South Florida/Caribbean Network mangrove-marsh ecotone monitoring: Protocol narrative

Moser, Jonathan; Shamblin, Robert; Fotinos, Timothy; Atkinson, Andrea; Chandler, Jennifer; Londoño, Mario; Patterson, Judd; Whelan, Kevin

This protocol describes the process used to monitor ecotonal movement of mangroves and upslope freshwater marshes in Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. Tracking the position of ecotones can indicate the long-term trajectory of these plant communities. Changes in the ecotone can be indicative of changing environmental drivers. The mangrove to freshwater marsh ecotones are expected to move, for example, in response to changes in water management, sea-level rise, storms, and fire, some of which can be manipulated to alter the rate of change. Ecotonal movement of vegetation communities across the landscape is indicative of large-scale processes affecting the park and preserve. Remote sensing approaches are used to delineate the physical location of the ecotone (boundaries) between mangroves and freshwater marsh. Fourteen 3 kilometer (1.9 mile [mi]) segments are systematically placed along the ecotone within the two parks. Aerial imagery is used to digitize the mangrove-marsh ecotone in each segment and must be 1 meter (3.3 feet [ft]) or better resolution and have positional accuracy of ± 3 meters (9.8 feet [ft]) or better. Four ground-truth field point locations (marker points) are established approximately 1 kilometer (0.62 miles [mi]) apart along the ecotone of each segment to provide field-based measurements and ground-truthing of the digitized line. The specific objectives of the Mangrove-Marsh Ecotone Monitoring Protocol are to: • Determine the spatial and temporal movement of the mangrove-marsh ecotone at systematically selected segments. • Document the composition of vegetation communities at field verification locations. Collect vegetation data, e.g., composition, percent cover and canopy height of dominant species within herbaceous, shrub, and forest strata, in order to document composition of vegetation communities on both the “mangrove” and “marsh” sides of the ecotone. Monitoring will be repeated approximately once every ten years as new imagery becomes available. The monitoring duties for the mangrove-marsh ecotone monitoring protocol will be completed by South Florida/Caribbean Network staff and the information collected used to support the management of natural resources in Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.

South Florida/Caribbean Network mangrove-marsh ecotone monitoring: Protocol narrative

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