Paleosalinity as a Key for Success Criteria in South Florida Restoration

The objectives of this project are to 1) test and develop the methodology for extracting water chemistry information from selected calcareous shelled animals that grow within the water; 2) develop an understanding of the biology of the selected organisms so that the water chemistry data extracted from the shells can be put in temporal context; and 3) to apply this information to shells found in soft sediment cores that span the last 100-300 years of South Florida history in order to determine the seasonal variation in salinity and water sources prior to significant human alteration of the environment.