Determining Target Salinity Values for Restoration of the Estuaries of the Greater Everglades

The primary objective of this project is to provide information to Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) managers that can be used to establish target salinity values and performance measures for the estuaries and coastal ecosystems. The information provided will consider the contribution of climate, sea level rise, and anthropogenic alteration of salinity values in the estuaries and coastal ecosystems.

The four areas of focus for the project are:

1. Refine existing modern analog dataset by completing analyses of modern samples collected between 1996 and 2004 and applying the data to core data compiled in the Synthesis Task
2. Collect new cores (if necessary) within the southern estuaries to fill in information gaps identified by the land management agencies (Everglades National Park (ENP), and Biscayne National Park (BNP) and the Southern Estuaries Subteam of the Regional Evaluation Team (RET) of Restoration Coordination and Verification (RECOVER)
3. Select a few sites in the transition zones to collect cores in a transect moving perpendicular to shore to analyze the rate of sea level rise in the region
4. Work with collaborators to input all of the combined paleoecology data into linear regression models that can hindcast salinity for different parts of the system