Everglades National Park Freshwater Aquatics Monitoring Jeff Kline Everglades National Park South Florida Natural Resources Center Invasive Species Programs Everglades National Park’s Mandates: • Preserve flora and fauna in a natural state. (1934 Everglades Establishment Act) • Maintain natural abundance, diversity, and ecological integrity of native plants and animals. (1989 Everglades National Park Expansion Act) Invasive Species Programs 6 L-31W canal stage • Generally species listsCanal overflow into marsh Canal bank elevation 5 • 416 species of non-native fish 3 • Stage (ft) Pomacea insularum and P. diffusa-2005 2 Water management • Misc other aquatic invertebrates change begins 1 late 1999 16 Timeline of introduced fishes entering ENP Spotfinned spinyeel & Banded cichlid 14 Brown hoplo Asian swamp eel 12 Sailfin catfish Jaguar guapote & African jewelfish 10 1960-1980 Mozambique tilapia 8 Black acara Walking catfish Pike killifish 6 Blue tilapia Peacock bass Spotted tilapia 4 Mayan cichlid Oscar No. of introduced species 2 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 Year Priority Animal Species • Priority Animals – The most recent introductions – Most abundant – And those not in ENP yet! Image by Windser Aguirre • Newly Detected Animal Species – Vermiculated Sailfin Catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus) Fiscal Year Treatments: Cold weather 2010 Monitoring • Fish monitoring – Park-wide sample-Annually – Monthly Rocky Glades – Long-term monitoring – Other monitoring efforts- Cooperators – Misc observations • Non-native apple snail – Pomacea insularum • Old Tamiami Canal survey every 8-10 days • May 2005-April 2010 • May 2010-Once per month – P. diffusa at Frog City – Annual survey of border canals Monitoring: Misc observations Monitoring: Temperature stations Monitoring 24 OT bottom P35 Surface 22 C) P36 bottom o 20 NP206 bottom Peacock bass-15 oC L31W bottom o 18 Oscar-12.9 C o 16 Jaguar guapote-12.0 C Spotted tilapia-11.2 oC 14 Walking catfish-9.8 oC 12 Pike killifish-9.7 oC o 10 African jewelfish-9.5 C o 8 Mayan cichlid-9.0 C Sailfin catfish-9.0 oC 6 Black acara-8.9 oC 4 Asian swamp eel-8.0 oC Blue tilapia-6.2 oC Water temperature ( temperature Water 2 Brown hoplo-5.7 oC 0 1/1/20101/2/2010 1/3/2010 1/4/2010 1/5/2010 1/6/2010 1/7/2010 1/8/2010 1/9/2010 1/10/20101/11/2010 1/12/2010 1/13/2010 1/14/2010 1/15/2010 Date Monitoring: Misc observations Rotala rotundifolia “Uncertain if it will spread from the canal to other areas…but anywhere you see Bacopa, you could expect it to establish” S-333 L-29 Canal S-334 Monitoring Island apple snail Pomacea insularum 2008 S-333 L-29 Canal S-334 Monitoring Island apple snail Pomacea insularum 2009 S-333 L-29 Canal S-334 Monitoring Island apple snail Pomacea insularum 2010 S-333 L-29 Canal S-334 S-333 L-29 Canal S-334 P.insularum egg masses Marsh survey points (no eggs) Canals ENP boundary Needs & Gaps • Prevention is key with fish and aquatic inverts! • Non-native species must be considered when designing water management changes – Non-native species are “bio-pollution”. – Study alternative ways of delivering water without delivering non-native species. – Restore unnatural habitats • How do we work better with external management agencies with different mandates and objectives to meet our mandates? Questions? .