Investigator: William H.Orem Proposals Data Metadata Publications

Summary

The goal of this project is to examine the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, carbon, and sulfur in sediments.

This project is examining (1) sources of nutrients, sulfur, and carbon to wetlands of south Florida, (2) the important role of chemical and biological processes to the wetland sediments (biogeochemical processes) in the cycling of these elements, and (3) the ultimate fate (i.e. sinks) of these elements in the ecosystem. The focus on nutrients and carbon reflects the problem of eutrophication in the northern Everglades, where excess phosphorus from agricultural runoff has dramatically altered the biology of the ecosystem. Results will be used by land and water managers to predict the fate of nutrients (especially phosphorus) in contaminated areas of the Everglades, and to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of buffer wetlands being constructed as nutrient removal areas. Studies of sulfur in the ecosystem are important for understanding the processes involved in mercury methylation in the Everglades. Methyl mercury (a potent neurotoxin) poses a severe health risk to organisms in the south Florida ecosystem and to humans. Sediment studies being conducted by this project will also be used to construct a geochemical history of the ecosystem. An understanding of past changes in the geochemical environment of south Florida will provide land and water managers with baseline information on what water quality goals for the ecosystem should be, and on how the ecosystem has responded to past environmental change and will likely respond to the changes that will accompany restoration.

Proposals

• 1998
• 1999

Data

• Florida Bay Sediment Geochemical Data (from the data exchange pages)

Metadata

• Geochemical Processes in Wetland Sediments from South Florida (document will open in a new browser window)
• Florida Bay sediment geochemistry data (document will open in a new browser window)

Publications

Abstracts:

• Biogeochemical Cycling of P, S, C, and N in Sediments from Wetlands of South Florida
• Geochemical Processes in Peats of South Florida
• Geochemistry of Florida Bay Sediments: Investigation of Nutrient and Seagrass History (from the Florida Bay Conference Proceedings, 1998)
• Geochemistry of Wetland Sediments from South Florida
• Lignin Phenols in Sediments from Florida Bay as Indicators of Seagrass History (from the Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems Science Conference, November 1999)
• Nutrient Geochemistry of the South Florida Wetlands Ecosystem: Sources, Accumulation and Biogeochemical Cycling (from the South Florida Restoration Science Forum, May 1999)
• Nutrient and Sulfur Contamination in the South Florida Ecosystem: Synopsis of Phase I Studies and Plans for Phase II Studies (PDF) (from the USGS Water Quality Workshop, October 2000)
• Sulfur and Mercury in the South Florida Ecosystem

  Fact Sheets:

• South Florida Wetlands Ecosystem: Biogeochemical Processes in Peat
• Taylor Slough and Eastern Florida Bay: Geochemical Studies in Support of Ecosystem Restoration in South Florida

  Open File Reports:

• Regional Geochemistry of Metals in Organic-Rich Sediments, Sawgrass and Surface Water, from Taylor Slough, Florida (OFR-00-327)
• Geochemistry of Surface and Pore Water at USGS Coring Sites in Wetlands of South Florida: 1994 and 1995 (OFR-97-454)

  Paper:

• Geochemistry of Florida Bay sediments: I. Nutrient history at five sites in eastern and central Florida Bay

  Poster:

• Lignin Phenols from Sediments of Florida Bay As Indicators of Seagrass History (from the USGS Water Quality Workshop, October 2000)