ABSTRACT Everglades National Park (ENP) is the last hydrologic unit in the series of impounded ma... more ABSTRACT Everglades National Park (ENP) is the last hydrologic unit in the series of impounded marsh units that make up the present-day Everglades. The ENP receives water from upstream Water Conservation Areas via canals and water control structures that are highly regulated for flood control, water supply, wildlife management, concerns about poor water quality and the potential for downstream ecosystem degradation. Recent surveys of surface soils in ENP, designed for random sampling for spatial analysis of soil nutrients, did not sample proximate to inflow structures and thus did not detect increased soil phosphorus associated with these water conveyances. This study specifically addressed these areas in a focused sampling effort at three key inflow points in northeast ENP which revealed elevated soil TP proximate to inflows. Two transects extending down Shark River Slough and one down Taylor Slough (a natural watershed of particular ecological value) were found to have soil TP levels in excess of 500 mg kg−1—a threshold above which P enrichment is indicated. These findings suggest the negative impact of elevated water (P) from surface flows and support the assertion that significant soil TP enrichment is occurring in Taylor Slough and other areas of northeastern ENP.
Land use changes have been shown to alter the balance of nutrient and mineral sources and sinks t... more Land use changes have been shown to alter the balance of nutrient and mineral sources and sinks to coastal systems. These shifts are often preserved in sediment records. In Apalachicola Bay, productivity is dependent on nutrient loading from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-...
COMPARTMENT DELINEATION FOR A WETLAND WATER QUALITY MODEL IN THE NORTHERN EVERGLADES, FLORIDA, US... more COMPARTMENT DELINEATION FOR A WETLAND WATER QUALITY MODEL IN THE NORTHERN EVERGLADES, FLORIDA, USA A water-quality model application to large geographical areas typically involves the spatial aggregation of sub-areas into compartments which are assumed within the model to be uniform. Model compartments often are delineated using available data and professional judgment. Compartment delineation affects the accuracy of hydrodynamic and water quality modeling by subjectively grouping sub-areas of similar characteristics. In this research, we applied cluster analysis (CA) to objectively determine the number of compartments and to spatially delineate compartments with similar descriptive features for water-quality modeling. Here, surface-water quality data collected in the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), Florida were analyzed using CA of concentrations of chloride, total phosphorus, sulfate, and calcium measured at sites distributed throughout the Refuge. The Refuge...
ABSTRACT Everglades National Park (ENP) is the last hydrologic unit in the series of impounded ma... more ABSTRACT Everglades National Park (ENP) is the last hydrologic unit in the series of impounded marsh units that make up the present-day Everglades. The ENP receives water from upstream Water Conservation Areas via canals and water control structures that are highly regulated for flood control, water supply, wildlife management, concerns about poor water quality and the potential for downstream ecosystem degradation. Recent surveys of surface soils in ENP, designed for random sampling for spatial analysis of soil nutrients, did not sample proximate to inflow structures and thus did not detect increased soil phosphorus associated with these water conveyances. This study specifically addressed these areas in a focused sampling effort at three key inflow points in northeast ENP which revealed elevated soil TP proximate to inflows. Two transects extending down Shark River Slough and one down Taylor Slough (a natural watershed of particular ecological value) were found to have soil TP levels in excess of 500 mg kg−1—a threshold above which P enrichment is indicated. These findings suggest the negative impact of elevated water (P) from surface flows and support the assertion that significant soil TP enrichment is occurring in Taylor Slough and other areas of northeastern ENP.
Land use changes have been shown to alter the balance of nutrient and mineral sources and sinks t... more Land use changes have been shown to alter the balance of nutrient and mineral sources and sinks to coastal systems. These shifts are often preserved in sediment records. In Apalachicola Bay, productivity is dependent on nutrient loading from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-...
COMPARTMENT DELINEATION FOR A WETLAND WATER QUALITY MODEL IN THE NORTHERN EVERGLADES, FLORIDA, US... more COMPARTMENT DELINEATION FOR A WETLAND WATER QUALITY MODEL IN THE NORTHERN EVERGLADES, FLORIDA, USA A water-quality model application to large geographical areas typically involves the spatial aggregation of sub-areas into compartments which are assumed within the model to be uniform. Model compartments often are delineated using available data and professional judgment. Compartment delineation affects the accuracy of hydrodynamic and water quality modeling by subjectively grouping sub-areas of similar characteristics. In this research, we applied cluster analysis (CA) to objectively determine the number of compartments and to spatially delineate compartments with similar descriptive features for water-quality modeling. Here, surface-water quality data collected in the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), Florida were analyzed using CA of concentrations of chloride, total phosphorus, sulfate, and calcium measured at sites distributed throughout the Refuge. The Refuge...
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