scholarly journals Emergence potential of mosquito-borne arboviruses from the Florida Everglades

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259419
Author(s):  
Durland Fish ◽  
Robert B. Tesh ◽  
Hilda Guzman ◽  
Amelia P. A. Travassos da Rosa ◽  
Victoria Balta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Isolation And Identification ◽  
Natural Wetlands ◽  
Burned Site ◽  
Project Climate Change ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
National Preserve

The Greater Everglades Region of South Florida is one of the largest natural wetlands and the only subtropical ecosystem found in the continental United States. Mosquitoes are seasonally abundant in the Everglades where several potentially pathogenic mosquito-borne arboviruses are maintained in natural transmission cycles involving vector-competent mosquitoes and reservoir-competent vertebrate hosts. The fragile nature of this ecosystem is vulnerable to many sources of environmental change, including a wetlands restoration project, climate change, invasive species and residential development. In this study, we obtained baseline data on the distribution and abundance of both mosquitos and arboviruses occurring in the southern Everglades region during the summer months of 2013, when water levels were high, and in 2014, when water levels were low. A total of 367,060 mosquitoes were collected with CO2-baited CDC light traps at 105 collection sites stratified among the major landscape features found in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Fakahatchee State Park Preserve and Picayune State Forest, an area already undergoing restoration. A total of 2,010 pools of taxonomically identified mosquitoes were cultured for arbovirus isolation and identification. Seven vertebrate arboviruses were isolated: Everglades virus, Tensaw virus, Shark River virus, Gumbo Limbo virus, Mahogany Hammock virus, Keystone virus, and St. Louis encephalitis virus. Except for Tensaw virus, which was absent in 2013, the remaining viruses were found to be most prevalent in hardwood hammocks and in Fakahatchee, less prevalent in mangroves and pinelands, and absent in cypress and sawgrass. In contrast, in the summer of 2014 when water levels were lower, these arboviruses were far less prevalent and only found in hardwood hammocks, but Tensaw virus was present in cypress, sawgrass, pinelands, and a recently burned site. Major environmental changes are anticipated in the Everglades, many of which will result in increased water levels. How these might lead to the emergence of arboviruses potentially pathogenic to both humans and wildlife is discussed.

scholarly journals Have you seen a skinny alligator in South Florida?

EDIS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (6) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiko Squires ◽  
Avishka Godahewa ◽  
Justin R. Dalaba ◽  
Laura A. Brandt ◽  
Frank J. Mazzotti
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Alligator Mississippiensis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Natural Resource Managers

The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is an effective indicator for restoration of more natural patterns of water levels and flows through the Everglades. The Florida Everglades is a highly modified system, so monitoring health of alligators can inform how different areas of this large ecosystem are doing. Based on an increase in reports of very skinny alligators, biologists and natural resource managers are seeking help from the public to better understand where and when this problem occurs. This fact sheet serves as a guide for citizen scientists on how to score alligator body condition and report sightings of very skinny or unhealthy alligators.http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw460

Extraction of Absolute Water Level in the Florida Everglades Using TanDEM-X Bistatic Science Phase Observations with a Large Perpendicular Baseline

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-Hoon Hong ◽  
Shimon Wdowinski ◽  
Sang-Wan Kim
Keyword(s):  
Water Level ◽  
Depth Estimation ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Radar Signal ◽  
Phase Measurements ◽  
Water Level Changes ◽  
Water Surfaces ◽  
Relative Water

<p>High spatial resolution maps of relative water level changes in wetlands environment have been successfully generated using spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) techniques. However, the wetland InSAR application has limited hydrological monitoring application, because it estimates water level changes not absolute water levels, which are used by hydrologists. TanDEM-X bistatic observations provide simultaneous phase measurements of water surfaces with a two-satellite constellation without temporal decorrelation. In this study, the TanDEM-X bistatic science phase observations with very large baseline (> 1.3 km) geometric configuration were evaluated to extract absolute water levels of the Everglades wetland in south Florida, U.S.A. Thanks to the large perpendicular baseline, spatial variation of water level surfaces with extremely low slope were estimated. We processed two datasets of TanDEM-X bistatic observations acquired on August 26 and 31, 2015. The perpendicular baselines are 1.43 km and 1.36 km and the ambiguity heights were calculated as 3.61 m and 3.90 m in each interferometric pair. The estimated absolute water level maps with 3.6 m and 7.4 m pixel spacing in range and azimuth directions (multilook factor of 4), respectively, show vast detailed variation of the water surfaces for each acquisition date. Hourly water level measurements obtained by stage stations, which are provided by the Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN), were used for verifying the estimated absolute water levels. Some of stage stations, which are located in low interferometric coherence areas, such as dense vegetated and tree areas, were considered as outliers and were excluded from the comparison. The verification results show very good agreements (code of determination > 0.95) between the TanDEM-X derived absolute water levels and the stage station measurements. The root mean square error (RMSE) between the TanDEM-X results and stage records for the two datasets were 0.77 m and 0.66  m. Although, TanDEM-X bistatic observations have no temporal baseline, there are severe volume decorrelations over various tree types due to the very large perpendicular baseline. The TanDEM-L mission with longer wavelength of radar signal will enable us to generate more coherent interferometric phase observations over wetlands and, consequently, generate improved absolute water level maps.</p>

scholarly journals Have you seen a skinny alligator in south Florida? [trifold brochure]

EDIS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (6) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Michiko Squires ◽  
Avishka Godahewa ◽  
Justin R. Dalaba ◽  
Laura A. Brandt ◽  
Frank J. Mazzotti
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Alligator Mississippiensis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Natural Resource Managers

This is a trifold brochure based on the fact sheet by the same title, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw460 The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is an effective indicator for restoration of more natural patterns of water levels and flows through the Everglades. The Florida Everglades is a highly modified system, so monitoring health of alligators can inform how different areas of this large ecosystem are doing. Based on an increase in reports of very skinny alligators, biologists and natural resource managers are seeking help from the public to better understand where and when this problem occurs. This brochure serves as a guide for citizen scientists on how to score alligator body condition and report sightings of very skinny or unhealthy alligators.https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw461

Lake and inland dunes as interconnected Systems: The story of Lake Tresssee and an adjacent dune field (Schleswig-Holstein, North Germany)

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362098168
Author(s):  
Christian Stolz ◽  
Magdalena Suchora ◽  
Irena A Pidek ◽  
Alexander Fülling
Keyword(s):  
Water Level ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
High Water ◽  
Alluvial Fan ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Dune Field ◽  
The North ◽  
Sand Drift

The specific aim of the study was to investigate how four adjacent geomorphological systems – a lake, a dune field, a small alluvial fan and a slope system – responded to the same impacts. Lake Tresssee is a shallow lake in the North of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). During the Holocene, the lake’s water surface declined drastically, predominately as a consequence of human impact. The adjacent inland dune field shows several traces of former sand drift events. Using 30 new radiocarbon ages and the results of 16 OSL samples, this study aims to create a new timeline tracing the interaction between lake and dunes, as well, as how both the lake and the dunes reacted to environmental changes. The water level of the lake is presumed to have peaked during the period before the Younger Dryas (YD; start at 10.73 ka BC). After the Boreal period (OSL age 8050 ± 690 BC) the level must have undergone fluctuations triggered by climatic events and the first human influences. The last demonstrable high water level was during the Late Bronze Age (1003–844 cal. BC). The first to the 9th century AD saw slightly shrinking water levels, and more significant ones thereafter. In the 19th century, the lake area was artificially reduced to a minimum by the human population. In the dunes, a total of seven different phases of sand drift were demonstrated for the last 13,000 years. It is one of the most precisely dated inland-dune chronologies of Central Europe. The small alluvial fan took shape mainly between the 13th and 17th centuries AD. After 1700 cal. BC (Middle Bronze Age), and again during the sixth and seventh centuries AD, we find enhanced slope activity with the formation of Holocene colluvia.

Ecosystem Management and the Florida Everglades: The Role of Social Scientists

1997 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Walter Milon ◽  
Clyde F. Kiker ◽  
Donna J. Lee
Keyword(s):  
South Florida ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Adaptive Procedure ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Evaluation Procedures ◽  
South Florida Ecosystem ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
High Degree

AbstractRecently many state and federal agencies in the U.S. have embraced an ecosystems management approach to environmental protection and regulation. This approach requires a high degree of cooperation between natural and social scientists to translate policy objectives into research hypotheses, models, and evaluation procedures to guide implementation decisions. An adaptive procedure to guide interdisciplinary research is described and illustrated with highlights of recent progress and pitfalls from the restoration initiative for the Everglades/South Florida ecosystem.

scholarly journals Anthropogenic Influences on Environmental Changes of Lake Bosten, the Largest Inland Freshwater Lake in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Liu ◽  
Long Ma ◽  
Jilili Abuduwaili
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Lake Sediments ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Large Spatial Scale ◽  
The 1960S

A short lacustrine sediment core (41 cm) from Lake Bosten in arid central Asia was used to investigate the environmental changes that occurred in the past ≈150 years based on the superposition of climate and anthropogenic factors. Geochemical elements, total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrogen (TN), and stable isotope data (δ13Corg and δ15N) were used to identify abnormal environmental changes. The average C/N ratio in the sediments of Lake Bosten suggested that the organic matter in lake sediments was mainly from aquatic plants. The δ13Corg and δ15N in the lake sediments mainly reflect changes in the structure of the lake’s ecosystem. Before the 1960s, the primary productivity of the lake was relatively low with a relatively stable lake water environment. From the 1960s to the mid-1980s, the lake’s ecosystem was closely related to a significant decline in water levels caused by human activities and an increase in salinity. From the late 1980s to ≈2000, the aquatic plant structure of Lake Bosten did not change significantly. After 2000, the upper part of the sedimentary record suggested enhanced productivity due to urban and industrial development in the catchment area. However, sedimentary perspectives of the responses of different environmental proxies in sediments to human activities were anisochronous, and the increasing heavy metal (Pb and Cu) and P accumulations appeared in 1970, reflecting heightened human impacts. Through the comparison between the Aral Sea and Lake Bosten, it was inferred that, under the intervention of human activities, the lake experienced a completely different evolution trend. Humans, as geological agents, should protect our living environment while satisfying social development. The results will provide an important supplement to a large spatial scale study of the influences of human activities on the environment in Central Asia, which also has some significant implications for the protection of the ecological environment and the realization of sustainable development in arid regions.

Palynological reconstruction of environmental changes in coastal wetlands of the Florida Everglades since the mid-Holocene

2015 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Yao ◽  
Kam-biu Liu ◽  
William J. Platt ◽  
Victor H. Rivera-Monroy
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Wetlands ◽  
Mangrove Forest ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Loss On Ignition ◽  
Proxy Record ◽  
Peat Deposits ◽  
Increasing Precipitation ◽  
Mangrove Communities

Palynological, loss-on-ignition, and X-ray fluorescence data from a 5.25 m sediment core from a mangrove forest at the mouth of the Shark River Estuary in the southwestern Everglades National Park, Florida were used to reconstruct changes occurring in coastal wetlands since the mid-Holocene. This multi-proxy record contains the longest paleoecological history to date in the southwestern Everglades. The Shark River Estuary basin was formed ~ 5700 cal yr BP in response to increasing precipitation. Initial wetlands were frequently-burned short-hydroperiod prairies, which transitioned into long-hydroperiod prairies with sloughs in which peat deposits began to accumulate continuously about 5250 cal yr BP. Our data suggest that mangrove communities started to appear after ~ 3800 cal yr BP; declines in the abundance of charcoal suggested gradual replacement of fire-dominated wetlands by mangrove forest over the following 2650 yr. By ~ 1150 cal yr BP, a dense Rhizophora mangle dominated mangrove forest had formed at the mouth of the Shark River. The mangrove-dominated coastal ecosystem here was established at least 2000 yr later than has been previously estimated.

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