Established in 2000, the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-term Ecological Research (FCE-LTER) project is part of the national LTER network created by the National Science Foundation in 1980 to support research on long-term ecological phenomena in the United States. Comprising 26 sites, the LTER network is a collaboration of over 1,800 scientists and students who are investigating ecological processes over long time scales and broad spatial scales. More information about the national LTER network can be found at http://www.lternet.edu/. The FCE LTER program is based at Florida International University and includes over 140 senior scientists, students, and staff from 20 universities, 6 state or federal agencies, and 2 non-governmental organizations.

Most of the FCE-LTER sites are located in the freshwater marsh, estuarine mangrove, and seagrass-dominated estuarine ecosystems of the 2,358-m² Everglades National Park. Research focuses on understanding ecosystem processes along the park’s two major drainage basins: Shark River Slough, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico, and Taylor Slough, which drains to Florida Bay. Of particular interest to scientists are the estuarine ecotones, the regions where freshwater mixes with saltwater and the grassy marshes give way to mangrove forests.

Phase I of the FCE-LTER project was completed in 2006. A description of this work can be found at http://fcelter.fiu.edu/research/?p=FCEI and results are at http://fcelter.fiu.edu/research/results/.With a completion date of 2012, Phase II of the project focuses more intently on the estuarine ecotones in order to achieve a more complete understanding of these unique areas and to investigate how changes in freshwater flow brought about by restoration activities will impact ecosystem processes. Research is organized into four working groups and four cross-cutting themes which address our key research questions.

In the Everglades, two estuarine ecotones, the Shark River Slough/Gulf of Mexico ecotone and the Taylor Slough/Florida Bay ecotone, are of interest to FCE-LTER researchers. Because they contain phosphorus-rich marine water, these ecotones are characterized by higher rates of primary productivity - or the amount of living material produced when nutrients and energy from sunlight are used to create plant tissues - than upstream marshes, which are naturally oligotrophic, or nutrient poor.

Scientists once thought that the presence of phosphorus-rich marine water in these ecotones was responsible for the high rates of productivity. They also thought that the Taylor Slough/Florida Bay estuarine ecotone would have reduced rates of productivity compared to the Shark River Slough/Gulf of Mexico ecotone since Florida Bay’s low tidal action would inhibit marine phosphorus from entering the ecotone. The hypothesis, however, proved to be incorrect; productivity in the Taylor Slough ecotone was higher than expected, possibly due to phosphorus inputs from groundwater intruding into surface water through openings in the limestone bedrock. In Phase II of the FCE-LTER project, researchers are continuing to examine the effects of groundwater sources of phosphorus on patterns of productivity in these ecotones.

FCE-LTER researchers are also studying how changes in freshwater quality and quantity – resulting from Everglades restoration projects, sea level rise due to climate change, and disturbances, such as hurricanes and fires – may alter patterns of productivity in these regions. Investigating patterns of primary production is the task of one of five FCE-LTER working groups. The simultaneous consideration of data collected by each of these working groups will enhance understanding of this unique ecosystem.

The greater Everglades ecosystem, in which freshwater flows south from the Kissimmee River, through Lake Okeechobee, and into the Gulf of Mexico and Florida and Biscayne Bays, is the site of the world’s largest ecosystem restoration effort. The effort aims to improve the quantity, quality, and timing of freshwater flow through the ecosystem. A major goal of Phase II of the FCE-LTER project is to investigate how changes in freshwater flow will impact ecosystem processes.


Historic, current, and planned flow of water through the greater Everglades ecosystem. Figure modified from www.evergladesplan.org.

For example, some scientists are investigating how an increase in freshwater flow will affect patterns of organic matter as it is carried by the water and deposited downstream. If water flow is increased, this organic matter will be deposited in greater amounts in the estuarine ecotone and could lead to even higher rates of productivity in these areas. The study of organic matter dynamics is one of the FCE-LTER program's four working groups.

Phase II of the FCE-LTER project is divided into four working groups. Each working group focuses on a set of key research questions and/or major processes that are being quantified.

• Primary Production
• Trophic Dynamics and Community Structure
• Biogeochemical Cycling
• Organic Matter Dynamics

Four cross-cutting themes address large-scale issues that have impacts within all of the working groups. Research occurring under these cross-cutting themes focuses on “big picture” questions and research applications.

• Modeling and Synthesis
• Human Dimension
• Climate and Disturbance
• Hydrology