EvergladesEverglades RestorationRestoration andand thethe FloridaFlorida KeysKeys NationalNational MarineMarine Sanctuary:Sanctuary: MonitoringMonitoring forfor PossiblePossible EcosystemEcosystem EffectsEffects BrianBrian D.D. KellerKeller RegionalRegional ScienceScience CoordinatorCoordinator Southeast,Southeast, GulfGulf ofof Mexico,Mexico, andand CaribbeanCaribbean RegionRegion NOAANOAA OfficeOffice ofof NationalNational MarineMarine SanctuariesSanctuaries National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures The Florida Keys •Florida Keys Reef Tract 350 km long – S. of Miami to Dry Tortugas •Nationally significant system of mangroves, seagrass beds, & coral reefs •Near northern limit of Atlantic coral reef development – generally little accretion over the past 6,000-7,000 years of reef growth •Major declines in live coral cover over the past 30 yr - Caribbean-wide •Bleaching events: 1997-98 1st global •Diseases •Overfishing The system may not be very resistant or resilient to additional stressors National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures SouthSouth FloridaFlorida MarineMarine EcosystemEcosystem Everglades EvolutionEvolution ofof Nat. Park ProtectionProtection…… 1934 John Pennekamp Coral Biscayne Nat. Reef State Park 1960 Park 1968/1980 Gulf of Mexico Dry Tortugas Florida Bay Nat. Park Key Largo 1935/1992 NMS 1975 N Looe Key NMS 1981W E Atlantic Ocean S 60 0 60 120 Miles National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary • Designated by Congress in 1990 • Management plan 1997: 23 highly protected (no-take) marine zones • Tortugas Ecological Reserve (24th zone) implemented in 2001 Florida Bay Gulf of Mexico Atlantic Ocean 9,844 km2 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Connectivity Between Southwestern Florida and the Florida Keys Diatom bloom began Apr-Jun near Cape Sable during peak discharge/nutrient flux from Shark River watershed National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Hu and Muller-Karger 2008 • 1997-2004 SeaWiFS & MODIS images • Dark water plumes or patches not uncommon • 1997, 2000, & 2002 “streamers” from Everglades • 1998, 2001, & 2003 dark water from near Charlotte Harbor to the Tortugas National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Blackwater Event: Winter 2001-2002 9 January 2002 R. Stumpf, NOAA CoastWatch True color image Image enhanced for blackwater “signal” (tannins, humic acid) National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Highest concentration of chlorophyll a R. Stumpf, NOAA CoastWatch measured in this region since quarterly monitoring began in 1995 1/9/02: Image enhanced for chlorophyll concentration (amount of phytoplankton) (Courtesy J. Boyer, FIU/SERC) National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Jan 9 2002 Transport of Jan 19 Blackwater Feb 4 Mar 20 R. Stumpf, NOAA CoastWatch National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Blackwater Plankton R. Stumpf NOAA 28 March 2002: remnant blackwater and plankton bloom branching westward north of the Marquesas and moving through the Lower Keys National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Advection of a Harmful Algal Bloom in 2004 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures K. brevis Cell Counts for Dec. 13, 2004 Rhizosolenia sp. Cell Counts for Dec. 13, 2004 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures K. brevis Cell Counts (cells/liter) Dec. 22, 2004 Rhizosolenia sp. Cell Counts (cells/liter) Dec. 22, 2004 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures K. brevis Cell Counts (cells/liter) Jan. 6, 2005 Rhizosolenia sp. Cell Counts (cells/liter) Jan. 6, 2005 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures LongLong--termterm MonitoringMonitoring Program:Program: SouthSouth FloridaFlorida andand thethe FKNMSFKNMS (1)(1) • South Florida Coastal Ocean Observations – SEAKEYS C-MAN (Coastal-Marine Automated Network) Stations (FIO) – FixedBi-monthly instruments, Cruise Tracks, Drifters, andnear-real-time Stations (NOAA AOML/RSMAS): http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/sfp/ – Gulf of Mexico Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletins (NOAA CoastWatch): Cruiseshttp://coastwatch.noaa.gov/hab/bulletins_ms.htm – instruments and samples – RemoteRed Tide Status sensing reports, SouthwestSouthwest Florida Coast (FWC FWRI): http://www.floridamarine.org/ – Florida Keys Red Tide Monitoring Program reports (Mote): Fixedhttp://isurus.mote.org/Keys/red_tide.phtml instruments, periodic data collection – Coastal Ocean Monitoring & PrPrededictioniction System (USF COMPS)COMPS):: http://comps.marine.usf.edu – Institute for Marine Remote Sensing (USF IMaRS): http://imars.marine.usf.edu/ – Coral Reef Watch (NOAA): http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/ge/ – Florida Keys BleachWatch Program, Current Conditions Reports (Mote): http://isurus.mote.org/Keys/bleaching.phtml – FKNMS Thermographs (FKNMS) National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Long-termLong-term MonitoringMonitoring Program:Program: SouthSouth FloridaFlorida andand thethe FKNMSFKNMS (2)(2) • Sanctuary-Wide Status and Trends: Water Quality Protection Program – Water Quality (FIU SERC) Spatial– Seagrasses patterns (FIU SERC) – Coral Reef and Hard-bottom Communities (FWC FWRI) Temporalhttp://ocean.floridamarine.org/fknms_wqpp/ trends • Sanctuary-Wide Status and Trends: Additional Projects – Florida Reef Resilience Program (TNC) Effects– Coral Disease of and no-takeCondition Cruise zones (EPA, FKNMS, +) • Marine Zone Monitoring Program Socioeconomic– Coral Community Structure, changes Recruitment, and Juvenile Dynamics (FIO/DISL/GSU) – Rapid Ecological Assessments (UNCW/NURC) Human knowledge and perceptions – Reef Fishes (NOAA NMFS/RSMAS and REEF) – Spiny Lobster (FWC FWRI) – Queen Conch (FWC FWRI) [protected state-wide since mid-80s] • Human Dimensions Research (NOAA/RSMAS/UMASS) http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/research_monitoring/ National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures LeeLee etet al.al. 20022002 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures WaterWater QualityQuality MonitoringMonitoring ProjectProject • Florida International University • Water Quality Monitoring Network started in 1989 • FKNMS and Southwest Florida Shelf added in 1995 http://serc.fiu.edu/wqmnetwork/ National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures SpatialSpatial Pattern,Pattern, TemporalTemporal TrendsTrends • Oligotrophic offshore water • Onshore-offshore gradient along the Keys • Significant multiyear trends in certain parameters have come and gone • Large-scale oceanographic drivers of trends? 26.0 25.8 25.6 8&1 > 5 > 6 > 3 (best) 8: highest chlorophyll a 25.4 8&1: highest TP/turbidity - 25.2 5&6: elevated NO3 5: shoreline development 25.0 3: lowest nutrients 1 24.8 2 3 4 5 24.6 6 7 8 24.4 -83.0 -82.8 -82.6 -82.4 -82.2 -82.0 -81.8 -81.6 -81.4 -81.2 -81.0 -80.8 -80.6 -80.4 -80.2 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures SeagrassSeagrass MonitoringMonitoring ProProjectject James W. Fourqurean, FIU Eutrophication model http://www.fiu.edu/~seagrass/ 3.0 Oligotrophic P-limited :1 2.5 0 3 E = dry weight) u f t rop :P h i N 2.0 cat ion te le p 1.5 re Relative Importance t- E n u ie t r rop t h u i 1.0 cat N ion Oligotrophic Eutrophic Oligotrophic Trophic state N-limited 0.5 tissue N content (% o N content tissue f Thalassia testudinum Syringodium filiforme 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 Lea Halodule wrightii Ruppia maritima Leaf tissue P content (% of dry weight) Macroalgae Microalgae May allow for detection of eutrophication before a change in species composition occurs National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Spatial Pattern of Nutrient Limitation in South Florida Thalassia testudinum N:P of leaves 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 N-limited P-limited National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures CoralCoral ReefReef EvaluationEvaluation andand MonitoringMonitoring ProjectProject N = 10 N = 12 N = 11 N = 4 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures CREMP: Overall Coral Cover Over Time http://www.floridamarine.org Mass Bleaching Hurricane Georges Bleaching Four Hurricanes National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures S. Miller, M. Chiappone, L. Rutten, D. Swanson, et al. National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Mid-channel Patch Reefs South of Marathon Marker 49 Sunshine Key NationalCheeca Marine Rocks Sanctuaries SPA • America’’s Ocean Treasures Conclusions Well-monitored marine ecosystem Potential for analyses of changes related to Everglades restoration Large-scale drivers appear to be important: oceanographic (multi-year water quality trends), warming (coral bleaching) Need for further cause/effect research Seagrass tissue N/P “early warning” for potential changes in species distribution and abundance Recent significant coral losses associated with major bleaching events and storms Climate change . National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Climate Change Impacts • Ocean Warming • Ocean Acidification – reductions in calcification rates, e.g., corals, coralline algae → reef growth •Rising Sea Level– part of Everglades = future extension of Florida Bay • Storm Intensity – possible increased pulses of fresh water and increased physical damage • Freshwater Influx Source: www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/ coastal/slrmaps National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Further Conclusions •• ClimateClimate changechange impactsimpacts likelylikely willwill strengthenstrengthen inin