The South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystem Unit
A Strategic Vision for the Future
Updated January 17th, 2010

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Introduction

1The South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystem Unit (SFC-CESU) was established in October 2000 by agreement between the Department of Interior (National Park Service, US Geological Survey-Biological Resources Division, and the Bureau of Land Management) and the host institution, University of Miami, with its partner institutions, Nova Southeastern University, Barry University, Florida A&M University, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, University of Florida, University of Puerto Rico, University of the Virgin Islands, and the Audubon Society of Florida. In 2002 Florida Atlantic University was added as an academic partner. In 2003, 2004, and 2008  the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Resources Conservation Service, and Army Corps of Engineers were added as federal partners.  In 2005 the SFC-CESU was renewed for a further five years.  In addition to the existing academic partners, Florida International University was added as an academic partner during the renewal.  In 2007, Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) and the Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) were added as academic partners. In 2009 the Everglades Foundation and the University of South Florida were added as academic partners.

Currently the SFC CESU has 14 academic partners and six federal partners

The SFC-CESU is part of a nationwide network of biogeographically focused programs which were established to provide research, technical assistance, and education to federal land management, environmental, and research agencies. The SFC-CESU will focus on the marine, coastal, and terrestrial ecosystems of the South Florida and the Caribbean (Fig. 1). The SFC-CESU activities will encompass all ecosystems of terrestrial and coastal environments, including estuaries and near-shore oceanic environments, salt and freshwater wetlands and mangroves, terrestrial wetlands (Everglades), and coral reefs.

The SFC-CESU will deal with both applied scientific and socio-economic issues relevant to the geographic study region.

The SFC-CESU is a unique collaboration, which assembles a wealth of technical
knowledge and expertise from nine partner universities and organizations. The technical abilities from these organizations and institutions will be made available to federal managers from the cooperating federal organizations which will allow for the development of innovative and creative solutions to the many of social and environmental issues that confront the unique environment of South Florida and the Caribbean. A five-year strategic plan for the SFC-CESU will guide the general direction and focus of the SFC-CESU. Annual work plans will outline specific research projects, technical assistance activities, training opportunities, and cooperative education endeavors.

A discussion of research directions and needs for the SFC-CESU came about through a workshop held in April 2001 at the Rosenstiel School of the University of Miami. Present at the workshop were representatives from the National Park Service and USGS Biological Resources Division as well as representative of the host and partner institutions.

Discussions from the workshop were used to develop a strategic vision for South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystem Unit. This document identifies the components of a CESU research project or activity, identifies priority directions for research and technical assistance activities, and discusses specific activities and programs to be sponsored by the CESU.

This strategic plan was updated on August 4th, 2003, May 6th, 2006, January 7th, 2008, and December 29th, 2009.

Research Project or Activity

 

The philosophy of the SFC-CESU is to provide both services and research capabilities to the federal research partners both on a long term and opportunistic basis. These services will be made available through the coordination efforts of the on site coordinator funded by the National Park service as well as a comprehensive and interactive web site which will allow the federal research partners to easily access and locate the necessary expertise in order to solve problems relevant to the SFC-CESU.

In particular, the SFC-CESU should provide:

 

Research Foci of the SFCESU

 

The South Florida and Caribbean Region (Fig. 1) is an ecologically and geographically diverse area encompassing a range of different environments that are of interest to the federal partners. These environments ranges from deep marine environments, off shore corals reefs, near-shore shallow water hyper-saline to hypo-saline bays, coastal marshes and mangroves, freshwater marshes, and sub-tropical forests. The connection between these environments is expressed in the flow of water from the land to the sea and it is this interconnection and its geological, hydrological, biological, and ecological
manifestations, which serves as the principal focus for the SFC-CESU. In addition the natural environment coexists with an ever increasing human population which places demands In the following section we include a brief outline of outstanding issues in each of our environments and outline how the SFC-CESU can contribute to a greater understanding of these issues.

As a result of the geographically diverse nature of the SFC-CESU region certain
problems are unique to the individual components of the CESU. In particular issues dealing with the terrestrial ecology of peninsular Florida are different to those of the islands of the Caribbean. In contrast the majority of issues concerned with the marine resources are common to all areas of the CESU. The following narrative attempts to deal with all portion of the SFC-CESU in a equitable manner. The order in which these areas are discussed does not imply a priority within the SFC-CESU.

 

Everglades

Southern Peninsular Florida is dominated by a low topographic relief, high
rainfall, and a sub-tropical vegetation which has given rise to an extensive ecosystem that is defined by its unique hydrology, vegetation, and wildlife. Within this areally extensive region there is a complex interaction between land managed by State, Federal, and private interests, the conflicting demands of which need to be managed in a manner which reflects the best interests of the ecosystem and its human populations. Regardless of its unique nature, the Everglades is much more than a refuge of biological complexity and intense beauty. The maintenance of the Everglades is vital for the control of water resources supplied to the ever-increasing coastal populations. In the past there was a tendency to destroy the terrestrial wetlands to increase areas under urban and agricultural control. At the present time it is widely recognized that the maintenance of the wetlands
is vital to supply clean water for urban, agricultural, and industrial purposes as well as the prevention of salt-water intrusion.

Over the past 100 years, the extent of the naturally occurring wetlands has been
drastically reduced and the hydrology significantly altered (Figure 2). The changes in management of water flow planned by the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) will affect hydroperiods and water depths in many areas, leading to changes in the pattern of plant communities. Understanding of allogenic succession, due to changing hydroperiods and fire regimes, is essential. Changes in the seasonal patterns of water depths in space 2and time across the Everglades landscape will have effects the life cycles of many key and endangered species, particularly nesting and foraging during their reproductive periods. These species include the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, the snail kite, the American alligator, the American crocodile, and many species of wading birds. Because of urbanization and agriculture there has been large scale loss and fragmentation of some habitat types, including essential habitat of the Florida panther. It is important to know how these landscape processes are affecting species viability. Population viability analyses need to be done on keystone species. A large number of non-native plants and animals have invaded or have been deliberately introduced to southern Florida over the past century. These include plants such as Melaleuca and Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), and aquatic animals such as the Mayan cichlid and the swamp eel. Methods of forecasting the spread of invaders and their effects on the ecosystem are needed. It is not possible to return the system to the condition that existed before anthropogenic influences. The present effort must be to manage the resources in a manner which fulfills the following criteria (i) maintain the existing diversity of flora and fauna, (ii) maintain and increase the availability of freshwater for natural and urban activities, (iii) increase the quality of water available, (iv) supply water in a manner

Some of the specific research areas related to the Terrestrial Ecosystems are:

 

 

Coastal Bays and Estuaries

The large terrestrial ecosystem known as the Everglades interfaces with the
marine environment through a broad coastal environment (Figure 3). The major bays and estuaries along this interface include the Indian River Lagoon, Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay, the Ten Thousand Islands, the Caloosahatchee River estuary, Charlotte Harbor, Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay. These bays typically exhibit spatial and temporal fluctuations in salinity, however, the degree of fluctuation varies greatly among the various estuaries. Within a given estuary, salinity fluctuations are governed by a complex combination of influx of freshwater water (both from rainfall and terrestrial runoff), degree of circulation with marine waters, and evaporation (which can be considerable during dry periods). Most of the estuaries are dominated by seagrasses and fringed on the upland by mangrove forests; plants well adapted to the fluctuating conditions. In some cases the coastal marine environment is very distinct from the terrestrial environment but in many instances the terrestrial hydroscape grades into the marine environment. Consequently, the health of these ecosystems is inextricably linked to terrestrial water quality and hydrology. That estuarine ecosystems make up a significant spatial percentage of southern Florida's two major National Parks (Biscayne Bay and Everglades) is a testament to the intrinsic and
esthetic value of these habitats.

3Over the past several decades there has been increasing concern that changes in
the water management practices in southern Florida may have had a significant adverse impact on the quantity and quality of the water supply to the adjacent coastal regions. State and Federal agencies developed a system of canals and levies that was primarily designed to meet the flood protection and water supply needs of urban and agricultural areas. However, in most instances, changes were effected without an adequate understanding of the processes involved, thereby resulting in adverse effects on the natural adjacent estuarine systems. Changes in the distribution of freshwater deliveries and overall reductions in water quantity and quality dramatically changed the hydrology and hydrography of the estuaries. A consequence was that benthic and wetland plant communities were altered and, in some drastic cases, entirely lost. The advent of large agribusiness and the exponential increase in the human population caused further problems for the estuaries. Runoff from farms and urban areas was channeled into the canal system where contaminants were swept downstream into the estuaries thereby changing the nutrient balance and raising the incidence of environmental toxicants such methyl-mercury. Construction of causeways across the shallow areas (e.g. the Overseas Highway in the Florida Keys, Rickenbacker Causeway in Biscayne Bay, Sanibel Causeway in the Caloosahatchee) and the dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway through all of the estuaries had a dramatic impact on circulation patterns within the bays. Dredge and fill operations converted vast acres of bay bottom and adjacent wetlands into urban centers. With the increase in population also came direct effects such as increased fishing and boating impacts (e.g. overfishing and groundings). Finally, these estuaries are also subjected to global-scale perturbations such as hurricanes and sea-level rise. The SFC-CESU provides the expertise to its federal partners to assist in making scientifically informed decisions regarding sound management for the sustainability of these treasured resources.

Some of the specific research areas related to the Coastal Ecosystems are:

 

Caribbean Forested Ecosystems

Subtropical forests of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands reflect the full spectrum of a moisture gradient. Semi-arid life zones occur in southwestern Puerto Rico and exposed headlands among the Virgin Islands. Subtropical dry forests once dominated the Virgin Islands (remaining plentiful only on St. John), and were found abundantly in parts of Puerto Rico. Subtropical moist, wet and cloud forests are well represented in Luquillo 4National Forest, and in several Territorial Forest Reserves in Puerto Rico (Figure 4).

The major anthropogenic threats to forest integrity in the region are: (a) fragmentation and/or conversion to residential and commercial uses, and (b) exotic invasion. Dry forest status in the Virgin Islands varies among the three main islands. St. Croix is an agricultural landscape. Land development on St. Thomas is presently claiming the last of the significant dry forest stands. St. John forests, much of it within the Virgin Islands National Park (VINP), has suffered acute effects of expanding populations of feral farm animals (pigs, goats, donkeys), introduced key deer, mongoose and rats. Alien weeds are less problematic, although a serious threat in certain habitats. The forests of Puerto Rico outside its system of forest reserves and parks, are severely fragmented or extirpated. A key challenge in both territories is aggressive management of the protected forests.

Coral Reefs

5Coral reefs, which fringe much of the coastline of South Florida and the Florida Keys, as well as the of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, provide a unifying theme and opportunities for partnership among the institutions of the SFC-CESU (Figure 5). Coral Reefs are facing a mounting number of threats on local, regional, and global scales, and there is little doubt that they are experiencing a period of decline manifested by loss of coral cover and diversity, in particular in the Caribbean and southern Florida. A major question is how much of this decline is due to natural causes and how much is due to local or regional problems that can be addressed by management action. Coral reefs are sensitive to terrestrial inputs (freshwater, sediments, nutrients and other pollutants) and thus greatly affected by human activity on land, but they also have their own unique problems, including severe responses to climate change and overfishing. Of serious concern is that these multiple factors are interacting synergistically to accelerate the rates of reef decline and make it more difficult to restore and conserve coral reef resources within the region.

 

Summary of Major Global Issues:

 

Summary of Major Local/Regional Issues:

 

In addition, numerous studies are reporting limited coral recruitment and reef recovery years after specific impacts leading to concern about permanent loss of coral reef resources where the above factors are occurring.

Many of these factors (or combinations of them) result in significant reduction of live coral coverage, increased algal cover, increased susceptibility to diseases, and loss of biodiversity. All of these issues urgently need more attention with regard to their impact on coral reef resources within the National Parks and other managed coastal areas. In order to address some of these issues two research institutions have been recently formed in South Florida: the National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) at Nova Southeastern University (funded by NOAA), and the National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research (NCORE) at the University of Miami (funded by EPA). Each of the centers has their particular missions and research mandates, and can provide additional expertise to the SFC-CESU.

 

Potential Cooperative Research Initiatives:

Assessment of the State of Coral Reefs in the South Florida and Caribbean Region:

 

Studies into the processes of coral reef recovery:

 

Human-Environment Interactions

6A central theme of the SFC-CESU is the interaction of humans with the terrestrial, marine and coastal environments of South Florida and the Caribbean. An organizing framework for assessing these issues is the integration of socioeconomic and ecological risk assessment frameworks, largely developed by the Rosenstiel School and promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a way to systematically assess the human environment interactions and effects. The major components of the socioeconomic/ecological risk assessment framework are: a) societal drivers (i.e., what society does, such as land use changes, or energy production); b) anthropogenic environmental stressors that result from those drivers as well as natural stressors, where stressors are defined as physical, chemical, or biological changes that affect people and the environment; and c) socioeconomic and ecological effects manifested on
socioeconomic and ecological endpoints, which are defined as those specific attributes across organizational hierarchy (individuals, populations, communities, to landscapes) that can be used to evaluate the health of ecosystems and their human habitants. The risk assessment approach focuses on parallel characterization of the stressor regime, including the spatial and temporal distribution of stressors, and the effects regime, assessed as changes in the ecological and socioeconomic endpoints. The risk assessment process calls
first for a problem formulation phase, to define the problem, identify stressors, identify existing and needed databases and analytical tools, and develop an overall conceptual model of the ecosystem and its human interactions. Then the analytical phase is done, in which the data are collected, modeled, analyzed, etc. to perform the stressor-effects assessments. And, finally, the risk characterization is done, integrating the exposure regime and effects regime analyses. This framework has been successfully applied to a number of ecological risk assessments, ranging from scoping exercises on ecotoxicity of chemicals to major assessments, such as for citing power plants or assessing beach renourishment projects.

For the South Florida environment, the history of human-environment interactions is intense and concentrated in a short period of time, in which now more than 6 million people live perched along the coastal ridge of the region, immediately next to some of the most invaluable natural terrestrial and coastal marine ecosystems of the world in the Everglades and the Florida coral reef tract. There are many anthropogenic stressors affecting South Florida coastal ecological and societal systems, most importantly caused by changes in the hydrological system associated with the massive water management system of the region. The region's hydrological changes and habitat alterations have fundamentally altered the distribution and condition of a diversity of ecosystems. The concerns about the quantity and quality of water are increasingly becoming both ecological and societal issues. Thus, the public wants to know what is in drinking water, what it will do to humans, and how safe and available it is for consumption, recreation, agriculture and industry. Other stressors include major habitat alterations, spread of invasive exotic species, elevated nutrients into a historically oligotrophic system, extensive over-fishing of fish and invertebrate populations, sea-level change, climate change, and xenobiotic chemicals. With the population in the region increasing at a rate of almost 1 million per decade, the stressors can only increase especially competition for the water supply and the over-exploitation of the natural resources. Both the need and the opportunity for significant scientific research in support of environmental decision making about the South Florida environment are extreme, and the CESU offers the tremendous potential for focusing that scientific support to the decision-making process for South Florida.

One element of the ecological risk assessment framework for focusing this research is the identification of ecological endpoints, as discussed above, and the associated societal and ecological indicators or specific measures to monitor in the environment and society.

One aspect of ecosystem management of the region is using an adaptive management approach, making adjustments to societal policies and water management structures as needed to achieve the ecological goals for the region. South Florida is unique in having had an extremely successful process for identifying environmental goals on a spatially explicit basis, as a major accomplishment of the Florida Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida. The challenge in the ecosystem restoration process is to design systems and policies to meet those goals.

To understand and predict natural resource use decisions, we must also track spatial and temporal patterns for socioeconomic variables such as income, land values, and employment. To appreciate the socioeconomic opportunities and hardships created by natural resource usage, we must track the economic performance and social impacts of important economic sectors such as tourism, agriculture and construction. Without a sense of hierarchy of natural resource uses, policy officials have no idea what to do when conflicts arise. Managing the alternative uses of natural resources would be easier if we had a better idea of the socioeconomic values we hold for all potential uses. Socioeconomics enables us to think more clearly about the values that are being taken into account and others that are not. Historically, values that are difficult to measure have often been ignored in the natural resources policy process. Previously, even when decision-makers were aware of the physical harm or benefit that a policy might have on natural resources, available economic tools did not enable quantification of the effects. Socioeconomic theory can now address natural resource valuation, and federal laws and regulations in some cases stipulate that such valuations be made.

The members of this study unit are interested in the socioeconomic impacts of human environment interactions on the regional human population with a particular interest in low-income and minority populations. Consequently, the FAMU Environmental Sciences Institute’s Center for Environmental Equity and Justice will facilitate the integration of environmental justice issues and concerns, specifically the disproportionate impact of environmental stressors on minority and low-income populations. Specific issues of concern include potential exposures and effects of contaminant stressors from subsistence fishing, migrant farm working, and proximity to pollutant sources. The need for appropriate ecological and socioeconomic indicators is to allow the evaluation of the success or failure as time develops of the restoration process, so that we can make those adaptive management adjustments in order to more closely or more quickly achieve the environmental goals for the region. Again, the CESU offers an exceptional opportunity to develop and test-out in a very applied context such ecological indicators. Finally, we have developed a framework for assessing those indicators and evaluating the progress towards achieving the goals, specifically a socioeconomic/ecosystem health report card framework. Again, through the CESU, this framework can be made specific to the South Florida situation and implemented as an important tool to bring science to bear on decision-making through informing policymakers and other stakeholders of the state of our terrestrial, marine, and coastal environments.

Examples of the specific research areas related to human-environment interactions are:

 

Some important research needs in these forests may be grouped under broad headings:

 

Hydrological Issues and Sea Level Rise

Hydrological issues are central to all aspects of the ecosystems in the SFC-CESU. The most obvious need for hydrological studies is present in the South Florida Everglades system where the immense Kissimmee-Lake Okeechobee watershed is under severe pressures from a burgeoning population and rising sea-level. Increases in population not only mean a loss of wetlands, but also increases in water demand and pollution. These needs must be balanced by the need to maintain a water system, which is consistent with the natural life cycles of organisms living in the Everglades. Another local research need involves the management of storm water and extreme precipitation events in urban areas of South Florida and Puerto Rico, where rainfall-triggered flooding causes significant life and infrastructure losses year after year.
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The quantity and quality of water also is suggested to impact the marine resources. A suggestion has been made that increased nutrients from the agricultural areas and from sewage adversely impacts the reefs by promoting algal growth. Alternatively high salinity waters have been proposed to be detrimental to coral growth.

Many important questions regarding the hydrologic balance in South Florida and Puerto Rico remain undetermined. In many regards these questions are inseparable from other issues which influence the Everglades, the Coral Reefs, and the Estuaries. They are also linked to issues such as sea-level rise and global warming and have consequence on human-environmental interactions. Sea-level has been increasing steadily over the past 100 years and is likely to continue to do so as a result of the long term natural and anthropogenic induced changes in the climate of the Earth. The impact of sea-level changes in SFC-CESU region is likely to be great as a result of the marine dominated nature of the region. Low lying areas, such as the South Florida peninsula and coastal areas of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, are particularly susceptible to sea-level change. Concerns associated with sea-level rise include the quality and availability of freshwater, the distribution of plant and animal species, and the nature of the coastline. Global warming models predict an increase in the number and intensity of storms for the tropic and subtropical areas. Coincident with an increase in storm intensity comes a concern of flooding of both inland and coastal regions of the SFC-CESU. The problems of sea level rise and global warming are inseparable from issues facing the ecology, hydrology, and human-environment interactions of the SFCESU.

The main objectives of the CERP plan are to increase surface water flow to the
Everglades, while maintaining an adequate water supply for agricultural, commercial and residential uses, at the same time providing flood protection for developed areas. There is an additional issue of diverting freshwater runoff from coastal areas to long-term storage areas for future retrieval (aquifer storage and recovery). Under the CERP plan, ecosystems are competing with human issues for a limited supply of fresh water-the availability of which is dominantly climate controlled. It is important to thoroughly understand the consequences of any proposed changes in the water flow in South Florida. Inappropriate actions taken to remedy perceived problems may eventually produce other consequences which may have been foreseen given adequate opportunity for research.

Some of the important issues regarding hydrology in South Florida and Puerto Rico are

 

Data and Information Exchange

A web site, which will serve as a data repository and information system. This site will provide a central location where information can be efficiently and rapidly disseminated. The data and information system would facilitate communication among experts from partner institutions and federal scientists and managers. The present system is available at the SFC-CESU web site, which enables members from the partner institutions to search a database and obtain information on the expertise of specific individuals or to find individuals with particular technical skills.

This system should be designed so that information is available via the internet and is easy to access. Information contained would include bibliographic information, geographic information system (GIS) data, results from recent investigations, research opportunities.

Program Activities of the South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

To complement the research and technical assistance activities of the CESU, programs will be established to encourage education of students and federal managers and scientists, and to facilitate information exchange.

Education

Student Fellowships
SFC-CESU will develop student fellowships and faculty mentors for undergraduate and graduate students associated with CESU projects. The goals are four-fold:

 

The development of this talent pool will require attention paid to:

 

Federal Resource Managers and Scientists

SFC-CESU will establish an educational exchange program that allows faculty mentors at partner institutions to learn about procedure, management, budget planning, and decision-making policies within appropriate federal agencies. In reciprocity, the partner institutions will establish part-time (adjunct) teaching opportunities for federal managers within selected academic courses. This reciprocity will allow federal agencies to train academic researchers in the ways of government policy and bureaucracy, while the federal employees will learn the traditional methods of college teaching.

Updated January 16th, 2010