Vegetation survey of southwest Florida for use in assessment of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project effects
Dates
Publication Date
2023-09-14
Start Date
2007
End Date
2016
Citation
Howard, R.J., Day, R.H., Biagas, J., and From, A.S., 2023, Vegetation survey of southwest Florida for use in assessment of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project effects: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ZLM50V.
Summary
This release consists of vegetation data collected across an environmental gradient at Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (TTI NWR) near Naples, Florida, USA. The refuge is within the impact area of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project (PSRP), a large-scale hydrologic restoration project in southwest Florida that was authorized by the U.S. Congress in 2007. Vegetation transects were located in the following wetland types on the refuge: brackish marsh, salt marsh, and transition marsh. Data from vegetation transects established in nearby areas outside of the PSRP impact area, in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (FSPSP) and Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY), are also included. The study spanned nine years, from [...]
Summary
This release consists of vegetation data collected across an environmental gradient at Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (TTI NWR) near Naples, Florida, USA. The refuge is within the impact area of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project (PSRP), a large-scale hydrologic restoration project in southwest Florida that was authorized by the U.S. Congress in 2007. Vegetation transects were located in the following wetland types on the refuge: brackish marsh, salt marsh, and transition marsh. Data from vegetation transects established in nearby areas outside of the PSRP impact area, in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (FSPSP) and Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY), are also included. The study spanned nine years, from 2007 to 2016. A collection of photographs taken over time at each vegetation transect is included with this Data Release. Information provided with each photograph includes the transect name and the date the image was obtained. Five separate directories of photographs are organized by identified wetland types and are designated: Control Saline Marsh sites, Ten Thousand Islands Brackish Marsh sites, Ten Thousand Islands Salt Marsh sites, Ten Thousand Islands Transition Marsh sites, and Ten Thousand Islands Burn Marsh sites.
Howard, Day, R. H., Krauss, K. W., From, A. S., Allain, L., & Cormier, N. (2017). Hydrologic restoration in a dynamic subtropical mangrove-to-marsh ecotone. Restoration Ecology : the Journal of the Society for Ecological Restoration., 25(3), 471–482. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12452
Vegetation data were first collected in 2007, prior to implementation of the PSRP, within a mangrove-marsh ecotone to establish baseline information on the state of vegetation within the impact area (TTI NWR) and outside of the impact area (FSPSP and BICY). Permanent transects for monitoring vegetation were established in 2007, and data were collected in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 to document vegetation present.
Preview Image
Mangrove forest expansion into saline marsh habitat, Ten Thousand Islands NWR