Everglades Experiments Lessons for Ecosystem Restoration
Covering more than 4,300 square miles in Southern Florida, the Everglades are the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. It has been designated an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and a Wetland of International Importa
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M.M. Caldwell, Washington, USA G. Heldmaier, Marburg, Germany R.B. Jackson, Durham, USA O.L. Lange, Würzburg, Germany H.A. Mooney, Stanford, USA E.-D. Schulze, Jena, Germany U. Sommer, Kiel, Germany
Ecological Studies Volumes published since 2006 are listed at the end of this book.
Curtis J. Richardson
The Everglades Experiments Lessons for Ecosystem Restoration
Curtis J. Richardson Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Duke University Wetland Center Levine Science Research Center Duke University Durham, NC 27708-0333 USA [email protected]
ISBN 978-0-387-98796-5
e-ISBN 978-0-387-68923-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007938761 © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY-10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
This book is dedicated to my family – my wife Carol, son John, and daughter Suzanne – who for more than a decade provided me with the love and support I needed to traverse the scientific and political mires of Florida’s Everglades.
Preface
In the late 1960s, I worked as a graduate teaching assistant in plant ecology for the late Dr. John Henry Davis at the University of Florida. On one of our visits to the Everglades, he mentioned to me that he had been studying problems of the Everglades since the early 1930s, and that rapid growth in Florida, unless checked, was about to doom the Everglades. He hoped his vegetation survey of the Everglades and his vegetation map could someday be used to help restore the Everglades to some semblance of what it had been prior to the turn of the century. These long-forgotten discussions with Dr. Davis were rekindled when, during a wetland conference in Orlando, Florida in the late 1980s, I was asked what might be responsible for the reported massive invasion of cattails that had been noted during the past decade in the Everglades. Several hypotheses were presented at the meeting, including some preliminary data on the significant inputs of nutrients from agricultural lands and Lake Okeechobee to the north. The shifts in the hydrologic conditions and flow patterns of the existing Everglades were also mentioned. Because of the extensive work on phosphorus and nutrient retention then being done at the Duke University Wetland Center, I was asked in early 1989 to do a preliminary survey and analysis of the
