RECOVER MAP 3.2.3.5 and 3.2.4.5 South Florida Fish and Invertebrate Assessment Network (FIAN)

The South Florida Seagrass Fish and Invertebrate Assessment Network (FIAN) is an element of the Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP) a part of RECOVER, the Restoration, Coordination and Verification Program of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). FIAN is an element of the Southern Coastal System module of MAP (MAP activities 3.2.3.5 and 3.2.4.5). FIAN monitors seagrass-associated fish and invertebrate (penaeid and caridean shrimp and crabs) communities present in shallow waters of South Florida; the pink shrimp, Farfantepenaeus duorarum, as an indicator of restoration success, is a species of special interest. FIAN represents the first region-wide view of these communities and the pink shrimp.

The FIAN monitoring component of the Southern Estuaries module of MAP is designed to support the four broad objectives of MAP: (1) to establish a pre-CERP reference state, including variability, for each of the performance measures; (2) to determine the status and trends in the performance measures; (3) to detect unexpected responses of the ecosystem to changes in stressors resulting from CERP activities; and (4) to support scientific investigations designed to increase ecosystem understanding, cause-and-effect, and interpretation of unanticipated results.

The data developed in FIAN will be used to evaluate the success of CERP by contributing to the assessment of the estuarine response to restoration-related modifications to upstream hydrology in the freshwater Everglades. At present, FIAN provides input to the pink shrimp performance measure (RECOVER, 2004; SFWMD 2005). The pink shrimp emerged as an ecosystem attribute to be monitored from the Florida and Biscayne Bay conceptual ecological models. More generally these data will be used to relate seagrass-associated faunal communities to habitat and environmental conditions in South Florida shallow water estuaries.

FIAN is closely coupled with the MAP seagrass monitoring project FHAP-SF and other seagrass monitoring programs in South Florida, e.g. DERM. Close coupling with seagrass monitoring recognizes the importance of shallow seagrass systems to the function of coastal waters and their vulnerability to anthropogenic change. Estuaries downstream from CERP projects will be affected by changes in the quantity, timing, and distribution of freshwater inflows. Associated changes in estuarine salinity regimes and subsequent, long-term, changes in benthic vegetation are anticipated. We hypothesize that abundance and diversity of seagrass-associated fish and invertebrates including the pink shrimp in nearshore waters of South Florida will increase as the overlap of favorable salinity conditions with favorable seagrass/algal habitat increase.

南佛罗里达海草鱼类与无脊椎动物评估网络（FIAN）隶属于监测与评估计划（MAP），而MAP是大沼泽地综合修复计划（CERP）下设的修复协调与验证计划RECOVER的组成部分。FIAN同时属于MAP的南部沿海系统模块，对应MAP活动编号3.2.3.5与3.2.4.5。该网络针对南佛罗里达浅水区内的海草伴生鱼类及无脊椎动物（包括对虾科、长臂虾科虾类与蟹类）群落开展监测；其中作为修复成功与否指示物种的粉红虾（Farfantepenaeus duorarum）是其重点关注对象。FIAN首次实现了对该类群落与粉红虾的全域观测视角。

MAP南部河口模块下设的FIAN监测组分，旨在支撑MAP的四大核心目标：（1）为每项绩效指标建立CERP实施前的参考状态（包含其波动特征）；（2）明确各项绩效指标的现状与变化趋势；（3）识别生态系统对CERP活动引发的胁迫因子变化产生的非预期响应；（4）支撑相关科学研究，以加深对生态系统的认知、厘清因果关系并解读非预期观测结果。

FIAN生成的数据将用于评估CERP的实施成效，具体方式为辅助评估淡水大沼泽地上游水文修复改造对河口生态系统的影响。当前，FIAN已为粉红虾绩效指标提供数据支撑（RECOVER，2004；南佛罗里达水资源管理区（SFWMD），2005）。粉红虾作为生态监测对象，源自佛罗里达与比斯坎湾的概念生态模型。从更广泛的应用场景来看，这些数据将用于关联南佛罗里达浅海河口的海草伴生动物群落与栖息地及环境条件之间的关系。

FIAN与MAP下属的FHAP-SF海草监测项目及南佛罗里达其他海草监测项目（如DERM）深度联动。这种与海草监测的紧密结合，体现了浅海草甸生态系统对近岸水域功能的重要性，以及其对人为活动变化的脆弱性。CERP项目下游的河口将受到淡水输入量、时序与分布变化的影响，预计河口盐度格局及后续长期底栖植被状态将发生相应改变。本研究提出假设：南佛罗里达近岸水域中，包括粉红虾在内的海草伴生鱼类与无脊椎动物的丰度及多样性，将随适宜盐度条件与适宜海草/藻类栖息地的重叠范围扩大而提升。