Everglades National Park Freshwater Aquatics Monitoring

Jeff Kline

Everglades National Park

South Florida Natural Resources Center

• Preserve flora and fauna in a natural state. (1934 Everglades Establishment Act)

• Maintain natural abundance, diversity, and ecological integrity of native plants and animals.

(1989 Everglades National Park Expansion Act)

Invasive Species Programs

Everglades National Park’s

Mandates:

Invasive Species Programs

Timeline of introduced fishes entering ENP

Sta

ge

(ft

)

1

2

3

4

5

6 L-31W canal stage

Year

1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

No

. o

f in

tro

du

ce

d s

pe

cie

s

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Water management

change begins

late 1999

Canal bank elevation

1960-1980Black acara

Walking catfish

Blue tilapia

Mayan cichlid

Peacock bass

Mozambique tilapia

Jaguar guapote & African jewelfish

Brown hoplo

Sailfin catfish

& Banded cichlid

Pike killifish

Oscar

Spotted tilapia

Spotfinned spinyeel

Canal overflow into marsh

Asian swamp eel

• Generally species lists

• 16 species of non-native fish

• Pomacea insularum and P. diffusa-2005

• Misc other aquatic invertebrates

Priority Animal Species

• Priority Animals

– The most recent introductions

– Most abundant

– And those not in ENP yet!

• Newly Detected Animal Species

– Vermiculated Sailfin Catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus)

Image by Windser Aguirre

Fiscal Year Treatments: Cold weather 2010

Monitoring • Fish monitoring

– Park-wide sample-Annually – Monthly Rocky Glades – Long-term monitoring – Other monitoring efforts-

Cooperators – Misc observations

• Non-native apple snail

– Pomacea insularum • Old Tamiami Canal survey

every 8-10 days • May 2005-April 2010 • May 2010-Once per month

– P. diffusa at Frog City – Annual survey of border canals

Monitoring: Misc observations

Monitoring: Temperature stations

Monitoring

Peacock bass-15 oC

Oscar-12.9 oC

Jaguar guapote-12.0 oC

Spotted tilapia-11.2 oC

Walking catfish-9.8 oC

Pike killifish-9.7 oC

African jewelfish-9.5 oC

Mayan cichlid-9.0 oC

Sailfin catfish-9.0 oC

Black acara-8.9 oC

Asian swamp eel-8.0 oC

Blue tilapia-6.2 oC

Brown hoplo-5.7 oC

Date

Wa

ter

tem

pera

ture

(oC

)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24 OT bottom

P35 Surface

P36 bottom

NP206 bottom

L31W bottom

1/1/

2010

1/2/

2010

1/3/

2010

1/4/

2010

1/5/

2010

1/6/

2010

1/7/

2010

1/8/

2010

1/9/

2010

1/10

/201

0

1/11

/201

0

1/12

/201

0

1/13

/201

0

1/14

/201

0

1/15

/201

0

Monitoring: Misc observations Rotala rotundifolia

“Uncertain if it will spread from the canal to other areas…but anywhere you see Bacopa, you could expect it to establish”

L-29 Canal

S-334

S-333

Monitoring

Island apple snail

Pomacea insularum

2008 L-29 Canal

S-334

S-333

Monitoring

2009 L-29 Canal

S-334

S-333

Island apple snail

Pomacea insularum

Monitoring

2010 L-29 Canal

S-334

S-333

2010 L-29 Canal

S-334

S-333

Island apple snail

Pomacea insularum

P.insularum egg masses

Marsh survey points (no eggs)

Canals

ENP boundary

L-29 Canal S-333 S-334

Needs & Gaps

• Prevention is key with fish and aquatic inverts!

• Non-native species must be considered when designing water management changes

– Non-native species are “bio-pollution”.

– Study alternative ways of delivering water without delivering non-native species.

– Restore unnatural habitats

• How do we work better with external management agencies with different mandates and objectives to meet our mandates?

Questions?