Project Investigators: Carole C. McIvor Project Personnel: Katie Kuss, Gary L. Hill, Kristen Hart and Noah Silverman Project Start Date: 2000 End Date: 2005 Proposal, Project Summaries and Work Plan Data Metadata Publications

Summary

The ultimate objectives of the proposed research are to predict and assess how altered hydrologic regimes planned by restoration managers are likely to impact submerged aquatic vegetation, fish, decapod crustaceans, and West Indian manatees in a range of estuarine habitats in SW Florida.

A primary goal of Everglades restoration is the recreation of water flows and water quality more closely approximating pre-drainage conditions in both freshwater and estuarine ecosystems within Everglades National Park. These estuarine systems include submerged aquatic vegetation, mangroves (tidal forests), and brackish marshes. Three primary groups of animals are closely associated with, and often dependent upon, one or more of these ecosystems: fish and decapod crustaceans (shrimp, crabs), manatees, and wading birds. This project will focus on fish and decapod crustaceans, and manatees. (Wading birds will be addressed in future efforts.) The present proposal addresses how hydrological changes upstream are likely to affect: (1) the distribution, abundance and composition of submerged aquatic vegetation and selected animal inhabitants; and (2) the distribution and abundance of selected biota associated with mangroves and brackish marshes.

Proposal

• 2001