinity and seagrass coverage which will be useful for predicting future change within the Bay. Plant and animal communities in the South Florida ecosystem have undergone striking changes over the past few decades. In particular, Florida Bay has been plagued by seagrass die-offs, algal blooms, and declining sponge and shellfish populations. These alterations in the ecosystem have traditionally been attributed to human activities and development in the region. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are studying the paleoecological changes taking place in Florida Bay in hopes of understanding the physical environment to aid in the restoration process. As in Biscayne Bay, scientists must first determine which changes are part of the natural variation in Florida Bay and which resulted from human activities. To answer this question, scientists are studying both modern samples and piston cores that reveal changes over the past 150-600 years. These two types of data complement each other by providing information about the current state of the Bay, changes that occurred over time, and patterns of change. Terrestrial ecosystems of South Florida have undergone numerous human disturbances, ranging from alteration of the hydroperiod, fire history, and drainage patterns through implementation of the canal system to expansion of the agricultural activity to the introduction of exotic species such as Melalueca, Australian pine, and the Pepper Tree. Over historical time, dramatic changes in the ecosystem have been documented and these changes attributed to various human activities. However, cause-and-effect relationships between specific biotic and environmental changes have not been established scientifically. One part of the South Florida Ecosystem History group of project is designed to document changes in the terrestrial ecosystem quantitatively, to date any changes and determine whether they resulted from documented human activities, and to establish the baseline level of variability in the South Florida ecosystem to estimate whether the observed changes are greater than what would occur naturally. Specific goals of this part of the project are to 1) document the patterns of floral and faunal changes at sites throughout southern Florida over the last 150 years, 2) determine whether the changes occurred throughout the region or whether they were localized, 3) examine the floral and faunal history of the region over the last few millennia, 4) determine the baseline level of variability in the communities prior to significant human activity in the region, and 5) determine whether the fire frequency, extent, and influence can be quantified, and if so, document the fire history for sites in the region.

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

N: 26.5

S: 24.75

E: -80.0

W: -81.83

Data Set Citation

Dataset Originator/Creator: Lynn Wingard

Dataset Title: 1995 - 2007 Ecosystem History of South Florida's Estuaries Database version 6

Dataset Release Date: 2012-02-01

Version: version 6

Data Presentation Form: MS Access database

Online Resource: http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/flaecohist/

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1994-09-27

Stop Date: 2007-04-03

Location Keywords

CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > FLORIDA

CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Data Resolution

Latitude Resolution: 0.01
Degrees and decimal minutes
Longitude Resolution: 0.01
Degrees and decimal minutes

Science Keywords

BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES

BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > ARTHROPODS

ISO Topic Category

BIOTA

CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE

Project

USGS_SOFIA > South Florida Information Access

Quality ATTRIBUTE ACCURACY REPORT:
All data are cross checked at least twice to original field notes so entries are correct. In terms of reproducibility, these are living ecosystems, so part of the purpose of the database is to compare repeat observations at the same site over time to note the changes.

The data on occurence of plants and animals are qualitative ... not quantitative assessments. An absence in the database does not necessarily mean an absence of the species at the sampling site. Observations of plants and animals were noted but this may not have been the primary focus of the data collection at a particular site.

LOGICAL CONSISTENCY REPORT:
The field data contained in this database have not been reviewed for publication and therefore may contain inconsistencies or errors. The field measurements (such as salinity and temperature) were made on an variety of instruments over the years. Project personnel have made every attempt to calibrate and standardize the instruments and check the data, however, the field data should be considered preliminary. Also taxonomic names may not represent the most up to date usage, but are internally consistent.

All data are cross checked at least twice to original field notes so entries are correct. In terms of reproducibility, these are living ecosystems, so part of the purpose of the database is to compare repeat observations at the same site over time to note the changes.

COMPLETENESS REPORT: The data on occurrence of plants and animals are qualitative notes - not quantitative assesments. Simply put, an absence in the database does not necessarily mean the species was absent at the site. Fieldwork was conducted for a variety of purposes over the years, and these data merely represent observations made at specific times and places, but cannot be quantitatively compared to each other. For example, a species may not have been detected at a specific site on a given date, because we were at the site to collect a core - not do a site survey. We always noted any observations made and these are recorded here, but more species would obviously be detected if we spent 30 minutes doing a snorkeling transect looking for species, than if we were there to collect a core and in the process noted the presence of certain species. Keep this in mind when looking at the data and treat the data on the biotic distributions as observational and qualitative.

HORIZONTAL POSITIONAL ACCURACY REPORT: Much of the data were collected using a GPS system to accurately capture the location of the collection site. The accuracy of the positions range from none shown to +/- 493 feet. Many of the sites fall in the +/- 92 feet range. Most of the sites in the database have a GPS accuracy value given. The earlier dates for data collection are usually the ones without an accuracy value.

VERTICAL POSITIONAL ACCURACY REPORT: Water depth data are accurate to within 0.25 meter

Access Constraints None

Use Constraints The field data contained in the database have not been reviewed for publication and, therefore, may contain inconsistencies or errors. The field measurements (such as salinity and temperature) have been made on a variety of instruments over the years. Every effort has been made to calibrate and standardize the instruments and check the data, however, the field data should be considered preliminary. Also, taxonomic names may not represent the most up-to-date usage, but are internally consistent.

Ancillary Keywords

Broward County

Collier County

Data Set Progress

IN WORK

Data Center

SOUTH FLORIDA INFORMATION ACCESS, FLORIDA INTEGRATED SCIENCE CENTER, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Data Center URL: http://sofia.usgs.gov/
Dataset ID: Ecosystem_History_of_South_Florida_Estuaries_Data

Data Center Personnel
Name: HEATHER S. HENKEL Phone: 727.803.8747 ext. 3028 Fax: 727.803.2032 Email: hhenkel at usgs.gov Contact Address: USGS-FISC-St. Petersburg 600 Fourth St. South City: St. Petersburg Province or State: FL Postal Code: 33701 Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Size: 3.2

Distribution Format: MS Access2007

Fees: none

Personnel

LYNN WINGARD

Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT

Phone: 703 648-5352

Fax: 703 648-6953

Email: lwingard at usgs.gov

Contact Address:

926A National Center

City: Reston

Province or State: VA

Postal Code: 20192

Country: USA

HEATHER S. HENKEL

Role: DIF AUTHOR

Phone: 727.803.8747 ext. 3028

Fax: 727.803.2032

Email: hhenkel at usgs.gov

Contact Address:

USGS-FISC-St. Petersburg

600 Fourth St. South

City: St. Petersburg

Province or State: FL

Postal Code: 33701

Country: USA

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2012-04-09

Last DIF Revision Date: 2012-07-18

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