University of Florida Ecohydrology Lab

Springs and Karst Rivers

North Florida is springs country, with the highest density of 1st magnitude springs on Earth. All are special places, woven into the fabric of life in Florida in ways that make their protection of paramount public importance. Their environmental properties (unparalleled thermal, discharge, and chemical stability; extraordinarily clear water) also make them remarkable model systems. Silver River, for example, is the iconic venue of some of the most important early studies in aquatic ecosystem science. The broad declines in the ecological condition of springs is a grand management challenge at the nexus of water quantity and quality, invasion and disturbance ecology, and restoration decision making. Our research emphasizes fundamental knowledge to support practical management and restoration decision making.

Wetlandscapes

Complex mosaics of low-relief uplands and embedded (geographically isolated) wetlands are among the most important coastal plain landscapes, serving as the headwaters of regionally significant river systems, and thus deeply connected to the health of inland and coastal waters. Embedded wetlands, by virtue of being small and not always obviously hydrologically connected, are now, since the Sackett decision, unprotected by US Federal laws. This is despite clear and compelling evidence that they provide a wide array of critical landscape and watershed functions, and, indeed, are connected frequently and meaningfully. The portfolio of hydrological and habitat functions from wetlandscapes depend on this distributed, episodically connected storage. Our goal is to understand these landscapes so we can better protect and restore their functions.

Forests and Water

Forests are widely considered to be the most protective land cover for water quality and habitat protection goals, even when those forests are actively managed for wood products (timber, pulp, resin). Our research focuses on the role of forest management in water quantity and quality at regional scales, with an emphasis on best management practices for forest operations to ensure effective stewardship of the water in, under, and flowing out from managed forests.

Metabolism and Nutrient Limitation in Flowing Waters

Metabolism describes the energy fluxes that sustain life, in organisms and ecosystems. In flowing waters, the metabolic fluxes of primary production (P) and respiration (R) can be estimated from the temporal variation in dissolved oxygen, a method pioneered in Florida’s spring-fed rivers. Using modern high frequency sensors and modeling tools, we now can explore metabolism in far more places, and for far longer periods than ever before, enabling new insights about metabolic regimes, or the temporal and spatial patterns of metabolic variation. One important aspect of metabolism research is understanding the role of nutrient supply in controlling energy fluxes. Nutrients are enriched globally as a consequence of human activities (agriculture, wastewater disposal), with well known impacts on ecological processes and integrity. We seek to better understand nutrient effects in flowing waters in an effort to guide restoration practices and regulatory interventions.