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EVERGLADES ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT: WATER MANAGEMENT AND QUALITY, EUTROPHICATION, MERCURY CONTAMINATION, SOILS AND HABITAT: MONITORING FOR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT: A R-EMAP STATUS REPORT
Citation:
U.S. EPA. EVERGLADES ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT: WATER MANAGEMENT AND QUALITY, EUTROPHICATION, MERCURY CONTAMINATION, SOILS AND HABITAT: MONITORING FOR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT: A R-EMAP STATUS REPORT. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA 904-R-07-001, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
This report summarizes the results for the Program’s 2005 Phase III biogeochemical sampling. This survey documented ecological condition for the 2,063-square-mile freshwater portion of the Everglades Protection Area. As with any assessment of the environment at large, the long-term goal of the Everglades R-EMAP Program is to first describe, then diagnose, and finally to predict the status of ecosystem conditions. The focus of this report is the description of the study area as a whole. Future publications will include examination of various parts of the system individually. Diagnosis and prediction will be the focus of future Program publications.
Description:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Everglades Ecosystem Assessment Program is a long-term research, monitoring and assessment effort. Its goal is to provide critical, timely, scientific information needed for management decisions on the Everglades ecosystem and its restoration. Since 1993, three phases of marsh sampling and one phase of canal sampling have been conducted throughout the Everglades at over 1000 different locations. The Program is unique to South Florida in that it combines several key aspects of scientific study: a probability-based sampling design, which permits quantitative statements across space about the condition of the ecosystem; a multi-media aspect; and extensive spatial coverage. This Program: *contributes to documenting the effectiveness of phosphorus and mercury control efforts; *contributes to the joint federal-state Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) by quantifying conditions in three physiographic regions: Everglades ridge and slough; marl prairie/rocky glades; and Big Cypress Swamp; *provides information on four groups of Everglades restoration success indicators: surface water, soil and sediment, vegetation, and fish; *provides a baseline against which future conditions can be compared and the effectiveness of restoration efforts can be gauged; *assesses the effects and potential risks of multiple environmental stressors on the Everglades ecosystem, such as water management, soil loss, water quality degradation, habitat loss, and mercury contamination; and *provides data with multiple applications - updating and calibrating surface water management models; updating models that predict periphyton or vegetation changes in response to phosphorus enrichment or phosphorus control; developing empirical models in order to better understand interrelationships among mercury, sulfur, phosphorus, and carbon; developing water quality standards to protect fish and wildlife.