The Everglades Experiments: Lessons for Ecosystem Restoration(201 Ecological Studies)

The Florida Everglades ecosystem is recognized worldwide as a significant wetland whose natural processes have been altered and remain threatened. State and Federal United States agencies face critical decisions about the course of conservation and restoration efforts. Synthesizing nearly ten years of laboratory and field research of the Duke University Wetland Center, An Integrated Approach to Wetland Ecosystem Science provides the long-term integrated scientific studies needed to understand the functioning of this region. The fundamental issues that the research addressed are: 1) The effects of increased nutrients and water inputs on the native plant and animal communities of the Everglades 2) The long-term nutrient storage capacity of the Everglades 3) The effects of changes in water level and hydroperiod on Everglades period and function 4) Management and restoration of the natural communities of the Everglades. Background information about current and historical ecological conditions of the region set the context for reports of long-term research projects. A series of gradient studies determining the effects of hydrology and nutrient changes are presented, followed by field experiments that have tested those findings. Subsequent sections present models for predicting responses to various conditions and analyze the studies and models, focusing on management and restoration of the Everglades. This book will interest professionals and graduate students interested in ecosystems and wetland ecology.

Table of Contents:
Everglades Ecosystem.- Overview of Gradient Studies and Experiments.- Ecological Status of the Everglades: Environmental and Human Factors that Control the Peatland Complex on the Landscape.- Soil Characteristics of the Everglades Peatland.- Vegetation and Algae of the Everglades Fen.- Nutrient and Hydrologic Gradient Studies.- to the Gradient Studies.- Enrichment Gradients in WCA-2A and Northern WCA-3A: Water, Soil, Plant Biomass, and Nutrient Storage Responses.- Geologic Settings and Hydrology Gradients in the Everglades.- Effects of Hydrologic Management Decisions on Everglades Tree Islands.- Macrophyte Community Responses in the Everglades with an Emphasis on Cattail (Typha domingensis) and Sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) Interactions along a Gradient of Long-Term Nutrient Additions, Altered Hydroperiod, and Fire.- Algal Responses to Long-Term Nutrient Additions.- Macroinvertebrate Responses to a Gradient of Long-Term Nutrient Additions, Altered Hydroperiod, and Fire.- Historical Changes in Water Quality and Vegetation in WCA-2A Determined by Paleoecological Analyses.- Carbon Cycling and Dissolved Organic Matter Export in the Northern Everglades.- Everglades Experiments.- to a Mesocosm Approach for Establishment of Phosphorus Gradient Experiments.- Water Quality, Soil Chemistry, and Ecosystem Responses to P Dosing.- Macrophyte Slough Community Response to Experimental Phosphorus Enrichment and Periphyton Removal.- Decomposition of Litter and Peat in the Everglades: The Influence of P Concentrations.- Experimental Assessment of Phosphorus Effects on Algal Assemblages in Dosing Mesocosms.- Macroinvertebrate and Fish Responses to Experimental P Additions in Everglades Sloughs.- Plant Community Response to Long-Term N and P Fertilization.- The Effects of Disturbance, Phosphorus, and Water Level on Plant Succession in the Everglades.- Establishment and Seedling Growth of Sawgrass and Cattail from the Everglades.- Modeling Ecosystem Responses to Phosphorus Additions.- Long-Term Phosphorus Assimilative Capacity (PAC) in the Everglades.- Spatial Distributions of Total Phosphorus and Phosphorus Accretion Rates in Everglades Soils.- An Ecological Basis for Establishment of a Phosphorus Threshold for the Everglades Ecosystem.- Lessons for Restoration of the Everglades.- An Ecological Approach for Restoration of the Everglades Fen.

About the Author :
About the Author: Curtis J. Richardson is a professor of Resource Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, and Director of the Duke University Wetland Center in Durham, NC.

Review :
From the reviews: "The Everglades experiments is one of the few synthesis books that could be used by policy makers and scientists to adopt strategies for Everglades restoration. … The Everglades experiments: lessons for ecosystem restoration is a great resource to scientists and researchers at different universities, and state and federal agencies that are involved in Everglades restoration. It will be useful to students in the ecology and the environmental fields with the Everglades used as a case example." (Samira Daroub, Ecology, Vol. 90 (2), 2009)