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Conceptual Framework and Working Groups


FCE V conceptual framework

Conceptual Framework & Theoretical Context of FCE V

(1) Changing frequency and intensity of rainfall, temperature, and storms influence (2) hydrologic presses (solid arrows) and pulses (dashed arrows) from fresh (blue) and marine (green) sources that can cause (3) disturbance legacies (e.g., eutrophic and/or open-water state) that influence how (4) social-ecological systems are structured and how they function to influence (5) resilience and ecosystem development trajectories (colored arrows: yellow increasing, gray maintaining, red declining; Kominoski et al., 2018). Human decisions and values about water and dynamic structure and function of natural ecosystems feedback to influence available ecosystem services and maintain soil and sediment elevation feedbacks that determine resilience and trajectories over time. Figure by Hiram Henriquez, Univ. of Miami.


FCE V Research Themes

The following research themes are included in the conceptual framework above and the list of working groups below.

1

CLIMATE VARIABILITY

2

HYDROLOGIC PRESSES & PULSES
(Includes hydrologic presses & pulses from fresh (blue) and marine (green) sources)

3

DISTURBANCE LEGACIES

4

COASTAL SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE

5

RESILIENCE & TRAJECTORIES

Working Groups

Working Groups cover one or more of the research themes shown in the conceptual framework and the table above.

Research Theme(s)

Working group

1

Climate Variability
Leaders: Robert Burgman & Jayantha Obeysekera

  • Overview of Research

    The Climate Variability Working Group seeks to understand the externally forced and  internally generated climate variability of peninsular Florida and predict how it might change in the coming decades. We analyze state of the science observational datasets and utilize numerical models to simulate and predict how South Florida’s climate may change over time.

1 2

Hydrologic Resources & Stressors
Leaders: John Kominoski and Shimon Wdowinski

  • Overview of Research

    The Hydrologic Resources & Stressors working group conducts long-term monitoring of water levels and chemistry to decipher pulses of freshwater against the press of sea level rise across the Florida Coastal Everglades landscape.

2  3  4

Vegetation
Leaders: Dan Gann, Jay Sah, Evelyn Gaiser, and Johannes Krause

  • Overview of Research

    The Vegetation working group couples long-term field observations, experiments, and remote sensing tools to understand landscape vegetation and carbon dynamics in response to environmental drivers in the Florida Coastal Everglades.

2  3  4

Consumers
Leaders: Rolando Santos and Jennifer Rehage

  • Overview of Research

    The Consumers working group's research focuses on the trophic structure of Florida Coastal Everglades habitats, consumer-mediated nutrient transport, and the effects of environmental variation on consumer movement and trophic functioning.

2  3  4

Detritus & Microbes
Leaders: Willm Martens-Habbena and Anna Simonsen

  • Overview of Research

    The Detritus and Microbes working group focuses on long-term characterization and quantification of dissolved and particulate organic matter stocks and fluxes and associated microbial community structure and functions along productivity, salinity, and nutrient gradients of marsh, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystems.

2  3  4  5

Eco-Geomorphology
Leaders: Tiffany Troxler

  • Overview of Research

    The Eco-Geomorphology working group uses long-term measurements, focused studies and experiments, and models to characterize how the balance of carbon gains and losses translate to changes in elevation capital (e.g. wetland adaptation capacity) leading to changes in ecosystem resilience and trajectories.

1  2  3  4  5

Social-Ecological Landscape
Leaders: Stephanie Wakefield, Mahadev Bhat, and Kevin Grove

  • Overview of Research

    The Social-Ecological Landscape working group examines how disturbance legacies, climate impacts and restoration activities impact values of ecosystem services and decisions that drive social-ecological resilience in urban coastal communities. We plan to develop visualization and decision-making tools to better understand how ecosystem services and urban resilience are linked.