SFCN Mangrove-Marsh Ecotone Monitoring Vegetation Data Package - Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park

This data was collected as part of a sampling protocol to monitor ecotonal movement of mangroves and upslope freshwater marshes in Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. Remote sensing approaches are used to delineate the physical location of the ecotone (boundaries) between mangroves and freshwater marsh. Fourteen 3 kilometer (1.9 mile [mi]) segments are systematically placed along the ecotone within the two parks. Aerial imagery is used to digitize the mangrove-marsh ecotone in each segment and must be 1 meter (3.3 feet [ft]) or better resolution and have positional accuracy of ± 3 meters (9.8 feet [ft]) or better. Four ground-truth field point locations (marker points) are established approximately 1 kilometer (0.62 miles [mi]) apart along the ecotone of each segment to provide field-based measurements and ground-truthing of the digitized line. Vegetation data is collected at each sampling point, with this vegetation coverage determining where the placement of the ecotone should be. generally, this is where mangrove cover drops below 50% cover. The vegetation data also verifies if it is mangroves (typical Red) that is the dominant tree on the tress side of the ecotonal edge. The vegetation data also indicated the dominant graminoid on the more inland side of the ecotone. We have found 3 major groups for the marsh dominant vegetation type. This could be important mitigating factor or a indicator of future conditions.

NOTE - Data for this data release was pulled from the mangrove marsh ecotone database and preliminarily cleaned and organized in May 2025. The data should undergo further QAQC before being used in analysis.