Water, wetlands, and wood storks in southwest Florida

STANDARD VIEW

MARC VIEW


	Permanent Link:	http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00084175/00001

Material Information
	Title:	Water, wetlands, and wood storks in southwest Florida
	Physical Description:	ix, 406 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.
	Language:	English
	Creator:	Browder, Joan Arrington ( Dissertant ) Snedaker, Samuel C. ( Reviewer ) Johnston, David W. ( Reviewer ) Bayley, Suzanne E. ( Reviewer ) Huber, Wayne C. ( Reviewer ) Odum, Howard T. ( Thesis advisor )
	Publisher:	University of Florida
	Place of Publication:	Gainesville, Fla.
	Publication Date:	1976
	Copyright Date:	1976

Subjects
	Subjects / Keywords:	Wood stork ( lcsh ) Environmental Engineering Sciences thesis Ph. D Wetlands -- Florida ( lcsh ) Ecological surveys -- Wetland ecology -- Florida ( lcsh ) Ecology -- Florida ( lcsh ) Dissertations, Academic -- Environmental Engineering Sciences -- UF
	Genre:	bibliography ( marcgt ) non-fiction ( marcgt )

Notes
	Abstract:	Energy circuit models were used to study an oscillating ecosystem, the seasonally expanding and contracting wetlands of southwest Florida. Analog and digital computers were used to simulate the effects of the natural rainfall pattern and of drainage on seasonal expansion and contraction of water area, production and concentration of fish, and feeding and reproduction of the Wood Stork (Mycteria americana). Information for quantification of the models was obtained from aerial surveys of storks nesting at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, quantitative sampling of fish and invertebrates in a pond and marsh, measurement of wetlands area on infrared aerial photographs, topographic field surveys, and a literature search and field observation on demographic parameters of populations. There are approximately 30,000 ponds ranging in size from less than an acre to more than 100 acres in Lee, Hendry, and Collier counties. Freshwater wetlands once comprised 53% of the total area. Drainage, which has accelerated in the past 15 years, has reduced wetlands area by more than 60%, diminishing the capacity of the area to store water from wet years. Regional-scale depth-area, area-volume, and depth-volume curves were developed to relate the intensity and timing of rain to the seasonally changing area of surface water. Classical hydrologic equations were combined with the regional curves to produce a water model simulating seasonal and long-term water storage and runoff. Patterns of land area covered by water from the water model were used to drive three models relating water patterns to fish and storks. Seasonal oscillation of water area increases the efficiency of the flow of energy from prey to predator and allows a system to support more top consumer than would otherwise be possible. Concentration of the fish production of the wetlands of southwest Florida is increased approximately 25 times by the sun’s energy, acting seasonally through evaporation and the transpiration of plants to shrink water area. This extra concentration factor in the food chain give a very high “energy quality value to the Wood Stork, which may serve as an indicator of the productivity of wetlands of the region. Drainage and a downward trend in rainfall for the past 15 years have stressed ecosystems causing a decline in wading birds. Simulations suggest that drainage more than decline in rainfall was responsible for the decrease in storks. Wood Storks have shown resiliency in adapting to the drained conditions, finding new feeding areas such as the marshes at Lake Okeechobee. Plans to raise lake regulation levels will eliminate half this area. Because of the topography of southwest Florida, present drainage has greatly decreased the area flooded but only slightly decreased the range of fluctuation. Therefore, a wetlands ecosystem dependent on oscillation continues to operate. If, however, the mean water level is further lowered, the fluctuation of water area may be drastically reduced and the ecosystem seriously disrupted.
	Thesis:	Thesis--University of Florida.
	Bibliography:	Bibliography: leaves 399-405.
	Statement of Responsibility:	by Joan Arrington Browder.
	General Note:	Typescript.
	General Note:	Vita.

Record Information
	Bibliographic ID:	UF00084175
	Volume ID:	VID00001
	Source Institution:	University of Florida
	Rights Management:	All rights reserved by the source institution and holding location.
	Resource Identifier:	aleph - 000179215 oclc - 03157178 notis - AAU5731

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0	sobekcm_page_globals.constructor	Application State validated or built
0	sobekcm_database.verify_item_lookup_object
0	sobekcm_page_globals.constructor	Navigation Object created from URI query string
0	sobekcm_database.verify_item_lookup_object
0	sobekcm_page_globals.display_item	Retrieving item or group information
0	sobekcm_page_globals.get_entire_collection_hierarchy	Retrieving hierarchy information
0	sobekcm_assistant.get_entire_collection_hierarchy
0	cached_data_manager.retrieve_item_aggregation
0	cached_data_manager.retrieve_item_aggregation	Found item aggregation on local cache
0	item_aggregation_builder.get_item_aggregation	Found 'all' item aggregation in cache
0	system.web.ui.page.page_load (ufdc.page_load)
0	sobekcm_page_globals.constructor.on_page_load
0	html_echo_mainwriter.add_style_references	Adding style references to HTML
0	html_echo_mainwriter.add_text_to_page	Reading the text from the file and echoing back to the output stream
25	html_echo_mainwriter.add_text_to_page	Finished reading and writing the file

MILLISECOND

CLASS.METHOD

MESSAGE

sobekcm_page_globals.constructor

Application State validated or built

sobekcm_database.verify_item_lookup_object

sobekcm_page_globals.constructor

Navigation Object created from URI query string

sobekcm_database.verify_item_lookup_object

sobekcm_page_globals.display_item

Retrieving item or group information

sobekcm_page_globals.get_entire_collection_hierarchy

Retrieving hierarchy information

sobekcm_assistant.get_entire_collection_hierarchy

cached_data_manager.retrieve_item_aggregation

Found item aggregation on local cache

item_aggregation_builder.get_item_aggregation

Found 'all' item aggregation in cache

system.web.ui.page.page_load (ufdc.page_load)

sobekcm_page_globals.constructor.on_page_load

html_echo_mainwriter.add_style_references

Adding style references to HTML

html_echo_mainwriter.add_text_to_page

Reading the text from the file and echoing back to the output stream

html_echo_mainwriter.add_text_to_page

Finished reading and writing the file