Periphyton, hydrological and environmental data in a coastal freshwater wetland (FCE), Florida Everglades National Park, USA (2014-2015)

The characteristic, calcareous periphyton mats of the Everglades, and particularly their diatom assemblages, provide an ideal community to study the patterns and mechanisms of community assembly along environmental gradients with ecotones. Understanding patterns and mechanisms of diatom community assembly along salinity and P gradients can be incorporated into tools for predicting changes in these gradients, and the location and movement of the "white zone" ecotone, caused by saltwater intrusion and water management outcomes in the Southern Everglades. Patterns of environmental variation and periphytic-diatom community structure along the freshwater-marine gradient of Everglades National Park, FL., USA were examined by sampling along a series of 7 transects extending from oligotrophic, freshwater marshes through the ecotone and down to the northern edge of the fringing mangrove forests. Seven transects spanning the west-east extent of the southeast Everglades, from the Main Park Road in the west to the Model Lands in the east, were sampled once in the dry season (May) and once in the wet season (November) of 2014 and 2015. These data are published in "Mazzei and Gaiser. 2018. Diatoms as tools for inferring ecotone boundaries in a coastal freshwater wetland threatened by saltwater intrusion. Ecological Indicators. 88:190-204."

美国佛罗里达大沼泽地（Everglades）特有的钙质周丛生物垫（calcareous periphyton mats），尤其是其中的硅藻（diatom）群落，为研究存在生态交错带（ecotone）的环境梯度下的群落构建（community assembly）模式与机制提供了理想的研究载体。
明晰盐度（salinity）与磷（P，phosphorus）梯度下的硅藻群落构建模式与机制，可用于构建相关预测工具，以研判此类梯度的变化，以及佛罗里达大沼泽南部因盐水入侵与水资源管理措施所引发的“白色带”生态交错带的位置与迁移动态。
针对美国佛罗里达州（FL.）大沼泽地国家公园淡水-海洋环境梯度上的环境变异模式与周丛硅藻（periphytic-diatom）群落结构，研究团队通过布设7条样带（transects）开展采样分析：样带从贫营养（oligotrophic）淡水沼泽（freshwater marshes）出发，途经生态交错带，直至沿岸红树林（fringing mangrove forests）的北部边界。
覆盖大沼泽地东南部东西向范围的7条样带，西起公园主路（Main Park Road），东至东部模型用地，分别于2014年与2015年的旱季（5月）及湿季（11月）各开展一次采样。
本数据集相关研究成果已发表于：Mazzei和Gaiser，2018年。《硅藻作为推断受盐水入侵威胁的滨海淡水湿地生态交错带边界的工具》，《生态指标（Ecological Indicators）》，第88卷：190-204页。