Please note: this presentation has not received Director

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Please note this presentation has not received
Directors approval and is subject to revision.
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Aquatic EcologyResearch
William F. Loftus, P.I. Robert Kobza Delissa
Padilla Florida Integrated Science Center Miami
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Cooperators

• USGS
• Donald DeAngelis Simulation Modeling
• Ken Rice Ecosystem Studies
• Kevin Cunningham Geomorphology
• John Jones Remote Sensing
• Leo Nico Introduced Species
• National Park Service
• Cristina Bruno Invertebrate Research
• Sue Perry Long-term Monitoring
•  Florida International University
• Joel Trexler Population Dynamics and Tim
  Collins Ecology, Genetics
• Florida Atlantic University
• John Volin Introduced Species
• South Florida Water Management District
• Christopher McVoy Soil Ecology

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Objective
To understand the ecology of South Florida
wetlands through research that supports system
restoration.
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Reasons for Studying Biota

• Fishes are the most numerous vertebrates
• Play important roles in the food web, as
• predators, consumers, and prey
• Indicators of contamination
• Indicators of changes in salinity, nutrients,
• and hydropattern
• A large database exists for use in modeling

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Study Design
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Background Work
Inventory studies what species inhabit the
landscape and its habitats?
Species-specific studies autecology and
biology of native and exotic fishes and
invertebrates Population and community-level
studies food-web patterns and dynamics related
to hydrology
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Fish Distribution Patterns
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Food-web Studies
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NMDS Ordination
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Community Sampling Throw Trap
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Throw-trapping network sampled 5X per year
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Current Aquatic Ecology Studies

• Spatial/Temporal Patterns
• Long-term IM data analysis
• BICY aquatic-community study
• Aquatic refuges
• Introduced species
• Remote sensing of refuges
• Ecological Processes
• Life history of fishes
• Experimental studies of biotic interactions
• Population genetics

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Density and relative abundance patterns of fishes
related to days since drydown
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Large fish CPUE in relation to hydroperiod and to
soil TP
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Community Patterns
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BICY Community Study
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The Role of Aquatic Refuges in the Wetland
Complex of Southern Florida in Relation to System
Restoration

• Community patterns in refuges and on marsh?
• Source of colonists after dry season local
  refuges or distant sources?
• Patterns of fish dispersal related to water flow?
• Will hydrological restoration provide additional
  refuge and greater survival?

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Drift-fence Array
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Solution Hole Sampling HH\\out
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Influence of Hydrology on Life-History Parameters
of Common Freshwater Fishes

• A study of age, growth, and reproductive patterns
  in response to hydrology

Large species sampled from canals
Small fishes collected in marshes.
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Cross section of fish otolith daily growth
increments
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Age at Size of Sailfin Molly (Konnert 2002)
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Experimental Studies of Population Growth and
Predator-Prey Interactions

• Mesocosm tanks and field cages used to study
  biotic interactions difficult to assess in
  smaller scale field or laboratory studies.

• Studies include effects of intraguild predation
  and cannibalism nutrient effects on food webs
  exotic/native fish interactions.

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Experimental Mesocosm - ENP
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Number of Mosquitofish around Spotted Sunfish
Nests in relation to Depth (Pagan M.S. 2000)
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Introduced Fishes
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Temporal Invasion Pattern in Everglades Region
1950s - 1960s Black acara 1960s - 1970s Oscar,
walking catfish, spotted tilapia, blue
tilapia Mid-1980s Mayan cichlid, pike
killifish Late 90s - 00s Jewel cichlid, jaguar
cichlid, peacock bass, brown hoplo, Asian
swamp eel
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Heros severus
C. salvini
Ctenophyrgnodon
Additional species in the canal system likely to
invade the Everglades in the future
O. mossambicus
C. citrinellum
Monopterus sp.
Pterygoplicthys
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NMDS Plot with Swamp Eel Diets
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Future Directions

• Remote sensing to estimate solution-hole density
  and distribution on landscape
• Isotopes and otolith microchemistry to look for
  spatial signals of fish origins
• Study ecology and movements in and out of
  refuges
• Radio-track fish movements
• Continue to apply data in simulation modeling