Hot Topics Archives
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GIS and Data Management Conference
From March 31 – April 3, Brian Witcher and Judd Patterson attended
the 2008 GIS and Data Management Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Judd presented “Modeling and Mapping Underwater Monitoring Sites,”
which showcased 3D animation as well as a way to improve integration
and exploration of both tabular data and imagery in ArcMap documents.
Brian helped lead an evening discussion on image management requirements
and functional categories.
SFCN Visits Western Everglades Sites
Kevin Whelan, Raul Urgelles, Lindsay Wieland, and Jonathan Moser visited
9 mangrove lightning gap Sediment Elevation Tables (SET) along the western
coast of Everglades National Park. These SETs will be incorporated into
SFCN long-term monitoring of soil accretion/erosion.
SFCN Completes Annual Buck Island Reef NM Coral Monitoring
SFCN scientists stationed in the Virgin Islands completed the 8th consecutive
year of annual coral monitoring at the W. Spur and Groove study site
in Buck Island Reef National Monument. During this monitoring, benthic
cover is monitored using a digital video camera, along with surveys
for coral disease, and the long-spined urchin, Diadema antillarum. To
accomplish the monitoring, the scientists safely completed 13 dives
with just-under 22 hours of bottom time.
SFCN Vital Signs WASO Review
Steve Fancy visited SFCN from April 29-May 1 to help edit the network’s
Vital Signs Monitoring Plan. Accomplishments included reviewing monitoring
objectives for each vital sign and editing when necessary.
SFCN Assists with Dry Tortugas Bird Monitoring
Judd Patterson spent April 22-24 assisting Everglades wildlife biologist
Sonny Bass with his research in Dry Tortugas National Park. Sooty Tern
adults and chicks were banded, bird nest counts conducted, and Roseate
Tern decoys and were once again deployed to encourage that species to
nest on Long Key.
Meetings and Training attended
On April 9 Andrea Atkinson attended an assessment team meeting on wetland
landscapes and plant communities. Kevin Whelan and Raul Urgelles attended
the April 11 assessment team meeting on predator-prey relationships,
wading birds, and aquatic bait. On April 16 Kevin Whelan, Brian Witcher,
and Judd Patterson attended a meeting in Davie to obtain the latest
EVER/BICY small and medium mammals inventory photo database. Rob Waara,
Brian Witcher, and Mike Echevarria participated in the 24 hour NPS SCUBA
refresher training in BISC April 28-30.
South Florida Reef Fish Monitoring Workshop
On March 26, SFCN hosted the South Florida Reef Fish Sampling Methodology
meeting organized by Todd Kellison of NOAA. There were about 29 attendees
from NOAA, U of Miami-RSMAS, FWRI, and NPS present. The revised “Draft
Cooperative Reef Fish Sampling Protocol” is a joint effort to
standardize reef fish monitoring protocols and sampling design in the
Florida Keys ranging from Biscayne National Park through Dry Tortugas
National Park. The meeting helped familiarize everyone involved with
the different aspects of the newly revised protocol, answer questions,
get agreement on definitions, identify areas that needed adjusting,
agree on the different types of training that will occur, and assign
leads. SFCN staff assisted with taking notes during the meeting.
Developing a Data Driven Classification of South Florida Plant Communities
Workshop
On March 21, as part of a cooperative agreement with SFCN, Prof. Mike
Ross and Jay Sah of FIU held a workshop to present a database of vegetation
data compiled from 33 data sets and 18 principle investigators to assist
testing of the South Florida Vegetation Classification with field data.
An initial vegetation classification analysis conducted on the marshes
and prairies data was also presented. The workshop discussed next steps
to be taken with the data, additional data sets that could be added,
priorities for classification (e.g. coastal wetlands), funding sources
for additional analyses, and additional uses for the data if the PIs
are in agreement. This work was funded by the NPS National Mapping Program.
BICY/EVER Vegetation Map 3rd Section deliverable accepted
The second delivery of the 3rd section of the western BICY/EVER vegetation
map project was accepted by SFCN after it was evaluated to have a raw
classification accuracy of 84% with a lower 90% confidence level of
80.2% accuracy. The 1st delivery of the 4th and final map section is
expected soon.
Meetings and Training attended
Kevin Whelan and Andrea Atkinson attended a week-long geospatial statistics
course in Gainesville, Florida taught by Pierre Goovaerts. Kevin Whelan,
Brian Witcher and Judd Patterson took turns attending the Florida Coastal
Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Meeting on March 17-18. On
March 25 Kevin Whelan attended the CERP-MAP meeting on “Coastal
transgression, tidal channel characteristics, salinity gradients, and
mangrove forest productivity” to discuss work accomplished and
revisions to the Monitoring and Assessment Plan.
SFCN attends Mammal Advisory Group meeting
Matt Patterson, Dr. Kevin Whelan, and Dr. Andrea Atkinson met with EVER and BICY Wildlife
Biologists and inventory project personnel to discuss the first year
of progress of the small and medium sized mammal inventory of both parks.
Progress is producing good results with about 80% of the expected mammal
species documented in both parks using IR triggered digital camera stations,
owl pellets dissections, live trapping, and investigating tracks.
SFCN evaluates preliminary vegetation map with Avineon
Dr. Kevin Whelan (SFCN) and Dr. Jim Burch (BICY) along with contractors
from
Avineon visited multiple sites in the field to help determine vegetation
signatures for photo interpretation of the Big Cypress vegetation map.
Two sites visits occurred in Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) and
one in Everglades City Region of Everglades National Park (EVER). Law
enforcement rangers (Sean Blake and Cliff Edwards) from the Gulf Coast
Region provided logistical assistance for access to field locations.
Sites visited and data collected will assist the contractor in photo-interpreting
some difficult classification areas.
SFCN attends Water Resources Division Water Professional Meeting
Dr. Kevin Whelan attended the Water Professional Meeting in Fort Collins
February 11 to 15. There were numerous presentations regarding network
water quality sampling, aquatic indicator sampling protocols and lessons
learn. The attentive audience had numerous opportunities to ask questions
and get feed back about upcoming issues to I and M. Additionally Kevin
met with the WRD group about the SFCN water indicators to help communicate
our plan forward regarding comments received on Phase 3.
SFCN meets about Biscayne National Park Vegetation Map
Dr. Kevin Whelan and Brian Witcher met with Pablo Ruiz of Florida International
University to evaluate the progress being made on the Biscayne National
Park Vegetation Map. There was discussion concerning potential vegetation
types and how to handle upcoming accuracy assessment of the map.
SFCN meets with Everglades Hydrologists
Brian Witcher and Judd Patterson met with Kevin Kotun and Erik Stabenau
to discuss storage of SFCN data in the Data ForEVER database as well
as access to EVER water data and possible longterm storage of EVER data
on the EPA STORET database.
SFCN meets with fish monitoring experts across South Florida
Matt Patterson, Dr. Andrea Atkinson, Dr. Marilyn Brandt, and Brian Witcher
met with fisheries biologists from NOAA, University of Miami, and Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to jointly develop shared
reef fish monitoring methodologies across the Florida Reef Tract in
order to help create a comparable data set and improve sampling efficiencies.
Past years have had two disparate methods of reef fish visual surveys,
and last Spring, a meeting was held which for the first time provided
for the consolidation of a single method of monitoring the reef fish
across all agencies.
Recent discussions continue to remove the differences of methods, data collection and archiving, data analysis, and reporting. Training is planned for March and April, with classroom training on the revised, shared protocol, and in-water training to examine biologists ability to determine distance from the observer, fish species, and fish length to better calibrate the many observers involved.
SFCN SCA Eric Sudalter completes his internship - Eric Sudalter worked with the SFCN Palmetto Bay office for 6 months. He drafted a vegetation map for DeSoto National Memorial and assisted with many GIS projects during his internship. Eric did a great job and will be missed.
SFCN gets new wildlife biologic technician - Raul Urgelles started with the SFCN on January 22, 2008 as the new wildlife biological technician working with Dr. Kevin Whelan monitoring colonial nesting birds, amphibians, freshwater fish and macroinvetebrates primarily. Raul had been the lab manager for Dr. Joel Trexler at Florida International University, organizing field work activities focused on freshwater fish monitoring across the Everglades.
SFCN hires postdoc to focus on Marine Fish Communities Vital Sign - Dr. Marilyn Brandt started working with Dr. Andrea Atkinson to evaluate existing data sets for network marine parks to determine how well the parks are sampled for determining fish communities and how the change over time. She will assist NOAA to develop a protocol during her 2 year appointment.
SFCN and Florida/Caribbean EPMT receive airboat - The SFCN and FLC EPMT purchased a 14 foot Panther airboat to be shared between both programs. It will be used for both exotic treatment activities as well as monitoring.
SFCN holds their Science and Technical Committee meeting and Board of Directors Meeting - The SFCN Science and Technical Committee meeting was held on December 10-11, 2007 to review the Phase 3 SFCN Vital Signs Monitoring Plan and the FY0708 Annual Administrative Report and Workplan. The reviews went well and the network parks all provided valuable input for both documents. The SFCN Board of Directors meeting was held on January 24, 2008. We were fortunate to have all of the Board in attendance, as well as both Sherri Fields and Paul Hartwig from Atlanta. The SFCN presented both the Phase 3 Vital Signs Monitoring Plan and the FY0708 Annual Administrative Report and Workplan, as well as discussed future staffing and communications strategies. Both documents were signed at the meeting by the attendees for review by the regional director.
SFCN hosts the SER Ocean and Coastal Steering Committee meeting - SFCN hosted the regional Ocean and Coastal Steering Committee on January 23, 2008 in Palmetto Bay, Fl. The meeting was to develop the regions strategy toward better ocean and coastal park stewardship, in preparation for the DOI meeting this spring.
SFCN completed annual coral reef monitoring at three index sites - Amanda’s and Ball Buoy Reef in Biscayne NP, and Mennebeck Reef in Virgin Islands NP. Monitoring includes filming 60 transects (in total), and collecting data on the presence of black spiny sea urchins and coral disease. Additional measurements in rugosity, the verticality of the reef was measured along each transect. At ball Buoy and Amanda's Reef index sites, comparison transects were filmed with both Digital Video (DV) and High Definition Digital Video (HD) to evaluate the transition to HD video transects in the future.
SFCN Data Management/GIS Technician starts on October 28, 2007 - SFCN welcomes back Judd Patterson to South Florida. Judd has been hired through a Student Career Employment Program (SCEP) appointment as he finishes his Master's degree at Kansas State University. Judd was first employed with the SFCN as a research assistant through a CESU agreement with Kansas State University to produce digital map atlases from Experimental Advanced Airborne Research LIDAR (EAARL) raw data sets to make them easier to use for NPS end users at the parks. Judd left SFCN to pursue graduate school, and we welcome him back. Judd will be working in the Data Management branch working closely with Brian Witcher and Andrea Atkinson developing databases and consolidating working GIS files to allow for sharing across parks and with partners.
SFCN releases the DRAFT South Florida/Caribbean Vital Signs Monitoring Plan for internal Network review on October 16th, 2007. This Phase 3 draft is the culmination of 3 years of planning and the development of a prioritized list of Vital Sign ecosystem indicators. The Phase 3 plan provides additional information about sampling design, sampling protocols, data management, Data Analysis and Reporting, Administration, Schedule and Budget, In addition the revised plan includes protocol development summaries for all 41 vital sign indicators. Draft protocols for coral monitoring of index sites and coral reef water temperature monitoring will be available for revue as well. We appreciate the effort the parks are going through now reviewing the plan and providing the feedback we will need to ensure it meets the needs of our network of parks. Congratulations to the entire SFCN team for producing a great draft document, I am proud of this accomplishment! It can be downloaded from: phase3.cfm
SFCN August/September 2007 Hot Topics
NOAA Fish Blitz SFCN scientists, Andy Davis and Jeff Miller partnered with NOAA’s biogeography program during the 6th annual fish survey and habitat characterization from July 9-20, 2007. During this two week mission, 13 divers participated in surveying over 150 sites around Virgin Islands National Park and Coral Reef National Monument.
Server Upgrade in St. John – SFCN Data Manager, Brian Witcher, traveled to Virgin Islands National Park to replace the network’s antiquated server. The new server provides over 600GB and provides the capacity for a daily tape backup of all data. This server meets all current DOI-NPS security requirements and allows for the server to be added to the NPS active directory structure. With this new configuration the network offices in South Florida and in St John will be able to perform direct data transfers instead of relying on FEDEX to provide data connectivity.
SFCN attends regional coral bleaching meeting – Matt Patterson attended a meeting with Mark Lewis, Elsa Alvear, and Richard Curry and other regional scientists and managers in Key Largo on July 17, 2007 at the Key Largo Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary office. Discussions focused on how best to coordinate any potential bleaching event response from both the science side and the outreach side if the situation were to arise during the summer and fall of 2007.
SFCN attends Biscayne Bay Modeling Meeting – Matt Patterson attended a workshop hosted by the South Florida Water Management District on July 10-11 in West Palm Beach. The workshop was held to discuss current numerical models of Biscayne Bay and potential needs for future modeling.
SFCN participates in BISC Dive Refresher training – Matt Patterson and Brian Witcher attended the annual SCUBA diving refresher training hosted by Biscayne National Park on August 15, 2007. Review of underwater skills included buddy breathing, ditch and don of all SCUBA gear, and recovery of unconscious diver drills.
SFCN takes delivery of monitoring vessel – On August 9, 2007 the SFCN received it’s new monitoring vessel. The 29 foot long TwinVee power catamaran will be used for transportation to monitoring sites around South Florida for various vital sign monitoring activities.
SFCN attends Mammal Advisory Group meeting – Matt patterson and Dr. Kevin Whelan met with EVER and BICY Wildlife Biologists and inventory project personnel to discuss the first 6 months progress of the small and medium sized mammal inventory of both parks. Progress is producing good results with well over half of the expected mammal species documented in both parks using IR triggered digital camera stations.
SFCN conducts DRTO exploratory fieldwork for coral monitoring – Matt Patterson, Andy Davis, and Brian Witcher visited Dry Tortugas National Park from August 21-26, 2007 to continue exploration of future coral reef monitoring sites for the park. During this visit, a film crew from the Miami PBS affiliate filmed the work as part of an episode of “Wild Florida” focusing on coral reefs. The trip was postponed for two days as Hurricane Dean moved west through the Caribbean.
SFCN and BISC attend Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project
workshop
Dr. Kevin Whelan and joined Mark Lewis, Elsa Alvear, and Joffre Castro
(EVER) to represent NPS interests at a stakeholder meeting with Miami-Dade
Water and Sewer Department on August 17th. The meeting focused on monitoring
objectives for the proposed constructed wetland and mesocosm components
of the Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project. NPS concerns center
on whether the pilot project will provide useful and interpretable results
to evaluate whether it is appropriate for 100M gallons per day of reclaimed
sewage water to be allowed to rehydrate Biscayne National Park’s
coastal wetlands.
SFCN accepts first large scale raster based vegetation map
The SFCN accepted the first map deliverable of a four part
vegetation map that covers parts of Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY),
Everglades National Park (EVER), and Florida Panther National Wildlife
Refuge. This vegetation map provides the first baseline vegetation map
for the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. Use of a raster based
approach allows for the use of a minimum mapping unit (mmu) that is
¼ of a hectare instead of the national standard of ½ hectare.
This raster based mapping technique combined with the use of a new hierarchical
Vegetation Classification System for South Florida National Parks is
seen as a critical methodological advancement that will be essential
to monitor large scale landscape change that should occur due to Everglade's
Restoration.
SFCN evaluates preliminary vegetation map for Big Cypress National
Preserve (BICY)
Dr. Kevin Whelan (SFCN) and Dr. Jim Burch ( BICY ) along with
contractors from Avineon visited multiple sites in the field to help
determine vegetation signatures for photo interpretation of the Big
Cypress vegetation map. Sites visited and data collected will assist
the contractor in interpreting some difficult classification areas.
SFCN meets about Biscayne National Park Vegetation
Map
Dr. Kevin Whelan met with Dr. Mike Ross of Florida International
University to evaluate the progress being made on the Biscayne National
Park Vegetation Map. There was discussion concerning potential vegetation
types, how to handle classification of impacted areas, and the functional
definition of the shoreline. These subjects are critical as this vegetation
map will eventually be seamlessly merged with the benthic community
map for Biscayne National Park .
SFCN evaluates long term coral monitoring sites for Dry Tortugas
NP
From June 4-15 in Dry Tortugas National Park , the SFCN team
of Jeff Miller, Andy Davis, Rob Waara, and Matt Patterson evaluated
66 sites for potential inclusion into the long term monitoring of coral
reef resources. Probabilistic sampling of the coral habitat was done
to identify the proportion of live coral at a site. Due to the enactment
of the Dry Tortugas Research Natural Area (RNA) the park was divided
into two major zones, with about 46% now closed to fishing and anchoring.
Long term site selection will balance sites in both zones to be monitored
regularly to evaluate the impact of this management action. Additionally
the SFCN team resampled two long term coral monitoring sites (sentinel
sites) established during the prototype phase. The SFCN team worked
from the M/V Fort Jefferson, the 110' NPS vessel. This field campaign
required 240 person dives.
SFCN attends National Core Coastal Indicators workshop in Baltimore, MD
Matt Patterson was invited to attend a workshop co hosted by EPA and NOAA on May 1-2 to better develop a list of indicators for EPA's Coastal Condition Report. The meeting was attended by many federal, states, and local scientists and managers to define what indicators were the most important to address, and which would be able to be rolled into a national report.
SFCN attends Dry Tortugas National Park Research Natural Area public meeting in Key Largo
Matt Patterson participated in the public meeting co hosted by Dry Tortugas National Park and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Key Largo on May 3. The meeting was held to introduce various stakeholders to the monitoring plan developed by park and state scientists and managers to examine the impacts of the recently established Research Natural Area zone. This zone excludes fishing and anchoring for nearly half of the park.
SFCN Facilitates for Pacific Islands I&M Network Meeting in Hawaii
Brian Witcher was invited by WASO to facilitate a meeting of the Pacific Islands I&M Network staff, network park staff, and regional staff the week of May 7-11 at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park . The meeting helped develop a better understanding of how the I&M program will function in the future, as well as assist the larger NPS community integrate with it's activities.
SFCN evaluates long term coral monitoring sites for Dry Tortugas NP
The SFCN team of Jeff Miller, Andy Davis, Rob Waara, Brian Witcher and Matt Patterson conducted 62 dives to evaluate potential inclusion for long term monitoring of coral reef resources from May 14-18 in Dry Tortugas National Park . The park was sampled to identify areas with coral reefs or those that could become reefs in the next century. The park is divided into two major zones, with about 46% now closed to fishing and anchoring. Site selection will balance sites in both zones to be monitored regularly to evaluate if this management action helps coral reefs over time. The team worked from the M/V Fort Jefferson, the 110' NPS vessel used primarily for park logistics and support. The ship was built in 2003, and this year was the first time the ship has supported scientific trips.
SFCN and BISC attend Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project workshop
Dr. Kevin Whelan and joined Mark Lewis, Elsa Alvear, Sarah Bellmund and Joffre Castro (EVER) to represent NPS interests at a stakeholder workshop hosted by Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department on May 18 th . The workshop focused on monitoring objectives for the proposed constructed wetland and mesocosm components of the Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project. NPS concerns center on whether the pilot project will provide useful and interpretable results to evaluate whether it is appropriate for 100M gallons per day of reclaimed sewage water to be allowed to rehydrate Biscayne National Park 's coastal wetlands.
SFCN makes factory site visit at TwinVee
Matt Patterson met SERO Contracting Officer Rob Solomon on May 22 in Ft. Pierce , Florida at the TwinVee boat factory. The meeting was to review the specifications for a new 29' vessel being built as the SFCN monitoring platform for marine work.
SFCN host Dr. Paul Geissler (USGS) to review sampling design
Dr. Paul Geissler, Dr. Andrea Atkinson, Dr. Kevin Whelan, Brian Witcher, and Matt Patterson met for a full day on May 22 to discuss the SFCN sampling design for monitoring coral in Dry Tortugas National Park . Data from the previous week's trip were evaluated. Dr. Geissler's review provided invaluable suggestions and comments on the overall sampling design and analysis strategy and details.
SFCN develops strategy to complete Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens Virtual Herbarium Scanning Project
Cheri Vitez, Melissa Memory (EVER), Matt Patterson and Fairchild staff met on April 5 th , 2007 to discuss the current status of the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden 's (FTBG) NPS Virtual Herbarium. This project evolved from scanning only herbarium specimens from I&M vascular plant inventories, to help provide access and digitization of historical specimens curated by the parks. The group agreed to have FTBG finish the remaining specimens and assist park staff to import database records back into ANCS+ to ensure the project wouldn't create an additional curatorial backlog.
SFCN attends South Florida Reef Fish Monitoring Workshop
Dr. Andrea Atkinson and Matt Patterson attended a two day workshop hosted by the State of Florida to develop a consistent manner for reef fish monitoring for the Florida Keys . The state and NOAA have been monitoring fish in different ways in the past, and this watershed event allowed for a healthy information exchange on where the differences were, and how to better couple the efforts for a more consistent regional perspective.
SFCN meets with FIU to review status of BISC vegetation map
SFCN staff met with Dr. Mike Ross and others at Florida International University to review the project status of the Biscayne National Park Vegetation map. The project is using eCognition software to help interpret changes in the vegetation to help define map polygons. The project is moving forward and the SFCN team is looking forward to seeing the next phase completed.
SFCN hosts inaugural research cruise aboard the M/V Fort Jefferson
Matt Patterson, in coordination with Dr. Ilsa Kaufner (USGS) performed a submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) mapping technology pilot project along Everglades National Park 's western shore. This mission was the first ever research cruise aboard the M/V Fort Jefferson, the 110' ship built in 2003 for logistical support for Dry Tortugas National Park . The 11 person scientific party and crew anchored 10 miles offshore of the mouth of the Shark River from April 9-14, conducting SAV surveys from three 26' vessels using acoustic, video, and diver based methods to determine the best way to map SAV in this very shallow, turbid area.
SFCN staff join BISC to discuss Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project with Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department
Dr. Kevin Whelan and Matt Patterson joined Mark Lewis, Elsa Alvear, and Joffre Castro (EVER) to represent NPS interests at a meeting hosted by Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department on April 2. The rehydration pilot project is being developed to determine what level of wastewater treatment is sufficient to provide 100M gpd to Biscayne National Park 's coastal wetlands along it's western boundary. The meeting focused on treatment types, monitoring objectives and concerns from NPS on whether the pilot project will provide useful results to evaluate whether this would be an appropriate restoration activity for a National Park.
SFCN staff present at the George Wright Society meeting in St. Paul, MN
SFCN staff Matt Patterson, Jeff Miller, Andrea Atkinson, Brian Witcher, Andy Davis, and Rob Waara attended the George Wright Society meeting from April 16-20 in St. Paul , Minnesota . The Conference was combined with the national I&M meeting this year to reduce travel costs for the I&M program. The conference was well attended, and most SFCN attendees presented.
SFCN meets with BICY vegetation mapping contractor to discuss progress
Matt Patterson, Brian Witcher, and Andrea Atkinson met with staff from Avineon, Inc. to discuss the vegetation map for western Big Cypress National Preserve at the Palmetto bay office. Discussions focused on sections 1 & 2 deliverables, and ways to improve the accuracy of the map.
SFCN joins State of Florida Wildlife Research Institute Lobster Monitoring Team in St. Croix .
Andy Davis, the SFCN biological technician worked at Buck Island Reef NM on Thursday, April 26 with a lobster monitoring team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Wildlife Research Institute's Marathon's lab. Andy participated during the monitoring effort to learn first hand the state's lobster monitoring protocol and assist with fieldwork. Andy noted an encounter with three nurse sharks during the day as well.
SFCN research assistant presents at Association of American Geographers (AAG) meeting in San Francisco, CA
Iris Wilson, LIDAR research assistant from Kansas State University presented a poster titled “Development of LIDAR-based Topography Information for Gulf Islands ” as an undergraduate student invited to the meeting. Her work described on the poster showed how she developed DVD based map atlas of Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Article accepted for journal Coral Reefs
Kevin Whelan was notified on April 19 th that the article titled “"Impact of the 2005 coral bleaching event on Porites porites and Colpophyllia natans at Tektite Reef, US Virgin Islands." Was accepted for publication in the journal Coral Reefs.
SFCN Intern Michelle Ouellette finishes up
Michelle finished her internship with the SFCN on April 26 after working part time for the past year. Michelle assisted Dr. Kevin Whelan on Sediment Elevation Table data analysis as this semester's project and worked on summarizing water quality information for South Florida last fall. Michelle will finish up her coursework at Florida International University this summer and graduate in December with her BS in Environmental Science.
SFCN expands!
Congratulations to SFCN ecologist Dr. Kevin Whelan! His wife Tina and he brought Lucas Achilles James Whelan into the world at 3:13 PM on April 25 at 21 inches long and 7 lbs 1.5 ozs. Lucas and his mom are doing great and plan to return home on Friday, April 27.
SFCN bids farewell to two valued interns
SFCN has had the opportunity to work with two exceptional SCA interns over the course of the past year and a half (Sasha Wright) and ten months (Chris Ringewald). Over the course of this time Sasha Wright has been responsible for providing GIS support as well as establishing the network's 3D visualization capability. This fall she will be moving on to a PhD Program in Plant Physiology at the University of Wisconsin . Furthermore, Chris Ringewald was responsible both the network budget as well as for the SFCN website makeover that occurred this past year. He has recently moved on to Los Angeles where he is working as a GIS technician for a non-profit city planning office. SFCN bids them both farewell and good luck in their futures! They have been valuable assets to the network and will be missed!
SFCN completes NPSpecies Certification!
Certification of NPSpecies has been completed. Over the past several years the SFCN staff has worked with a variety of cooperators to complete certification. This process has focused on certification of species lists for birds, fish, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and vascular plants.
SFCN attends NOAA Geotools meeting
Brian Witcher attended the NOAA Geotools Conference. The goal of the conference is to help the constituents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center address coastal resource management issues through the effective use of geospatial data and tools.
SFCN evaluate vegetation map deliverables
Dr. Kevin Whelan and Dr. Andrea Atkinson have received deliverable on the vegetation map for Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and part of western Big Cypress National Preserve (section 1 and section 2). This product is currently under review for quality assurance to determine if these deliverables will be accepted.
Attend Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) All Scientist Meeting (ASM)
Dr. Kevin Whelan and Brian Witcher attended the 2007 Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) All Scientist Meeting (ASM). The FCE- LTER has 6 years of continuous monitoring occurring along the two main drainages (sloughs) within Everglades National Park (EVER) for physical water parameters, water quality, primary and secondary production and along with soil monitoring. The current goal of the FCE-LTER is to monitor and understand the ecological impacts from increased water flow due to hydrological restoration from the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).
Presentation on the Fate of Hurricane Wilma's Storm Deposit
Michelle Ouellette (VIP) a Florida International University (FIU) student and an Environmental Science Research Internship Program (ESRIP) intern presented “The Fate of Hurricane Wilma's Storm Deposit” at the Southeast Ecology and Evolution Conference held at the University of Central Florida on March 16-18, 2007 . Michelle's presentation investigated the impact of the Hurricane Wilma's storm deposit at a mangrove forest site along the Shark River (located in EVER). Michelle is an ESRIP paid intern via a program sponsored by FIU and National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and is advised by Dr. Kevin Whelan of the SFCN.
SFCN Tech arrives in Virgin Islands
Andy Davis was heartily welcomed by Virgin Islands NP personnel as he reported to his duty station, March 7th. Annual benthic monitoring has continued within the Virgin Island parks with sampling conducted in Newfound and Haulover Reef (VIIS) and S. Fore Reef (BUIS). Pilot methods are being tested for quantifying fish and rugosity (a measure of the vertical structure on the reef) during this monitoring as these data are vital to understand future changes in the reef animals (fish and corals) given the effects of bleaching/disease in 2005-06. Dive safety has been an emphasis this month with First Aid/CPR and Jeff Miller conducted an Oxygen Administration class for the entire VIIS dive team.
Regional Admin Review
On March 26 and the morning of March 27, Larry West and Kathy Harris visited the Palmetto bay office of the SFCN. The administrative review was conducted with updates provided for travel procedures, budget updates, guidance on the process for completion of the network's monitoring plan, and explanation of the review process to be used for monitoring protocols.
SFCN March 2007 Hot Topics
SFCN Website gets a facelift!
The South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network updated
its website to reflect its expanding scope of research and comply
with NPS mandated structural changes.
Please note our new look and navigation menu, which should improve
the ease of access to our information including a new “Hot
Topics” section of our site that will update you monthly
on SFCN developments. Our Phase 2 Report is also available in this
section of the new website. Revisions have been made to all inventories;
summaries of current inventories and a broad range of easily downloadable
reports are now available. A new hydrology section highlighting
weekly updates in South Florida Parks and summarizing recent research
on water topics has also been added. The Monitoring page
has been updated, with more additions to come: so check back soon.
We’ve added to our list of partners, and have created a list
of websites with helpful information regarding GIS, hydrology,
exotic-invasive plants and more. We’ve updated our staff
pages to include our new additions, and provide information on
how to volunteer with SFCN. Finally, a new RSS reader enables those
with Internet Explorer 7.0 and Firefox 2 web browsers to subscribe
to website updates. We hope all these changes improve your
access to information regarding the National Parks in our network.
Enjoy your visit and come again!
Data Managers Meeting
The 2007 Data Managers meeting was held in Las Cruces, NM. Highlights
of the week included the WASO office’s unveiling of the new
Integration of Resource Management Applications (IRMA) website. Much
anticipated, this web portal allows users to both search and upload
information through a single interface for tabular, spatial, and
bibliographic natural resource information. Initial reviews
of this product have even caused our friends in the Forest Service
to look to I&M for new applications. The network presented
highlights of the Digital Lidar Atlas project, a joint NPS, USGS,
CESU project and an example of the use of Visual Nature Studio for
interpretation of temporal/spatial monitoring results, developed
by Iris Wilson, and Sasha Wright respectively. Brian Witcher was
given the enviable task of facilitating the last session of the week,
Data Management Roles and Responsibilities. Always a hot topic
at the end of a long week it ended without too many of his fellow
data managers succumbing to fatigue.
Dry Tortugas Resource Natural Area (RNA) Assessment Program Design Inter-agency Kickoff Meeting. This kickoff meeting was held on Feb. 12-13 at the Krome Center in Homestead, Florida with 23 attendees from various branches of FWC (DMFM, FWRI), NOAA (NMFS, NOS), NPS (DRTO, EVER, SFCN, WRD), and USGS (FISC), and was facilitated by Andrea Atkinson of the South Florida/Caribbean Network. The attendees scoped out and prioritized specific monitoring recommendations to meet each of the monitoring objectives outlined in the recently signed Dry Tortugas RNA MOU. This work is a prelude to an inter-agency and stakeholder workshop to be held in spring 2007.
New Biological Technician hired
Please welcome Andy Davis to the South Florida/Caribbean Inventory
and Monitoring Network. Andy started on February 18, 2007
as the Biological Technician to be duty stationed in St. John,
U.S. Virgin Islands. Andy will be heading to the islands
in early March after completing as much of the new employee orientation
as possible in the SFCN main office. Andy has worked in South
Florida with Florida International University as the lab manager
for Dr. James W. Fourqurean’s Seagrass Ecosystem Research
Lab (SERL). Andy has also worked with USGS in South Florida. He
is an scientific diver, dive master, MOCC certified, and eager
to get to St. John. Andy is married, with two children.
VIIS presentation summaries now available on website
In July 2006, the National Park Service and U. S. Geological Survey
held an international workshop on St. John, U. S. Virgin Islands,
to discuss research, monitoring, and management experiences with
MPAs in Florida and the Caribbean in order to identify opportunities
for future research and monitoring in new reserves at Buck Island
Reef National Monument, Dry Tortugas National Park and Virgin Islands
Coral Reef National Monument. A summary of the presentations presented
at that workshop are now available at http://www.nature.nps.gov/im/units/sfcn/viismtg.cfm.
SFCN aids in wastewater reuse project for Biscayne Bay
Sasha Wright from SFCN met with Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer
Department contractor Drew Campbell to discuss GIS resources that
may be used in the Biscayne Bay wastewater reuse project. The
aim of the project is to replenish a historical coastal wetland
site by artificially discharging water through the area. SFCN
provided the contractors with the GIS shapefiles and associated
tables for the 2004 Inventory of Vascular Plants of Biscayne National
Park. This data should aid the contractors in establishing
an appropriate baseline for future vascular plant monitoring over
the course of this project in simulated wetlands that will test
whether treated wastewater will modify the current vegetation in
the coastal wetlands..
SFCN publication in ESRI ArcUser Magazine
Sasha (Alexandra) Wright and Judd Patterson (former LIDAR technician)
of SFCN published an article on 3D visualizations of Virgin Islands
National Park (VIIS) in the current issue of ESRI’s ArcUser
magazine. The article addresses issues related to public
awareness about park issues in remote national parks such as VIIS. If
you would like to learn more about what SFCN is doing to confront
these issues you can access the article at http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0207/seapark.html.
SFCN February 2007 Hot Topics
National Science Foundation Training – Kevin Whelan
Dr. Kevin Whelan was competitively selected to attend the Ecoinformatics
Training for Ecologists sponsored by Science Environment for Ecological
Knowledge (SEEK) which received funding from the
National Science Foundation. This was a week-long training
held at University Of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The training
concentrated on using open source programs such as KEPLER, MORPHO,
and CMAP. These programs exploit the World Wide Web to allow
harvest of data sources with Ecological Metadata Language (EML)
and then allow manipulation of the data.
Participation in CERP Everglades Landscape Monitoring Panel Workshop, January 18-19, 2007: Andrea Atkinson participated in this workshop put together by Dr. Tom Philippi of Florida International University to review and improve upon a draft monitoring plan and specific protocols for the Everglades Ridge and Slough community, Marl Prairies, and Tree Islands as part of the CERP Monitoring and Assessment Plan. The 21 participants included 4 outside panelists with experience in other large-scale programs. These protocols should cover most, if not all, of the monitoring required for the Wetland Ecotones and Community Structure Vital Sign.
SFCN flies with BICY botanist to evaluate vegetation map
deliverables
Dr. Kevin Whelan and Dr. Jim Burch (BICY) flew on
January 4th to validate areas in the 1st vegetation map deliverable
that were questionable after reviewing aerial photos and provide
additional training points to the vegetation map contractor for western
Big Cypress & Florida Panther NWR. 34 sites were visited
by helicopter and the data collected were provided to the contractor
to help better interpret some difficult classification areas.
SFCN meets with Vegetation Mapping Contractor
Matt Patterson and Dr. Kevin Whelan met with the vegetation mapping
contractor in St. Petersburg, Florida on January 17th to discuss
mapping progress and review areas where classification problems
were seen during the initial review of deliverable 1. The
meeting provided an opportunity to understand the challenges encountered
by the photo-interpreters, as well as provide guidance from the
NPS on applying the vegetation classification in areas of mixed
habitats.
SFCN GIS Meeting
Brian Witcher hosted a SFCN GIS meeting at the Palmetto Bay office
on January 17-18, 2007. The meeting had attendance by representatives
from VIIS, BISC, BICY, DRTO, EVER, the SER Regional GIS coordinator,
and the WASO NRPC GIS Coordinator to discuss ongoing GIS projects,
GIS needs, and learn what GIS resources could be shared. The
meeting provided an opportunity to hear what was happening at the
top levels of the I&M program, help the regional staff know
what the field needed, and gave each participant an opportunity
to better understand the issues shared across the network.
SFCN hosts 1st MAG Meeting – 1/22/2007
The first meeting of the Mammal Advisory Group (MAG) occurred at
the SFCN office to review the first deliverable from the EVER/BICY
small and medium sized mammal inventory. Representatives
from the parks, SFCN, and the project staff met to discuss the
species matrix, how best to stratify sampling in year 1, and other
logistics issues.
Intern at the South Florida Caribbean Network.
Environmental Studies intern from Florida International University,
Michelle Ouellette, has continued to work with the South Florida/Caribbean
Network. Michelle has spent over 100 volunteer
hours working at the SFCN office on webpage modifications. Additionally
Michelle has been awarded an Environmental Science Research Internship
Program (ESRIP) fellowship to work in the SFCN
office. During this internship Michelle will investigate
the fate of the Hurricane Wilma Sediment Storm Surge material.
SFCN January 2007 Hot Topics
Florida International University Biology Department Meeting
Facilitation
SFCN Data Manager, Brian Witcher, facilitated the Florida International
University Biology Faculty Retreat at the Montgomery Botanical Center
on Dec. 8. The network was proud to once again provide this
assistance to the Biological Science Department as FIU continues
to be a strong cooperator with both SFCN and individual network parks. The
retreat focused on the Department’s faculty evaluation program
for inclusion in their departmental bylaws.
Fly-By-Night Bat Inventory
SFCN Data Manager, Brian Witcher, met with Laura Finn of Fly-By-Night
to work on the inventory database. Data from all prior fieldwork
has been entered into the database and the final season of sampling
is being planned.
Cryptic Reef Fish Inventory for Biscayne National Park
Between March, 2005 and September 2006 teams of REEF expert volunteers
conducted 337 visual fish censuses at 158 sites among 9 habitat
types within the Biscayne National Park (BNP) near Miami, Florida. 276
species were documented during the biannual surveys from 10,728
sightings records, adding 66 species to the BISC inventory list
of fishes present in the park. This effort resulted in significant
increases to the BISC fish species list utilizing a cost effective,
volunteer-based, non-extractive method. These data may also
be of considerable value in other education/outreach efforts and
as baselines for future studies. Data from this inventory
has been converted to an MS ACCESS format and submitted for conversion
and upload to NPSpecies.
Review of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge Vegetation
Map Deliverable
The SFCN (Dr. Kevin R. T. Whelan and Dr. Andrea Atkinson) reviewed
the first vegetation map deliverable for the mapping of the Florida
Panther National Wildlife Refuge. The product did not meet
the required 80 % accuracy with 90 % confidence for map accuracy
and has been returned to the contractor for improvement. The
contractor is close to the required accuracy and SFCN is hopeful
that this product will improve.
Re-sampling of the Hurricane Wilma storm surge
Dr. Kevin R. T. Whelan and Michelle Ouellette (SFCN VIP) along with
USGS personnel re-sampled Hurricane Wilma storm surge deposition
along the Shark River in Everglades National Park. This is
part of a long-term soil monitoring program which uses soil elevation
tables and marker horizons to track changes in soil elevation due
to storm deposition, surface water erosion, and accretion.
Data driven vegetation classification for South Florida
Matt Patterson, Dr. Kevin R. T. Whelan and Dr. Andrea Atkinson attended
the data driven South Florida vegetation classification meeting. There
was over 30 attendees including members representing: Nature Serve
Inc., Institute for Regional Conservation, Florida International
University, South Florida Water Management, Everglades National
Park (fire effects monitoring program), Big Cypress National Preserve,
and the Everglades Research Group Inc. The meeting brought
forward many existing data sets that will be incorporated into
a cluster analysis to evaluate field data support of specific vegetation
classifications.
SFCN I&M and EPMT work on exotic plant treatment efficacy
monitoring protocol
Dan Clark (EPMT), Tony Pernas (EPMT), Dr. Jim Burch (BICY), Jimi
Sadle (BICY), Jonathan Taylor (EVER), Dr. Kevin R. T. Whelan (SFCN),
and Dr. Andrea Atkinson (SFCN) have begun the development of an exotic
plant treatment efficacy monitoring protocol. This protocol
has had initial field testing and is currently being refined to improve
ease-of-use and maximize information gained.
SFCN works with DRTO and FWCC on RNA monitoring plan
SFCN Network Coordinator participated with South Florida Natural
Resource Center Director Bob Johnson and EVER/DRTO marine ecologist
Douglas Morrison on December 22, 2006 in Marathon, Florida to discuss
the development of a coordinated monitoring plan between the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Florida Wildlife Research
Institute scientists, NPS scientists, and other agencies working
in the newly established Research Natural Area management zone
of Dry Tortugas National Park. The RNA is a 46 sq. mile no
extraction, no anchoring marine management area. The NPS and the
state have 180 days from the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding
to develop a monitoring plan to demonstrate the effectiveness of
this management action over 4 years time.
SFCN December 2006 Hot Topics
SFCN holds Board of Directors Meeting in conjunction with
Florida/Caribbean Superintendent Zone Meeting.
SFCN Network Coordinator Matt Patterson joined Regional I&M Branch Chief
Larry West and the rest of the Board of Directors in Orlando Florida on Novemeber
8th to provide an overview of the FY07 workplan. By piggybacking on the
Superintendent zone meeting, the network was able to reduce travel costs to get
the whole BOD together for the overview. The Board has approved the FY06/07
Annual Administrative Report and Workplan.
SFCN gives GIS and LIDAR training at Biscayne National Park
Sasha Wright from SFCN went to Biscayne National Park on November
3 to give GIS training to Biscayne staff. The training was
attended by the Resource Management Chief, the majority of the
Resource Management staff, as well as Interpretive staff. The
session introduced staff to the setup and use of an NPS application
named GIS Theme Manager. The purpose of the Theme Manager
application is to make GIS more accessible to all park staff, regardless
of GIS background. Sasha also walked meeting attendants through
setup on their own computers and successfully installed the application
on three Resource Management computers. The second half of
the training addressed a LIDAR product for Biscayne National Park
that has been made available through a partnership between NPS,
USGS, and NASA. Sasha distributed several Biscayne National
Park LIDAR Map Atlas DVD’s to park staff and walked park
staff through the process of accessing and using the LIDAR data.
SFCN Ecologist assists USGS with monitoring of Sediment
Elevation Tables (SET) to determine Hurricane Wilma impacts at
Everglades National Park
SFCN ecologist Dr. Kevin Whelan assisted USGS scientists in monitoring
mud deposits from Hurricane Wilma along the western coast of Everglades
National Park. This field work was initiated to determine
how sediment elevations have changed from a year’s worth of
weathering. This information, collected along the Southeast
region coastal areas allows for regional determination of whether
sediment is keeping up with corresponding sea level rise.
Lidar map atlas approved for USGS Open File Report
After several months of work, and patience through the review process, "USGS-NPS-NASA
EAARL Topography, Dry Tortugas National Park" has been approved
for publication as Open File Report 2006-1244. This DVD map atlas
features 75 high-quality PDF maps that represent a 2x2km section
of submarine topography lidar data. The DVD also includes the processed
lidar in GeoTIFF form as well as lidar-derived contour line shapefiles.
This is the second in a series of map atlas DVD's being created for
parks along the eastern coast of the United States.
Gulf Islands National
Seashore Lidar map atlas enters review process
DVD’s containing 66 lidar-derived topography maps for Gulf
Islands National Seashore was submitted to the USGS for review. Due
to the geographic extent of the park this digital atlas has been
separated into a Florida and Mississippi dvd. Each map covers
a 2x2km region with approximately 1-meter resolution lidar. This
digital map atlas is part of a joint project between the USGS, NPS,
and NASA.
SFCN/USGS conduct 18th year of coral monitoring in St. John,
U.S. Virgin Islands.
SFCN Fisheries Biologist Jeff Miller, in partnership with US Geological
Survey scientists Dr. Caroline Rogers, Erinn Muller, and Tony Spitzack
conducted annual monitoring 100 meters of transects at Yawzi and
Newfound Reefs (using the NPS video monitoring protocol). This
marks the 17th (Newfound) and 18th (Yawzi) consecutive year that
these transects have been monitored, an exceptionally record for
marine monitoring projects. SFCN would also like to recognize the
outstanding partnership and collaboration with Erinn Muller during
the past three as she is leaving the St. John to finish her graduate
studies. Erinn was the point-person on the coral disease data
collection, management, and sample collection/processing during the
recent SFCN episodic monitoring of the bleaching-disease outbreak
in the US Virgin Islands. Erinn collected data on over 6000
lesions of disease and took/cataloged over 8000 digital photographs
of the lesions. The SFCN team appreciates her efforts and partnership,
and we wish her well during her last semester of graduate work at
Florida Tech.
SFCN October 2006 Hot Topics
SFCN monitoring team receives awards
at Coral Reef Task Force Meeting, in St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. Coral
Reef Task Force Fact Sheet (pdf 178 KB)
SFCN Fisheries Biologist Jeff Miller and Biological Technician Rob
Waara, as well as Resource Management Chief Zandy Hillis-Starr from
Buck Island Reef National Monument were presented awards during the
16th Coral Reef Task Force during the week of October 23rd. Awards
were for their continuing hard work to document the coral bleaching
event that destroyed 39-54% of the live coral on reefs at 6 SFCN
monitoring sites in the USVI. Jeff Miller presented to the task force
about the event and limited recovery during the business meeting
and sat on a panel to discuss the status of USVI coral reefs. SFCN
and the USGS presented a collaborative poster on the coral monitoring
efforts in the US Virgin Islands. The SFCN team also led a meeting
field trip, in collaboration with the WRD WASO office and USGS, circumnavigating
St. John, highlighting coral monitoring and resource management challenges
of Virgin Islands National Park and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National
Monument.
SFCN hosts the network Science and Technical Committee to review
the FY06 Annual Report and FY07 Draft Workplan
The SFCN STC met October 11-12 in Palmetto Bay, Florida at the SFCN
office to review the FY06 accomplishments and discuss FY07 workplan
major tasks. With the network’s Phase 3 Monitoring Plan due
at the end of Calendar 2007, the primary workload is focused on finishing
the network’s monitoring plan, including a monitoring protocol
for marine benthic communities. The meeting was attended by representatives
for all network parks, and all agreed FY07 looked very busy for the
SFCN team. A briefing for the Board of Directors is planned to coincide
with the up-coming zone meeting.
SFCN hosts Regional Associate Director for Natural Resource Stewardship
and Science, Mr. John Yancy.
SFCN Ecologist Dr. Kevin Whelan and Coordinator Matt Patterson met
with John Yancy and joined USGS scientist Gordon Anderson on an airboat
trip down Shark Slough in Everglades National Park (EVER) on October
18, 2006. During the field trip, stops were made at various monitoring
sites where Everglades data collection were being conducted. Numerous
alligators, Everglades snail kites, great blue herons, and other
wildlife were observed during the trip.
Meanwhile, regional office staff SERO Contracting Officer Kimberly Washington and Dr. Carol Daniels visited the SFCN office to discuss ongoing activities and were provided overviews of SFCN FY07 contracting and cooperative agreement needs by Brian Witcher.
SFCN NPSpecies certification
The network, with the assistance of several cooperators, was able
to complete network-wide certifications for several portions of
NPSpecies. These included Amphibians, Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles.
This accomplishment pushes the network past the two-thirds mark
for completing NPSpecies certification.
SFCN September 2006 Hot Topics
Accuracy
Assessment of the South Florida Vegetation MapBotanists Keith Bradley and Steve Woodmansee, from the Institute of Regional Conservation, have sampled 368 accuracy assessment points. These accuracy assessment points will be used to determine the accuracy of the South Florida Vegetation Map. They will continue field work through the fall of 2006 and potentially into 2007 depending on the results of the analysis.
SFCN attends SECOORA meeting
SFCN Aquatic Ecologist Kevin Whelan, attended the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing
Regional Association general business meeting in Jacksonville (September
12 -13). The goal was to evaluate how long-term ocean observing maybe integrated
into the National Park Service Ocean Plan.
SFCN attends Natural Areas Conference
Jeff Miller, SFCN fisheries biologist, attended the Natural Areas Conference
in Flagstaff Arizona, and presented the latest results from the annual and
episodic monitoring from the 2005 Coral Bleaching and Disease event. The
latest data (through July 2006) show the decline in Virgin Islands monitoring
site coral cover due to post-bleaching coral disease with the average coral
loss of all sites being a catastrophic 48.7% in less than one year! During
the meeting, Jeff was one of six NPS employees to receive a Director's Award.
Dr. Michael Soukup, National Park Service Associate Director for Natural
Resource Stewardship and Science presented the awards at an evening ceremony
at the Museum of Northern Arizona.
SFCN August 2006 Hot Topics
Scanning significant natural resource documents
SFCN continued their scanning project during July, visiting 4 of the network
parks. The purpose of the project is to create digital copies of significant
natural resource documents for all seven of the network parks. To date
the scanning team has scanned 827 documents with a total file size of 14.5
GB and forwarded to Ft. Collins where they are being entered into NatureBib
with fully compliant metadata. Currently, the WASO office has created
metadata and citations for nearly all of the documents that have been scanned
by SFCN and the digital versions of the documents will soon be available for
download from the NatureBib website.
SFCN July 2006 Hot Topics
June Coral Monitoring Cruise
SFCN scientists in a cooperative effort with scientists from Biscayne National
Park and the USGS successfully conducted annual benthic monitoring of the 80
permanent video transects within four coral monitoring sites in Dry Tortugas
and Biscayne National Parks. The field work was challenged in DRTO by the weather
associated with the passing of Tropical Storm Alberto, forcing the group to
ride out stormy weather at the Ft. Jefferson anchorage. Qualitative observations
of the four sites revealed remarkable effects from the extremely active 2006
Hurricane Season which included toppling of sizeable coral colonies, detachment
and removal of soft corals, substrate scouring, and piling of coral rubble. 165
dives were made by the seven member team logging more than 177 hours of dive
time.
Scanning natural significant resource documents
SFCN began their big scanning project in the network parks this month! The
purpose of the project is to create digital copies of significant natural resource
documents for all seven of the network parks. Three of our interns spent
a week and a half in BISC and two weeks in EVER this month and have scanned
over 1300 documents! The scanned documents are continually being sent
to the WASO Ft. Collins office where they are being entered into NatureBib
with fully compliant metadata! Currently, the WASO office has created
metadata and citations for nearly all of the documents that have been scanned
by SFCN and the digital versions of the documents will soon be available for
download from the NatureBib website.
Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference
Matt Patterson, Kevin Whelan, and Andrea Atkinson attended the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference and the pre-conference Remote Sensing Workshop from June 5-9, 2006 in Orlando, Florida. Matt Patterson presented on “Remote Sensing Applications in the National Park Service’s South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Program” during the pre-conference workshop. SFCN also presented a poster on “Selection of Vital Signs for the National Park Service’s South Florida / Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network” which showed the 62 vital signs agreed upon at the May, 2006 meeting. The conference was a great forum for networking with groups who are already partially or completely monitoring some of the vital signs.
SFCN June 2006 Hot Topics
Superintendents approve Vital Signs list
On May 9-10, SFCN met with the network park superintendents Art Frederick, Dan
Kimball, Karen Gustin, Joel Tutein, and Mark Lewis, plus resource management
staff in St. Croix. Together they reviewed the prioritized list of Vital Signs
that were ranked by 102 area professionals and park staff via an online ranking
process. The group commented on the list, consolidated some indicators, moved
two higher on the list, and then approved the prioritized list of 62 indicators
for moving forward into Phase 3.
Coral monitoring, bleaching, and disease
On May 15th and 16th SFCN preformed there annual coral monitoring of the reef
located near Buck Island, St Croix called Western Spur and Groove. This
is one of there lowest coral cover sites with 5.2% coral cover. This site
was not revisited during the 2005 bleaching event. We noticed that
there are diseased corals and die off here, mostly on the Diploria strigosa (Symmetrical
Brain Coral).
SFCN has continued monitoring the coral bleaching-disease outbreak in the Virgin Island Parks. Matt Patterson, Jeff Miller and Rob Waara of the SFCN visited Washington DC and Atlanta GA, to briefed NPS Director Fran Mainella, Deputy Director Steve Martin, and Associate Director of Natural Resources Mike Soukup, along with the SERO Director Pat Hooks, SERO Associate Director of Natural Resources John Yancy and other SERO staff on the catastrophic losses in live coral.
In the continuing effort to raise awareness of the coral bleaching-disease monitoring project on-going in the Virgin Islands, Jeff Miller of SFCN briefed the Virgin Islands Congressional Delegate, Donna Christian-Christensen on the monitoring results. Additionally, similar briefings were given to NPS interpretative and law enforcement divisions of Virgin Islands National Park.
Matt Patterson, SFCN Coordinator, presented "Coral Crisis in the US Virgin Islands" to the Ft. Collins WASO office on May 30, 2006. The presentation was well attended with many good questions. Matt was attending a LIDAR meeting in Denver later in the week, and felt it would be worth while letting the Ft. Collins office know about this dramatic loss of coral reef resources.
Welcoming new interns and students
SFCN welcomes Ashely Brehm and Will Gandy, SCA Interns who will be taking part
in this summer’s data-mining project. Their primary goal is to
create digital versions of significant natural resource documents from BICY,
BISC, BUIS, DRTO, EVER, SARI, and VIIS for incorporation into NatureBib. As
part of this effort SFCN is working with the WASO Ft. Collins office as part
of a pilot project to create metadata for digital documents and incorporate
them into NatureBib.
Kristen Blair and Michelle Ouellette are summer Volunteers-in-Parks (VIPs) working on the SFCN water quality web page. This webpage will summarize hydrology and water quality at BICY, BISC, BUIS, DRTO, EVER, SARI, and VIIS. In addition, David Cox is a VIP working on web applications to provide information on the Marine Protected Areas (BUIS, DRTO, VIIS).
Lidar map atlas enters review process
A DVD containing 75 lidar-derived topography maps
for Dry Tortugas National Park was submitted to the USGS for review. Each
map covers a 2x2km region with approximately 1-meter resolution lidar. This
digital map atlas is part of a joint project between the USGS, NPS, and NASA.
SFCN April 2006 Hot Topics
Buck Island Reef NM Fish Blitz
From April 10th to April 21st NOAA conduct their biannual characterization
and monitoring of reef fish populations within Buck Island Reef National Monument,
USVI. With a collaboration of Resource Management staff from St John, St Croix
and a member of the South Florida / Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring
program they were able to successfully complete 122 sites/dives and continue
this study, which has been on going for 5 years. All and all it was a very
successful mission.
SFCN Vital Signs Indicator Ranking
SFCN completed their web
based Vital Signs Ranking exercise this week. Over
75 individuals from NPS, USGS, NOAA, state and territorial agencies, and a
variety of universities and nonprofits participated. The results of this
ranking will be used during the network's May 9-10 meeting to complete a prioritized
list of Vital Signs for inclusion in the Phase II report due this fall. Use
of a web based ranking design allowed the network to involve a greater number
of researchers from South Florida and the Caribbean than would have been possible
through face to face meetings.
NBC Nightly News airs NPS Fisheries Biologist on Coral bleaching
On Sunday April 16, the SFCN monitoring was a major component of the
NBC weekend nightly news and included video of SFCN scientist conducting monitoring,
and showed video timeseries of the changes taking place on the reefs.
Florida International University Biology Department Meeting Facilitation
SFCN
Data Manager, Brian Witcher, facilitated the Florida International University
Biology Faculty Retreat at the Montgomery Botanical Center on Friday, April
2. The network was proud to provide this assistance to the Biological
Science Department as FIU continues to be a strong cooperator with both SFCN
and individual network parks. The retreat focused on the Departments
long range strategic plan, with development of short, medium, and long term
goals.
Associated Press runs coral reef bleaching story nationally
Seth
Borenstein from Associated Press ran a story focused on Coral Bleaching from
the U.S. Virgin Islands on March 30 featuring quotes and images from the SFCN
and Fisheries Biologist Jeff Miller. The story was picked up in
newspapers across the country, as far as Hawai’i, and generated a flurry
of media interest. In an email from Seth to Jeff, “It's on the
wire now and after just 78 minutes is the most viewed science story on Yahoo.”
BUIS Cryptic fish get new home!
South Florida Caribbean Network
Museum Technician, Cheri Vitez traveled to Fort Lauderdale on April 19, 2006
to transfer the Buck Island Reef NM voucher specimens from Dr. Richard Spieler. His team collected the Phase II – Cryptic
Reef Fishes that were labeled, put in jars with 70 % ethanol, and temporarily
housed at Nova Southeastern Oceanographic Center. Dr. Richard Speiler
and his graduate student, David Bryon helped load the fishes into a U-Haul
truck for the journey to Gainesville. The Florida Museum of Natural History
is an appropriate repository for the voucher specimens since it houses one
of the two largest collections of western Atlantic reef fishes.
2006 Inventory of BUIS Cryptic Reef Fishes
The inventory
of Buck Island Reef National Monument (BUIS) cryptic fishes was successfully
completed at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, FL on 20
April 2006. A portion of the NPS Inventory of Museum Property
- Random Sample from BUIS generated 117 catalog numbers of specimens that are
currently on Loan to the Florida Museum of Natural History with a 25 year loan
period. South Florida Caribbean Network Museum Technician, Cheri Vitez
completed the inventory with assistance from Senior Biologist/Collection Manager,
Rob Robins and Museum Technicians, Alana Schoenberg and Jason Seitz from the
FLMNH. The Division of Ichthyology collection management staff members
were knowledgeable, efficient, and a pleasure to work and without their expertise,
the NPS inventory could not have been completed in only one day. All
117 specimens were located, found in good condition, and well housed in either
vials or standard jars in 70 % ethanol.
SFCN identifies Summer SCA’s for document scanning and office
support
Due to SFCN's success with SCA interns three more have been
hired. Chris
Ringwald will begin a 12 month position to assist with administrative needs
and further population of NPSpecies with invertebrate information. Ashley
Brehm and WIll Gandy have been hired on three month positions as core members
of the SFCN data mining team. In an effort similar to SECN's data mining
program Ashely and Will are scheduled to travel to network parks and use portable
scanners to convert important resource management documents into a digital
format for posting to NatureBib.
Lidar map atlas approved for Open File Report
After several
months of work, and patience through the review process, "USGS-NPS-NASA
EAARL Submarine topography, Biscayne National Park" has been approved
for publication as Open File Report 2006-1118. This DVD map atlas features
25 high-quality PDF maps that represent a 2x2km section of submarine topography
lidar data. The DVD also includes the processed lidar in GeoTIFF form as well
as lidar-derived contour line shapefiles. This is the first in a series of
map atlas DVD's being created for parks along the eastern coast of the United
States.
SFCN March 2006 Hot Topics
USVI Coral Bleaching Monitoring continues
Annual and episodic monitoring of the post coral-bleaching event continues in
the US Virgin Islands with 40 video transects filmed and 30 coral tissue samples
taken for microbial and genetic analyses. Post-coral bleaching mortality
associated with coral disease remains prevalent at both monitoring sites sampled
in April; one in Buck Island Reef National Monument, and the other in Virgin
Islands National Park.
SFCN Develops Potential Vital Sign Indicators
The SFCN team held its third and last Vital Sign indicator workshop in Christiansted,
St. Croix, USVI March 6-7, 2006. Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn
Scarlett welcomed the crowd of federal, territorial, NGO, and academic participants
from the USVI, Puerto Rico, Ft. Collins, and Washington, DC. The workshop
reviewed the indicators developed from the first two workshops, and modified
and added indicators so that the suite of potential indicators would work
in both South Florida, as well as U.S. Virgin Island environments.
Overall, the three workshops had over 70 participants attend from numerous agencies and institutions to produce a robust suite of 69 indicators which will be ranked for ecological significance and feasibility during April.
SFCN assists with Biscayne National Park Cryptic Fish Inventory
SFCN’s Brian Witcher and Dr. Kevin Whelan participated in the third field
expedition of the Biscayne National Park cryptic fish inventory conducted with
REEF (Reef Environment Education Foundation). To date, over 50 new species
have been added to the parks list of marine fish from this endeavor with over
150 samples stratified across multiple habitats.
SFCN participates in Buck Island Reef NM Coral Monitoring Optimization
Workshop
SFCN staff participated in a two day workshop hosted by Buck Island Reef
National Monument to review how multiple coral monitoring efforts could be
optimized in the future. NOAA, SFCN, USGS, and BUIS staff discussed
different coral reef monitoring activities, and SFCN plans to analyze various
data sets to look for correlation between the various methods at similar
locations.
NOAA Ship Nancy Foster maps deep water habitats in the U.S. Virgin
Islands
This is the third mission for the R/V Nancy Foster to conduct deep water multi-beam
SONAR and Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) surveys off of Buck Island Reef NM,
Salt River NHS&EP, and Virgin Islands Coral Reef NM. This work was
partially funded from the Geologic Resources Division, collecting data to map
deep water portions of these parks up to 1000m in detail. ROV work will
complement the SONAR surveys to help classify deep water benthic habitats. This
mission may determine the deepest point in the expanded Buck Island Reef NM
boundary, which may make BUIS the deepest National Park unit in the system,
with water depths potentially exceeding 5,000 feet. The natural resources
at these depths are unknown, and this trip may help better understand what
is there. Mission updates can be read at the NOAA website: http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/products/biogeography/usvi_nps_2006/details.html.
SFCN February 2006 Hot Topics
NPS-SFCN holds second Vital Signs Indicator Workshop for South Florida
Parks
The South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network hosted the second
of three Vital Signs indicator workshops. The workshop was hosted at the
SFCN home office overlooking Biscayne Bay (BISC). There were 22 regional
freshwater and terrestrial experts that reviewed and accepted the 1) Freshwater
Wet Prairies and Marshes Ecological Zone Model, 2) Island Interior Ecological
Zone Model, and 3) Mangroves, Beaches, and Tidal Wetlands Ecological Zone Model. The
group was able to outline 13 overarching ecological processes of concern within
the terrestrial/freshwater resources of the SFCN. The workshop attendees
added 23 potential indicators to our list of 32 from the first indicator workshop. These
indicators will be upload into a live interactive web rating process along with
all potential indicators generated from the upcoming US Virgin Islands park workshop
(March 6 and 7).
NPS-SFCN preparations for US Virgin Islands Park Workshop (March 6-7)
Preparations are under way for our final indicator selection workshop, to be
held March 6-7 at Christiansted on St. Croix, USVI. We have invited
29 participants from such institutions as the University of Puerto Rico,
the University of the Virgin Islands, the National Park Service, USGS, and
other groups working in the Virgin Islands ecosystems. We are looking
forward to finishing up our indicator selection process with a successful
and productive workshop!
NPS-SFCN hosts CESU Principal Investigator for LIDAR Mapping Project
Dr. John Harrington from the Department of Geography at Kansas State University
visited the NPS-SFCN office February 16-17th. Dr. Harrington is currently
the PI for a CESU project aimed at creating LIDAR maps for multiple National
Park units. CESU researcher, Judd Patterson, gave a brief presentation that
provided background regarding the joint USGS-NPS-NASA LIDAR collection and
mapping project. Basic map production steps and progress were reviewed, while
also taking time to look forward at the substantial queue that awaits mapping
effort. Additionally, Dr. Harrington reviewed the draft DVD product for Biscayne
National Park as well as a few of the printed maps. He offered insight into
possible improvements, and mentioned the usefulness of also providing merged
data products for a variety of GIS applications.
NPS National Inventory and Monitoring Program Meeting
Six staff of the NPS South Florida / Caribbean Network attended the NPS National
Inventory and Monitoring Program meeting in San Diego from Feb. 7-10, 2006
where they learned about what's working well with other networks and discussed
aspects of protocol development, sampling design, effective reporting, data
management, and future direction of the program. SFCN staff presented highlights
from their program on adapting monitoring to respond to coral bleaching,
displaying data with a coral reef swim-through, and coordination with South
Florida Water Management District and other partners in creation of a south
Florida vegetation map. Over 170 people were in attendance. SFCN presentations
from the meeting were:
Budget allocation: How have networks decided how much money to allocate to each protocol or monitoring component? (Matt Patterson)
Sampling design optimization (1.4 MB) (Andrea Atkinson) http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/meetings/SanDiego_06/PLER%20Sampling%20Optimization%207-23-04.pdf
Veg. mapping partnership (Andrea Atkinson) http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/meetings/SanDiego_06/Show&Tell/Show&Tell5.ppt
Reef swim through .wmv movie clip (Brian Witcher)
http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/meetings/SanDiego_06/Show&Tell/Show&Tell3.ppt
Coral Bleaching event (Jeff Miller)
http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/meetings/SanDiego_06/Show&Tell/Show&Tell3.ppt
SFCN January 2006 Hot Topics
NPS-SFCN launches kickoff Vital Signs Indicator Workshop for South
Florida Parks
The South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network hosted the first
of three Vital Signs indicator workshop. The workshop was hosted at the
SFCN home office over looking Biscayne Bay (BISC). There were 25 regional
marine experts that review and accepted the 1) Mangroves, Beaches, and Tidal
Wetlands, 2) Florida Bay Ecological, 3) Biscayne Bay Ecological, 4) Coastal Shelf & Deep
Oceanic Ecological, and 5) Marine Benthic Communities sub-model Conceptual Models. The
group was able to outline 27 overarching ecological process of concern within
the marine resources of the SFCN. The workshop attendees generated and
complete filled out 32 potential indicators. These indicators will be
upload into a live interactive web rating process along with all potential indicators
generated from the upcoming terrestrial workshop (February 1 and 2) and islands
park workshop (March 6 and 7).
NPS-SFCN presents posters at Florida Bay Conference
Andrea Atkinson and Kevin Whelan represented the SFCN at The Florida Bay and
Adjacent Marine Systems Science Conference (December 11 to 15). At
which the following posters were presented at the meeting:
Selection of Vital Signs in Florida Bay for the National Park Service
Inventory and Monitoring Program
Andrea Atkinson, Matt Patterson, W. Jeff Miller, Brian
Witcher and Kevin R. T. Whelan; National Park Service Inventory
and Monitoring Program, South Florida / Caribbean Network
The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Water Quality Assessment
Program in Florida Bay
Kevin R. T. Whelan, Matt Patterson, Brian Witcher, Andrea Atkinson and
Sasha Wright; National Park Service, Inventory and Monitoring, South
Florida / Caribbean Network
This meeting provided and excellent opportunity to show case the SFCN Vital Signs process and to network with established researchers doing long-term monitoring in Florida Bay
NPS-SFCN coordinating with CERP
NPS-SFCN has been working to coordinate with the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Plan RECOVER efforts for monitoring and assessment. Andrea Atkinson attended
the RECOVER Assessment Team meeting on November 30, 2005, the RECOVER Greater
Everglades Module Landscape Subteam meeting on January 25, 2006 as well as
other meetings during the year. NPS-SFCN has provided comments on the 2005
Assessment Strategy for the Monitoring and Assessment Plan as
well as the QASR (Quality Assurance System Requirements) document.
Curating Natural History Collections in St. Croix, VI
Cheri Vitez, SFCN Museum Technician traveled to St. Croix, VI on 15-22 January
2006 to assist Zandy Hillis-Starr, Cultural Resource Manager with curating
the natural history collections from Buck Island Reef National Monument. Cheri
Vitez worked with Bridget Beers, SEAC Museum Specialist to properly preserve
and store the specimens thereby allowing accessibility to the specimens and
data that were collected during the Inventory and Monitoring survey of herpetofauna
from Buck Island Reef National Monument.