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Metadata:   Trophic transfer of Everglades marsh consumer biomass to Everglades Estuaries (FCE), Everglades National Park, South Florida from December 2010 to Present


Dataset title
Trophic transfer of Everglades marsh consumer biomass to Everglades Estuaries (FCE), Everglades National Park, South Florida from December 2010 to Present

Dataset ID
SFWSC_006

Dataset Creator
Name: Dr. Jennifer Rehage 
Position: Collaborator
Organization: Southeast Environmental Research Center and South Florida Water, Sustainability, and Climate Project
Address: Florida International University
University Park
ECS 119
Miami, FL 33199 USA
Phone: 305-348-0181
Email: rehagej@fiu.edu
URL: http://www2.fiu.edu/~rehagej/index.html


Metadata Provider
Organization: Florida Coastal Everglades LTER Program
Address: Florida International University
University Park
OE 148
Miami, FL 33199 USA
Phone: 305-348-6054
Email: fcelter@fiu.edu
URL: http://fcelter.fiu.edu

Dataset Abstract
We measured the trophic transfer of secondary consumer biomass from the Everglades marshes to the oligohaline reaches of the Shark River by sampling the diets of four common large bodied piscivorous fishes occurring at the marsh-estuary oligohaline ecotone. The four species sampled were Florida bass (Micropterus floridanus), bowfin (Amia calva), common snook (Centropomus undecimalis), and red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). We sampled diets via pulsed gastric lavage, a relatively non-lethal and effective sampling technique used to measure trophic interactions. We quantified trophic transfer of marsh biomass to the estuary when a focal piscivore consumed a prey species that was likely a migrant from adjacent marshes. A more detailed description of these methods can be found in citation #28. In the presented data, we combined estimates of relative abundance of piscivores from standardized electrofishing techniques (# of piscivores/ 100 meters of sampled shoreline) with biomass of marsh species consumed in the estuary to calculate the biomass (g) transferred to the estuary per 100 meters of shoreline. These values serve as our index of how much biomass is being exported off of the marsh to the estuary through consumer mediated habitat linkages. An important key finding from this work is that disturbance, in particular drought, can sever this biomass linkage, and conserve biomass export off of karstic wetlands to estuaries through of marsh secondary consumer trophic pathways.

Dataset Keywords
SFWSC
South Florida Water, Sustainability, and Climate Project
ecological research
long-term monitoring
consumer dynamics
fishes
Rookery Branch
Electrofishing
Everglades National Park
catches
consumers
freshwater
estuarine
biology
species
Consumer mediated habitat linkages
Everglades estuary
consumers
biomass
trophic transfer
Everglades marsh consumer
secondary consumer biomass
biomass transfer

Intellectual Rights
These data are classified as 'Type II' whereby original FCE LTER experimental data collected by individual FCE researchers to be released to restricted audiences according to terms specified by the owners of the data. Type II data are considered to be exceptional and should be rare in occurrence. The justification for exceptions must be well documented and approved by the lead PI and Site Data Manager. Some examples of Type II data restrictions may include: locations of rare or endangered species, data that are covered under prior licensing or copyright (e.g., SPOT satellite data), or covered by the Human Subjects Act, Student Dissertation data and those data related to the FCE LTER Program but not funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under LTER grants #DEB-9910514, and # DBI-0620409. Researchers that make use of Type II Data may be subject to additional restrictions to protect any applicable commercial or confidentiality interests. All publications based on this dataset must cite the data Contributor, the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program and that this material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DEB-1237517, #DBI-0620409, and #DEB-9910514. Additionally, two copies of the manuscript must be submitted to the Florida Coastal Everglades LTER Program Office, LTER Program Manager, Florida International University, Southeast Environmental Research Center, OE 148, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199. For a complete description of the FCE LTER Data Access Policy and Data User Agreement, please go to FCE Data Management Policy at http://fcelter.fiu.edu/data/DataMgmt.pdf and LTER Network Data Access Policy at http://fcelter.fiu.edu/data/core/data_user_agreement/distribution_policy.html.

Geographic Coverage

Study Extent Description
The Study Extent of this dataset includes areas near FCE Shark River Estuary, Everglades National Park, South Florida

Bounding Coordinates
Geographic description West bounding coordinate East bounding coordinate North bounding coordinate South bounding coordinate
Everglades marshes, South Florida -81.078 -81.078 25.365 25.365
Florida Coastal Everglades LTER Study Area: South Florida, Everglades National Park, and Florida Bay -81.078 -80.490 25.761 24.913

All Sites
Geographic Description Longitude Latitude
Shark River Estuary, Everglades National Park, FL US. -80.490 24.913

Temporal Coverage
Start Date:   2010-12-17
End Date:   2013-07-01

Maintenance
This is a long-term trophic dynamics and community structure dataset and subsequent data will be appended.

Dataset Contact
Position: Information Manager
Organization: Florida Coastal Everglades LTER Program
Address: Florida International University
University Park
OE 148
Miami, FL 33199 USA
Phone: 305-348-6054
Fax: 305-348-4096
Email: fcelter@fiu.edu
URL: http://fcelter.fiu.edu


Methods

Sampling Description
We captured snook using a boat-mounted, generator-powered electrofisher (two-anode, one cathode Smith-Root 9.0 unit) . Boat electrofishing is an effective sampling technique in freshwater habitats, including the Everglades, and has been used successfully to sample upper estuarine fish communities. We conducted three replicate electrofishing bouts (timed sampling transects) at fixed locations in each site, each 200 m apart. For each bout, we ran the boat at idle speed at a randomly-selected creek shoreline and applied power for 5 min of time, during which two netters captured all immobilized fishes. We standardize power output to 1500 Watts, given temperature and conductance conditions measured at the beginning of each bout.

Method Step

Description
We sampled diets via pulsed gastric lavage, a relatively non-lethal and effective sampling technique. We followed protocols found in IACUC Protocol #12-030.

Citation
Boucek, Ross E 2013-10-01. No free lunch: displaced marsh consumers regulate a prey subsidy to an estuarine consumer.. Oikos, 122(10): 1453-1464.

Protocol

Protocol Title:  Catching fish

Protocol Creator(s)
Name: Ross  Boucek 
Position: Graduate Researcher
Organization: Florida International University
Address: Florida International University
University Park
ECS 119
Miami, FL 33199 USA
Phone: 305-348-0181


Publication Date:  2013-10-01

Abstract
We captured snook using a boat-mounted, generator-powered electrofisher (two-anode, one cathode Smith-Root 9.0 unit) . Boat electrofishing is an effective sampling technique in freshwater habitats, including the Everglades, and has been used successfully to sample upper estuarine fish communities (Rehage and Loftus 2007). We conducted three replicate electrofishing bouts (timed sampling transects) at fixed locations in each site, each 200 m apart. For each bout, we ran the boat at idle speed at a randomly-selected creek shoreline and applied power for 5 min of time, during which two netters captured all immobilized fishes. We standardize power output to 1500 Watts, given temperature and conductance conditions measured at the beginning of each bout.

We captured snook using a boat-mounted, generator-powered electrofisher (two-anode, one cathode Smith-Root 9.0 unit) . Boat electrofishing is an effective sampling technique in freshwater habitats, including the Everglades, and has been used successfully to sample upper estuarine fish communities (Rehage and Loftus 2007). We conducted three replicate electrofishing bouts (timed sampling transects) at fixed locations in each site, each 200 m apart. For each bout, we ran the boat at idle speed at a randomly-selected creek shoreline and applied power for 5 min of time, during which two netters captured all immobilized fishes. We standardize power output to 1500 Watts, given temperature and conductance conditions measured at the beginning of each bout.

We captured snook using a boat-mounted, generator-powered electrofisher (two-anode, one cathode Smith-Root 9.0 unit) . Boat electrofishing is an effective sampling technique in freshwater habitats, including the Everglades, and has been used successfully to sample upper estuarine fish communities (Rehage and Loftus 2007). We conducted three replicate electrofishing bouts (timed sampling transects) at fixed locations in each site, each 200 m apart. For each bout, we ran the boat at idle speed at a randomly-selected creek shoreline and applied power for 5 min of time, during which two netters captured all immobilized fishes. We standardize power output to 1500 Watts, given temperature and conductance conditions measured at the beginning of each bout.


Keywords
Electrofishing
fish capture

Procedural Steps
Apply electric current to sampling area
net immobilized fish
place fish into a water tank on boat

Instrumentation
The gastric lavage was built in the lab using a 50 Gallon per hour bilge pump andpressure fitted tubing. The nossel tubing of the lavage is 3/8 inch in diameter.

Method Step

Description
We captured snook using a boat-mounted, generator-powered electrofisher (two-anode, one cathode Smith-Root 9.0 unit) . Boat electrofishing is an effective sampling technique in freshwater habitats, including the Everglades, and has been used successfully to sample upper estuarine fish communities. We conducted three replicate electrofishing bouts (timed sampling transects) at fixed locations in each site, each 200 m apart. For each bout, we ran the boat at idle speed at a randomly-selected creek shoreline and applied power for 5 min of time, during which two netters captured all immobilized fishes. We standardize power output to 1500 Watts, given temperature and conductance conditions measured at the beginning of each bout.

Citation
Young, Joy 2014-05-28. Spatiotemporal dynamics of spawning aggregations of common snook on the east coast of Florida.. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 505: 227-240.

Instrumentation
21' Aluminum boat fitted with a generator and other electrofishing equipment (see citation 28)

Quality Control
Employees, check entered data following standard QA/QC procedures.

Data Table
Entity Name:  SFWSC_006
Entity Description:  Trophic transfer of Everglades marsh consumer biomass to Everglades Estuaries (FCE), Everglades National Park, South Florida
Object Name:  SFWSC_006


Data Format
Number of Header Lines: 1
Attribute Orientation: column
Field Delimiter: ,

Attributes
Attribute Name Attribute Label Attribute Definition Storage Type Measurement Scale Missing Value Code
Date Collection date sampling date datetime  
Latitude_DD Latitude_DD Latitude coordinate Latitude -9999.000 (Value will never be recorded )
Longitude_DD Longitude_DD Longitude coordinate Longitude -9999.000 (Value will never be recorded )
BIOMASS_CONSUMED_PER_100_M biomass Biomass of allochthonous marsh floodplain prey consumed by common piscivores found in the estuary data Units: gram
Precision: 0.01
Number Type: real
 -9999.000 (Value will never be recorded )

 
  This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. EAR-1204762 and the United States Department of Agriculture NIFA Award Number 2012-67003-19862.
  Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.