TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of surface-water flows in the ridge and slough landscape of Everglades National Park
T2 - Implications for particulate transport
AU - Leonard, Lynn
AU - Croft, Alexander
AU - Childers, Daniel
AU - Mitchell-Bruker, Sherry
AU - Solo-Gabriele, Helena
AU - Ross, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was funded by the Everglades National Park, U.S. National Park Service and received additional support from the National Science Foundation through the FCE LTER Program (DEB-9910514) and the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following individuals: Adam Wood, Jose Bazante, Damon Rondeau, Stuart Stothoff, Tim Grahl, Phil Bayer, Dan Aten, and also the staff of ENP. The comments of J. Trexler and an anonymous reviewer are appreciated and were used to improve the manuscript. This is contribution #282 of the Southeast Environmental Research Center at Florida International University.
PY - 2006/10
Y1 - 2006/10
N2 - Over the last one hundred years, compartmentalization and water management activities have reduced water flow to the ridge and slough landscape of the Everglades. As a result, the once corrugated landscape has become topographically and vegetationally uniform. The focus of this study was to quantify variation in surface flow in the ridge and slough landscape and to relate flow conditions to particulate transport and deposition. Over the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 wet seasons, surface velocities and particulate accumulation were measured in upper Shark River Slough in Everglades National Park. Landscape characteristics such as elevation, plant density and biomass also were examined to determine their impact on flow characteristics and material transport. The results of this study demonstrate that the release of water during the wet season not only increases water levels, but also increased flow speeds and particulate transport and availability. Further, flow speeds were positively and significantly correlated with water level thereby enhancing particulate transport in sloughs relative to ridges especially during peak flow periods. Our results also indicate that the distribution of biomass in the water column, including floating plants and periphyton, affects velocity magnitude and shape of vertical profiles, especially in the sloughs where Utricularia spp. and periphyton mats are more abundant. Plot clearing experiments suggest that the presence of surface periphyton and Utricularia exert greater control over flow characteristics than the identity (i.e., sawgrass or spike rush) or density of emergent macrophytes, two parameters frequently incorporated into models describing flow through vegetated canopies. Based on these results, we suggest that future modeling efforts must take the presence of floating biomass, such as Utricularia, and presence of periphyton into consideration when describing particulate transport.
AB - Over the last one hundred years, compartmentalization and water management activities have reduced water flow to the ridge and slough landscape of the Everglades. As a result, the once corrugated landscape has become topographically and vegetationally uniform. The focus of this study was to quantify variation in surface flow in the ridge and slough landscape and to relate flow conditions to particulate transport and deposition. Over the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 wet seasons, surface velocities and particulate accumulation were measured in upper Shark River Slough in Everglades National Park. Landscape characteristics such as elevation, plant density and biomass also were examined to determine their impact on flow characteristics and material transport. The results of this study demonstrate that the release of water during the wet season not only increases water levels, but also increased flow speeds and particulate transport and availability. Further, flow speeds were positively and significantly correlated with water level thereby enhancing particulate transport in sloughs relative to ridges especially during peak flow periods. Our results also indicate that the distribution of biomass in the water column, including floating plants and periphyton, affects velocity magnitude and shape of vertical profiles, especially in the sloughs where Utricularia spp. and periphyton mats are more abundant. Plot clearing experiments suggest that the presence of surface periphyton and Utricularia exert greater control over flow characteristics than the identity (i.e., sawgrass or spike rush) or density of emergent macrophytes, two parameters frequently incorporated into models describing flow through vegetated canopies. Based on these results, we suggest that future modeling efforts must take the presence of floating biomass, such as Utricularia, and presence of periphyton into consideration when describing particulate transport.
KW - Everglades
KW - Flow
KW - Hydrodynamics
KW - Sawgrass
KW - Slough
KW - Spike rush
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U2 - 10.1007/s10750-006-0119-y
DO - 10.1007/s10750-006-0119-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33746735456
SN - 0018-8158
VL - 569
SP - 5
EP - 22
JO - Hydrobiologia
JF - Hydrobiologia
IS - 1
ER -