Everglades: The Ecosystem and Its Restoration

Steve Davis West Palm Beach, FL
John C Ogden South Florida Water Management District

List Price: $199.95
Our Price: $179.95

Cat. #: SL3028 ISBN: 0963403028 Publication Date: 1/1/1994 Number of Pages: 860

The 31 chapters provide a wealth of previously unpublished information, plus topic syntheses, for a wide range of ecological parameters. These include the physical driving forces that created and continue to shape the Everglades and patterns and processes of its flora and fauna.

The book summarizes recent studies of the region's vegetation, alligators, wading birds, and endangered species such as the snail kite and Florida panther. This referee-reviewed volume is the product of collaboration among 58 international authors from 27 institutional affiliations over nearly five years. The book concludes with a synthesis of system-wide restoration hypotheses, as they apply to the Everglades, that represent the integration and a collective viewpoint from the preceding 30 chapters. Techniques and systems learned here can be applied to ecosystems around the world.

1. ECOSYSTEM SIZE, DISTURBANCE, STABILITY, AND DIVERSITY-Each chapter topic is examined in the context of the interrelationships between ecosystem size, disturbance patterns, stability of populations and communities, and diversity of habitats and species.
2. HYDROLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION-The book features the first publication of a hydrological simulation model of the predrainage Everglades system. Predrainage hydrology simulations are integrated with the hydrology/ecology relationships developed in the other chapters to propose hydrologic restoration guidelines for the ecosystem.
3. RESTORATION APPLICATIONS IN DYNAMIC ECOSYSTEMS-The book provides a dynamic approach to ecosystem restoration by focusing on the Everglades as a constantly changing system and on restoration of a "moving target."
4. CROSS-SCALE CONSIDERATIONS IN ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION-Analyses of ecosystem patterns, processes, dynamics and restoration approaches span temporal and spatial scales from individual species populations to communities, landscapes, and global issues.
5. ADAPTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT-The book emphasizes the uncertainty inherent in the restoration of dynamic systems which we will never completely understand. It advances an adaptive approach of experimental large-scale ecosystem manipulation to test hypotheses that represent our best current knowledge. The book was developed in part through a series of AEAM workshops.