South Florida Environmental Report, 2010, Chapter 6: Ecology of the Everglades Protection Area (original) (raw)

The studies and findings discussed in this chapter of the 2010 South Florida Environmental Report (SFER)-Volume I are presented within four main fields: (1) wildlife ecology, (2) plant ecology, (3) ecosystem ecology, and (4) landscape processes. Programs of study were based on the short-term operational needs and long-term restoration goals of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD or District), including large-scale and regional hydrologic needs in relation to regulation schedules, permitting, the Everglades Forever Act [Section 373.4592, Florida Statutes (F.S.)] mandates, and the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). Table 6-1 summarizes elements of the major Everglades research findings during Water Year 2009 (WY2009) (May 1, 2008-April 30, 2009) and highlights these findings in relation to the WY2009 hydrologic pattern and statutory mandates that drive the research. The hydrologic pattern is immediate and foremost an influence on the restoration of Everglades wading bird populations, but is also critical to long-term ecological trends. In WY2009, the amount of rainfall received was below average, while the pattern of rainfall was close to normal. Water levels rose during the wet season as they have for the last 15 years and October peaks produced water depths ranging from a low of 1.5 feet (ft) in Northeast Shark River Slough to a high of 3.0 ft in the southern region of Water Conservation Area 3A (WCA-3A). Rainfall almost ceased between November and May, but high water levels buffered the system from complete drydown in the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs). Dry season recession rates were optimum for wading bird foraging. There were no reversals anywhere in the system until May 2009 (WY2010), which became the second wettest May in the history of the SFWMD. WILDLIFE As a result of the WY2009 recession rates and the previous two years of drought, the 2009 wading bird nesting season was outstanding. The estimated number of wading bird nests in South Florida in 2009 was approximately 80,000. This is the largest nesting effort recorded in the region since the 1940s and represents (1) a 335 percent increase relative to last year's breeding season, (2) a 90 percent increase over the average of the last 10 seasons, and (3) surpasses the previous record year, 2002, by approximately 11,000 nests. The white ibis (Eudocimus albus) and the federally endangered wood stork (Mycteria americana) (which has generally exhibited very low nesting effort over the past decade), both produced numbers of nests that have not been observed