SFCN Periphyton Monitoring (2008 - Ongoing)

Whelan KR and Prats M. SFCN Periphyton Monitoring (2008 - Ongoing). 2008. National Park Service

The South Florida/Caribbean Network (SFCN) conducts long-term periphyton monitoring as part of the nationwide Inventory and Monitoring Division of the National Park Service. Periphyton is a microbial mat community that forms the base of the aquatic food web in South Florida wetlands such as the marshes in Everglades National Par and Big Cypress National Preserve. It is a vital component of these wetlands, contributing to critical functions such as primary production, nutrient cycling, and soil production and stabilization. The specific monitoring objectives are to identify any basins (areas designated based upon flow patterns and natural or non-natural barriers) in the northwest section of Big Cypress National Preserve where periphyton community structure and periphyton TP content are different from an oligotrophic (low nutrient) and unimpacted community signal, and to document any temporal and/or spatial changes in the periphyton community structure and periphyton TP content showing progression towards an oligotrophic, unimpacted condition or a eutrophic (high nutrient), impacted condition. The sampling design is a stratified restricted random design in which potential sampling sites are randomly selected within each basin. They are restricted to those safely accessible by road, trail or helicopter; that contain a range of habitats from deeper broadleaf marsh to shallower graminoid habitat; and are no closer than 1 kilometer (0.62 miles [mi]) from another site in the same basin. This project is a repository for all datasets, protocols, reports, and other types of publications pertaining to periphyton monitoring at Big Cypress National Preserve.

Type
Project
Authors
Whelan, Kevin; Prats, Michelle
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
BICY
Keywords
diatom, periphyton, water quality

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