Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) contains unique and ecologically important wetlands, but some areas have been degraded by phosphorus pollution, likely from upstream agricultural runoff. This nutrient pollution harms periphyton (i.e., communities of algae and microbes that are critical to wetland health) and can lead to long-term ecosystem decline. Unlike other parts of the Everglades, BICY has not yet had clear phosphorus thresholds defined to guide protection efforts. In this study, we are conducting a large-scale phosphorus addition experiment to measure how periphyton and other related ecosystem variables respond, with the goal of identifying a phosphorus target for the Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP) of BICY.

Read an article about the project here

This project is sponsored by the Department of Interior/National Park Service, The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Everglades Foundation, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 

This project supports the early phases of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project, a major Everglades initiative aimed at restoring natural water flow in South Florida. We are monitoring periphyton (i.e., algae and microbes that are key to wetland health) to understand how these communities respond as new levees and water conveyance structures are built. Because periphyton reacts quickly to changes in water and nutrients, it serves as an excellent early indicator of restoration progress. 

This project is sponsored by the Earthology/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Arcadis/ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Earthology/South Florida Water Management District.

Much of what we know about how urbanization effects stream biodiversity comes from studies focused on high-density development in urban centers; we know much less about how low-density development impacts stream biota. Here, we examined how low-density development, like houses scattered through formerly forested areas, affects stream biodiversity over time. We compared algae (diatoms) and fish communities in forested and developing watersheds in the southern Appalachian Mountains across a ten-year period. Our results showed that developing streams supported more widespread, generalist species and exhibited signs of biological homogenization. This study highlights how even small amounts of development can shift stream communities before more sensitive or endemic species begin to disappear.

Read the full manuscript here

Accurately estimating how species respond to differing environmental conditions is important for assessing water quality and tracking environmental change over time. However, these estimates can be biased if the data used to build and apply models are unevenly distributed along environmental gradients. In this study, we developed a method to evenly sample nutrient concentrations across two wetland regions in South Florida. This approach improved consistency in species’ nutrient preferences and showed that models developed in one region can be more reliably applied to another, as long as the underlying nutrient data are evenly distributed.

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Invasive insect pests are an increasingly common disturbance in North American forests, but their effects on the streams that flow through these ecosystems are poorly understood. Here, we explored how the death of streamside eastern hemlock trees caused by an invasive insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid, affected algae and diatoms in southern Appalachian streams. We compared samples collected before and after the die-off to see if increased sunlight created by dead hemlocks would lead to more algae growth and shifts in species composition over the long-term. Thirteen years later, we found surprising stability in the stream ecosystems, likely due to dense rhododendron shrubs replacing the lost hemlock canopy.

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It’s well known that clear-cutting vegetation along forested streams can increase light and strongly affect algae, but much less is understood about how small reductions in canopy cover influence these light-limited systems. Here, we removed understory rhododendron shrubs while leaving the overstory canopy intact and tracked changes in algal growth and composition over multiple years, also testing whether native crayfish played a role. Even minor canopy openings increased algal biomass and shifted algal communities, likely due to more frequent brief bursts of sunlight, while crayfish had little effect. These findings suggest that small changes in canopy cover can meaningfully alter stream ecosystems and the food resources available to aquatic life.