Paleoecology Program:

• Florida Bay Estuary: Using Corals to Detect and Reconstruct Change - Daniel Anderegg
• Historical Salinity and Seagrass Trends in Florida Bay Derived From Benthic Faunal Data - G. Lynn Brewster-Wingard
• Diatoms as Paleoecological Indicators of Environmental Change in the Florida Bay Ecosystem - Jacqueline K. Huvane
• Paleoecological Considerations of the Sediment-Water Interface of Florida Bay as Derived from Chlorophylls, Chlorophyll Derivatives, and Carotenoids - J. William Louda
• The Sediment Record as a Monitor of Natural and Anthropogenic Changes in the Lower Everglades/Florida Bay Ecosystem -Terry A. Nelsen

Question 1: How and at what rates do storms, changing freshwater flows, sea level rise, and local evaporation/precipitation patterns influence circulation and salinity patterns within Florida Bay and outflows from the Bay to adjacent waters?

Question 2: What is the relative importance of the advection of exogenous nutrients, internal nutrient cycling including exchange between water column and sedimentary nutrient sources, and nitrogen fixation in determining the nutrient budget of Florida Bay?

Question 3: What regulates the onset, persistence and fate of planktonic algal blooms in Florida Bay?

Question 4: What are the causes and mechanisms for the observed changes in seagrass and the hardbottom community of Florida Bay? What is the effect of changing salinity, light, and nutrient regimes on these communities?

Question 5: What is the relationship between environmental change, habitat change, and the recruitment, growth, and survivorship of higher trophic level species?