Tropical forest ecosystems are rich in epiphytes that make up a significant portion of the overall plant diversity. However, epiphytic plants are often understudied due to inaccessibility and the lack of basic ecological information poses challenges to their conservation, particularly in a time of rapid global change. The mule-ear orchid, Trichocentrum undulatum (Orchidaceae), is a large flowering epiphyte found in southern Florida (USA), the Greater, and Lesser Antilles including Cuba. The plant is Florida state-listed as endangered with only one remaining small and declining population in a coastal mangrove forest due to historical extraction and habitat destruction. Currently, there is no systematic understanding of the species’ habitat requirements. To fill this void, we compared the habitat and microhabitat of the species on its northern distribution edge (southern Florida) and the core range (in Cuba). The Florida population has only one host species, Conocarpus erectus, found in one habitat type. This is in sharp contrast to the 92 documented hosts and 5 habitats across 8 provinces in Cuba. Based on our findings from Cuba, we suggest conservation and restoration options in Florida by proposing potential suitable host plants and habitats. Proactive restoration of this species will help to ease the threat from sea-level rise to the species by securing and expanding range margins.

In southwestern Florida, USA, terraformed landscapes built almost entirely of oyster shells (Crassostrea virginica) reflect a unique pre-Columbian tradition of shell-built architecture. The ability to reliably date oyster shells is essential to identifying spatial, temporal, and functional relationships among shellworks sites, yet to date there has been no systematic attempt to quantify or correct for carbon reservoir effects in this region. Here we present 14 radiocarbon (14C) ages for 5 known-age, pre-bomb oyster shells collected between AD 1932–1948, as well as 6 14C ages for archaeological oyster/charcoal pairs from the Turner River Mound Complex, Everglades National Park. We report our current best estimate of ΔR = 92 ± 74 yr for Greater Southwest Florida, and ΔR = –15 ± 42 yr for the Turner River archaeological site. Future research should focus on paired archaeological specimens to obtain spatially and temporally relevant estimates of ΔR.

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are abundant in many coastal ecosystems, including the coastal Everglades. Understanding spatial and temporal variation in their abundance and group sizes is important for estimating their potential ecological importance and predicting how environmental changes (e.g. ecosystem restoration) might impact their populations. From August 2010 to June 2012, we completed a total of 67 belt transects covering a total of 2650 linear km and an area of 1232 km2. Dolphin densities varied spatially and temporally. The highest densities of dolphins were found in coastal oceans and inland bays and were lowest in rivers. Use of rivers, however, increased during the dry season while densities in other habitats remained similar across seasons. Dolphins appeared to prefer portions of bays close to mangrove-covered islands over open waters. A resighting rate of 63.6% of individuals across the 2-year study suggests that at least a portion of the population is probably resident within study regions over long time periods. The largest groups (mean 6.28, range 1–31) were found in open waters and bays despite apparently low predation pressure. Indeed, shark bite scars – likely the result of unsuccessful predation attempts – were conclusively observed on only 1% of individuals. Although further studies are warranted, the high densities of dolphins suggest that they are an important upper trophic level predator in the coastal Everglades, but their ecological importance probably varies in space and time.

We monitored colonization, spread, and growth of an exotic Old World climbing fern on tree islands in the interior marsh of Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida to investigate linkages between its colonization and growth and environmental factors. Number of the patches continuously increased over a 2-yr monitoring period, but mean patch area and height did not increase. Lower water depth was associated with larger number of patches whereas higher water depth was associated with higher mean patch height. Patch occurrence probability at each 3 m (9.8 ft) grid within tree islands also increased and indicated that patches spread from outer areas to interiors of tree islands over time. Patch occurrence probability was lower in sawgrass-dominated locations, which typically occur at the margin of tree islands, compared to locations dominated by woody plants. Patch occurrence probability was higher on west sides of tree islands corresponding to the side of the islands most impacted by a recent major hurricane. This study revealed that colonization and growth of Old World climbing fern are characterized by several spatial and temporal factors. A detection protocol using ground surveys that focus on the edges of tree islands could be an efficient way to identify early infestations on tree islands in the Refuge. Such a protocol also might be useful to identify new infestations on tree islands in other areas of the Everglades.

Palynological, loss-on-ignition, and X-ray fluorescence data from a 5.25 m sediment core from a mangrove forest at the mouth of the Shark River Estuary in the southwestern Everglades National Park, Florida were used to reconstruct changes occurring in coastal wetlands since the mid-Holocene. This multi-proxy record contains the longest paleoecological history to date in the southwestern Everglades. The Shark River Estuary basin was formed ~ 5700 cal yr BP in response to increasing precipitation. Initial wetlands were frequently-burned short-hydroperiod prairies, which transitioned into long-hydroperiod prairies with sloughs in which peat deposits began to accumulate continuously about 5250 cal yr BP. Our data suggest that mangrove communities started to appear after ~ 3800 cal yr BP; declines in the abundance of charcoal suggested gradual replacement of fire-dominated wetlands by mangrove forest over the following 2650 yr. By ~ 1150 cal yr BP, a dense Rhizophora mangle dominated mangrove forest had formed at the mouth of the Shark River. The mangrove-dominated coastal ecosystem here was established at least 2000 yr later than has been previously estimated.

As part of efforts to restore the Everglades, in 2008, Governor Crist ofFlorida proposed the acquisition of 187,000 acres of land from the U.S.Sugar Corporation (U.S. Sugar) for this purpose, but the final purchase inAugust 2010 totaled only 26,800 acres. This article presents the historybehind the alternatives, including the buyout of U.S. Sugar land, to improveFlorida's water quality and the health of the Everglades. To determine thebenefits and costs of several of the U.S. Sugar land buyout proposals, aspatial price equilibrium model of the U.S. sugar market is developed.Within this framework, all the benefit-cost ratios calculated show that thebenefits are less than the costs. Our analysis uses the concept of anEnvironmental Equivalent, which is the dollar amount of environmentalbenefits needed from the Everglades restoration or water quality projects togenerate benefits that are as great as or greater than its costs. Also, weconsider, within the context of ex ante vs. ex post benefit-cost analysis,the developments to clean up the Everglades since the U.S. Sugar landpurchase.