Long-term assessments of restoration or rehabilitation effectiveness are rare in ecology but are critical for our ability to attribute changes in ecosystems associated with environmental policies and management. The Florida Everglades is an ideal model case study to assess the early phases of freshwater restoration, using the Modified Water Deliveries of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. We quantified long-term (2006-2018) changes in surface water depth, and surface water and benthic organic matter nutrient (TN, TP, TOC) concentrations from dry and wet seasons in Northeast Shark River Slough. We specifically tested how increased water stage in the upstream Tamiami Canal drives changes in water depth, as well as surface water and benthic organic matter carbon and nutrient concentrations and ratios.
Results/Conclusions
We measured increases in mean water depth and decreases in the temporal variability in water depth from 2006 to 2018. Surface water TP, TN, and TOC concentrations increased in dry season compared to wet season, but surface water TOC: TP, TOC: TN, and TN: TP increased in wet season compared to dry season throughout the study year. Exponential decay in TP concentrations was detected more for benthic organic matter than for surface water. Continued long-term research during ongoing restoration is critical to quantifying integrated ecosystem responses to changing environmental conditions as well as differential constraints of legacies among ecosystem components.