Ecotoxicology, 13, 179–184, 2004
2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands.

South Florida Ecosystems GARY M. RAND1,* AND PIERO R. GARDINALI2 Department of Environmental Studies, Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International University, Miami FL 33181, USA 2 Department of Chemistry, Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International University, Miami FL 33181, USA

1

Accepted 15 April 2003

South Florida covers an area of approximately 28,000 km2 (11,000 mi2). It is a diverse system that functions as a myriad of wetlands, uplands, and coastal and marine areas and is under the jurisdiction of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) (Fig. 1). It is composed of 16 counties from Orlando to the Florida Keys and is dominated by the watersheds of the Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee, and the Everglades. South Florida may be divided into several distinct environmental areas: Kissimmee River Basin, which is below Orlando in the Chain Of Lakes; it drains rural areas with dairy farms, outdoor recreational areas and small urban communities. Lake Okeechobee, is the second largest freshwater lake within the US, it provides flood protection, it serves as a source of water for consumption in South Florida and it is a large recreational resource. Upper East Coast, includes St. Lucie County, Martin County and the Northern part of Palm Beach County. The northern part of the Upper East Coast contains the most heavily concentrated citrus farming in South Florida and it is where the St. Lucie River flows into the Indian River Lagoon, an estuary that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The Indian River Lagoon is one of the National Estuary Program (NEP) sites.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Caloosahatchee River Basin, drains an agricultural area (primarily citrus) of about 3700 km2 (1429 mi2) along the Gulf Coast. The basin extends from Lake Okeechobee to the river mouth in San Carlos Bay. There are 60 tributaries to the Caloosahatchee River. Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), is approximately 2633 km2 (1000 mi2) of muck soils that support farmlands for sugar cane, rice, sod and leafy vegetables. The EAA evolved from the Central and South Florida Project (1948), which intended to improve flood control, water supply and protect wetlands by reducing saltwater intrusions. Water Conservation Areas (WCAs), is an area covering 3554 km2 (1350 mi2) designed to improve water storage in three compartments (WCA-1, -2, -3) and recharge, and created as a result of five interconnected diked impoundments. It functions for water control by serving as a detention reservoir for excess water from the EAA and parts of the Lower East Coast (LEC) as well as receiving flood discharges from Lake Okeechobee. The WCAs supply water for agricultural lands and Everglades National Park (ENP). They also recharge the Biscayne Aquifer, the primary drinking water source for the urban area of the LEC and retard saltwater intrusion. Lower East Coast (LEC), is a narrow area located east from the WCA’s and adjacent to ENP. It includes urban and suburban development and agriculture lands from West Palm Beach to Florida City. It contains the largest concentration of

180 Rand and Gardinali

Figure 1. Major areas of south Florida.

people in South Florida, since it encompasses Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties. Biscayne Bay, is a shallow tidal sound (173,000 acres or 270 mi2) encroached by the Miami metropolitan area and it includes Biscayne National Park (BNP). BNP is the largest marine park in the National Park system. Everglades National Park (ENP), is the area that includes about 2632 km2 (1000 mi2) of the Everglades and Florida Bay. It is the second largest National Park in the US. Big Cypress Basin, includes Big Cypress National Preserve, Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. South Florida is home to two Indian tribes, the Seminoles and Miccosukees whose lands (462,000 acres or 722 mi2) are an integral part of the ecosystem.

All of the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation and one-third of the Miccosukee Reservation are within the Big Cypress Basin. Florida Keys and Reef Tract, Whitewater Bay, and the Ten Thousand Islands, along with South Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay and the west coast estuaries from Whitewater Bay to Rookery Bay are sometimes referred to as the Southern Coastal Area. It is characterized by a diversity of marine, estuarine, fringing and terrestrial habitats. It contains extensive seagrass, mangrove and coral reef habitats. The Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is located at the northern end of the Ten Thousand Islands. It represents one of the few undisturbed mangrove estuaries in North America.

South Florida Ecosystems 181 Before drainage and development began in the late 1800s, wetlands dominated the landscape of Central and South Florida. The landscape consisted of swamp forests, sawgrass, tree islands and ponds, prairies, freshwater and saltwater marshes, and cypress strands. Areas that were elevated supported pine flatwoods and rocklands, scrub, tropical hardwood hammocks and other subtropical forms. Natural seascape habitats consisted of mangrove forests, beaches and dunes, seagrass beds, intertidal flats, mud banks, hard-bottom communities, coral reefs and inshore shallows interconnected in which elevations ranged from 6 m (20 ft) at Lake Okeechobee to below sea level at Florida Bay. Productivity was maintained by the dynamic hydrologic storage, and slow rate of water flow (as a result of low topographic gradient). Furthermore, the large spatial scale of wetlands supported diverse flora and fauna in a naturally nutrient poor environment and habitat heterogeneity contributed to biotic diversity and population resilience and longevity (DeAngelis, 1994). The biological abundance and diversity supported by these habitats were maintained by the complex hydrologic patterns of the natural system, along with natural disturbances such as fire, freezes and storms. Man-made changes in the hydrologic system of South Florida began at the turn of the century with dredging and channelization of the Caloosahatchee River and its connection to Lake Okeechobee. Demographic growth in the 1900s was closely related to the Central and Southern Florida Project (1948) (or C&SF). The C&SF Project began in 1950 with the construction of water distribution systems to provide water and flood control for residents and agricultural lands and to supply water for ENP. The C&SF Project enabled urban development and it still supplies water and flood control. However, it also produced massive landuse changes that decreased the land available for natural water storage and recharge and consequently resulted in the alteration of the region’s hydropattern-quantity, timing and distribution of water flow through the ecosystem. Discharges from agricultural and stormwater runoff have also severely degraded habitat and affected water quality. After 50 years of water manipulation and due to continued population growth the South Florida

ecosystem has been dramatically changed; half of the wetlands were lost due to drainage changes and the remaining habitats were altered and sometimes disconnected. Evidence of impacts include: • spread of invasive, nonindigenous exotic species which impact native habitats; • approximately 70 species are listed as threatened or endangered; • populations of wading birds have declined; • mercury contamination in the Everglades and human health advisories that ban or restrict consumption of freshwater fish; • phosphorus contamination from agricultural runoff has severely impacted Lake Okeechobee, the WCAs, the Everglades and surrounding wetlands; • two million acre-feet of water are lost from the ecosystem annually through discharge and seepage. Resolutions to the ecosystem problems reside in how the land and water are managed and the approaches that are used to manage. The Florida Legislature and Congress in the last 30 years have produced legislation to manage growth and protect the environment. This began in 1972 with Florida’s Water Resources Development Act to establish water policy for Florida and the Land Conservation Act that authorized the issuance of bonds to purchase land. In 1983, the Save Our Everglades Program established a partnership between the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and state and federal agencies to work toward restoring the entire natural ecosystem and initiated the Kissimmee River Restoration Project. The Florida Surface Water Improvement and Management Act (SWIM) in 1987 required the water management districts in Florida to identify problems in surface water and to develop and implement plans for restoration. Restoration efforts further became focused in the early 1990s. The federal Water Resources Development Act in 1996 authorized a comprehensive review study of the C&SF Project known as the Restudy. The goal of the Restudy was to restore the natural hydropattern and at the same time maintain flood control and improve urban and agricultural water supplies. The Restudy is being conducted by state and federal representatives.

182 Rand and Gardinali In 1993 a restoration task force was developed to coordinate ecosystem restoration efforts. Florida’s Everglades Forever Act in 1994 outlines a restoration plan (Everglades Program) to restore South Florida through research, monitoring, regulation, construction of wetlands, and the implementation of agricultural best management practices to reduce phosphorus contamination. In 1996 the Water Resources Development Act further expanded the federal task force to include tribal, state and local governments and authorized additional projects related to the Restudy. It formally established the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. All these efforts and initiatives led to what is now referred to as the South Ecosystem Restoration and Sustainability Project. In 1996 the Department of the Interior prepared a report entitled ‘‘A Comprehensive Plan for the Restoration of the Everglades’’ with four main elements: (1) federal legislative authority for restoration activities; (2) accelerated state and federal land acquisition; (3) increased scientific research to guide restoration; and (4) federal, state, private sector cost sharing. In 2000, Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) as a part of the Water Resources Development Act. The goal of the CERP is to restore and preserve the hydrology of the pre-drainage ecosystem, to protect the quality of the remaining habitat, to promote the return of populations of plants and animals and to foster human development compatible with sustaining a healthy ecosystem. Biological changes in South Florida and the Everglades have been linked to levels of phosphorus and mercury and to changes in the complex hydrological patterns of the natural system resulting from water management projects to control floods and water distribution (Science Subgroup, 1996). In fact, alterations in the hydrologic system are thought to be the main cause of dramatic declines of fish and wildlife populations because of habitat changes. Therefore, the basic premise behind all restoration activities identified by the Restoration Task Force for South Florida is that hydrologic restoration is a prerequisite to achieve ecosystem restoration and a sustainable South Florida Ecosystem. Therefore, the restoration plan was formulated to reconstruct some key features of the natural hydrologic system in order to restore

conditions that support landscape patterns, biodiversity, wildlife abundance and clean and abundant water. Little consideration however has been given in the restoration effort to the role that pesticides and other contaminants play in the structure and function of ecosystems although this is clearly a recommendation of the Science Subgroup (1996) in all physiographic regions that comprise South Florida. This was supported at a recent workshop ‘‘Linking Ecotoxicity and Risk Management to Sustainable Restoration of South Florida Ecosystems’’ which recommended screening-level ecological risk assessments with retrospective and prospective diagnostic studies (LaPoint et al., 1998). It is evident that water quantity rather than water quality issues have dominated the South Florida restoration planning (Scott et al., 2002). However, it is also evident that agriculture represents a major land use in South Florida and pesticide use presents a potential risk, especially to aquatic organisms. Based on a hazard ranking of pesticides by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration the three top estuarine drainage areas at risk in the US were Rookery Bay, Biscayne Bay and Tampa Bay (Pait et al., 1992). This gains in importance in lieu of the multitude of uses for pesticides in South Florida. Sediment also is a reservoir for contaminants in South Florida canals (Miles and Pfeuffer, 1997). Furthermore, contaminants from urban non-point sources remain an issue as a result of large population densities, especially near the coastal zone (Science Subgroup, 1996). In this special review, several important environmental topics related to South Florida are discussed that were presented at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 22nd Annual Meeting. One paper presents an overview of the CERP and summarizes the goals and projects being implemented. Chemical monitoring in surface waters and sediment in South Florida have been investigated by many agencies including the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM), the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, the most comprehensive plan is the pesticide-monitoring

South Florida Ecosystems 183 network for surface water and sediment analyses by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). In this regard, a review of the SFWMD pesticide monitoring field data are also presented and summarized to identify potential chemical stressors. Elevated concentrations of total mercury have been detected in soils and sediments of south Florida, and methyl mercury has been detected in fish at levels that triggered human health advisories by the State of Florida (Science Subgroup, 1996). Accumulation of mercury through the food chain may also be important; potentially affecting the reproductive success of wading birds and the viability of the endangered Florida panther. Therefore two papers are included to document the effects on higher trophic level organisms. One paper addresses spatial and temporal trends of methylmercury in raccoons through hair analyses and another paper uses a probabilistic approach to evaluate potential risks of mercury to panthers. In general, there is a scarcity of data on the occurrence and biological effects of contaminant residues in South Florida ecosystems. Three papers are presented that provide insight into the distribution and biological effects of chemicals in surface water and sediment. Research in South Florida is also being conducted on locations outside the boundaries of the South Florida Restoration. A paper on the scientific initiative by Mote Marine Laboratory on Charlotte Harbor is presented. The chemical monitoring data in water and sediment provided by the regulatory agencies and the limited biological toxicity data on exposures indicates that more monitoring and toxicity data should be pursued in South Florida. Toxicity data on native species is also needed and responses to the presence of multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors requires further investigation to adequately assess actual risks in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Additional information on South Florida ecosystems and related information can be found on the Internet (see Appendix).

Appendix: South Florida Ecosystems and Related Information. South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD): http://www.sfwmd.gov

The Indian River Lagoon: http://sjrwmd.com/programs/outreach/irlnep/index.html National Estuary Program (NEP): http://www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/ Save Our Everglades Program: http://www.state.fl.us/ eog/govdocs/opbenv/saveglades/everglades/html/intro.html Kissimmee River Restoration Project: http:// www.sfwmd.gov/org/erd/krr/ Surface Water Improvement and Management Act (SWIM): http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/wrp/env_rest_efforts.html#swim Water Resources Development Act: http://everglades.fiu.edu/taskforce/wateract.html Comprehensive review study of the C&SF Project known as the Restudy: http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/pld/ restudy/hpm/ Florida’s Everglades Forever Act: http:// www.sfwmd.gov/org/wrp/wrp_evg/projects/efa.html South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force: http://www.sfrestore.org/tf/index.html Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP): http://www.evergladesplan.org/ US Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management: http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/ derm/ Florida Department of Environmental Protection: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/ National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov/ SFWMD pesticide monitoring field data: http://glacier.sfwmd.gov/org/ema/ecu/pest.html

References DeAngelis, D.L. (1994). Synthesis: spatial and temporal characteristics of the environment. In S.M. Davis and J.C. Ogden (eds) Everglades: The Ecosystem and Its Restoration, pp. 307–322. Delray Beach, FL: St. Lucie Press. LaPoint, T.W., Rodgers, J.H., Delphino, J.J., Atkeson, T.D. and McCutcheon, S.C. (1998). Linking ecotoxicity and risk management to sustainable restoration of South Florida ecosystems. Advisory Panel Report. Submitted to The Workshop Steering Committee and South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force on the workshop at Florida International University, Miami, FL. October 20–21, 1998, 20pp. Miles, C.J. and Pfeuffer, R.J. (1997). Pesticides in canals of South Florida. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 32, 337– 45. Pait, A.S., De Souza, A.E. and Farrow, D.R.G. (1992). Agricultural pesticide in coastal areas: a national summary. Report for Strategic Environmental Assessment Division, Office of Ocean Resources Conservation and Assessment, National Ocean Service, NOAA: Rockville, MD, 81pp.

184 Rand and Gardinali Science Subgroup (1996). South Florida ecosystem restoration: scientific information needs. A Science Subgroup Report to the Working Group of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, Miami, FL, 487pp.

Scott, G.I. et al. (2002). Toxicological studies in tropical ecosystems: an ecotoxicological risk assessment of pesticide runoff in south Florida estuarine ecosystems. J. Agric. Food Chem. 50, 4400–8.