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Okefenokee Education and Research Center (OERC)
500 Kingsland Drive, Folkston, Georgia
June 28, 2005 - 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
June 29, 2005 - 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
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Research Needs/Opportunities:
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Improvements to Basin-Wide Water Resources Information and Management:
- Develop and apply consistent and comparable data collection methods
- Establish improved technique and coordination between agencies and across jurisdictions
- Ensure spatial distribution and environmental coverage
- Develop integrated land use and land cover data base: past, present, and planned
- Develop improved groundwater/surface water interaction models
- Improve predictive capabilities
Water Supply/Water Budget Issues:
- Extend hydrologic models to include climate change scenarios
- Evaluate past and potential interannual and seasonal variations
- Tie MFLs to regional changes in climate, precipitation, and sea level
- Basin-wide hydrologic model
- Extend and integrate surface and groundwater models across Florida and Georgia
- Identify and map existing land use and projected changes in water consumption
- Model impact of changes in water use on springs, biological resources, and water quality
- Extend water budget models to estuary
- Improve and standardize data collection techniques in Lower Suwannee and estuary
- Evaluate seasonal and interannual variations in estuarine mixing zones
- Assess coastal groundwater discharge and role of submarine springs
- Model tidal and freshwater interactions
Water Quality Research Gaps and Opportunities
- Evaluate natural reduction of elevated nitrate via surface/groundwater interactions
- Role of wetlands in denitrification process
- Effects of mixing of organic-carbon rich river water with ground water and reduction of nitrate due to denitrification in the aquifer during high flow conditions
- Evaluate occurrence of agricultural chemicals in groundwater, springs, river, and estuary
- Assess impact of endocrine disruptor compounds, pesticides and their degradates to aquatic system health
- Assess impact of atmospheric transport of mercury and other air-borne contaminants on human health and ecology
- Apply sediment transport algorithm to evaluate sediment transport process
- Investigate use of acoustic velocity meters as surrogate sediment indicator
- Link water quality to biogeochemical processes
- Biological interactions from micro to macro scales
- Physical and chemical interactions in water, soil and rock
- Link water quality from headwaters to estuary
- What are the minimum flows and levels needed to preserve water quality and protect ecosystem and human health?
- Investigate relations among nutrient-enriched freshwater and the health, productivity, and sustainability of the downstream and estuarine ecosystems
- Address effect of nutrient loads in Upper Suwannee on biota in the estuary
Research Opportunities in Human Health
- Endocrine disruptor chemicals and organic wastewater compounds
- Mercury methylation and accumulation in fish tissue
- Fate of nitrate in drinking water and aquatic systems
- Radionuclide occurrence in drinking water and associated health issues
- Pathogens and bacteria influx to karstic ground water during flood periods
- Elevated natural organic material and the formation of disinfection by-products
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Sources of water quality degradation:
- Atmospheric deposition (Hg)
- Concentrated animal feeding operations
- Cropland farming
- Waste disposal systems (human)
- Industrial wastes
- Land surface/land cover alterations
- Drought or other hydrologic change
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Types of contamination:
- Nitrogen & other nutrients
- Pesticides, chemical compounds and their metabolites
- Sediment load and reduced water clarity
- Toxins: mercury and organic chemicals
- Endocrine disruptor compounds
- Pathogens, Bacteria, and Parasites
- Infectious disease: Cryptosporidium parvum
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Results of water quality degradation:
- Potential human health effects
- Loss of economic base (fishery, shellfish industry, recreation, ecotourism)
- Loss of important species or habitats
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General Ecosystem Threats
- Natural environmental variation such as precipitation and temperature
- Alteration to water supply
- Pollution and disease
- Geographic constraints through land use or climate change
- Alteration of trophic dynamics (nutrient/energy transfer)
- Invasive species
Habitat Conservation Research Gaps and Opportunities
- Identify and map terrestrial and aquatic habitats
- Utilize existing data and state-of-the-art remote sensing capabilities for complete spatial coverage of basin habitats
- Map and model topographic, hydrologic, and structural features such as spring watersheds and submarine groundwater discharge
- Identify patch size, connectivity and landscape mosaic
- Identify community composition
- Evaluate natural variability within habitat
- Identify and model changing water supply on habitats
- Identify and model changing water quality
- Identify changes to habitat structure or function
- Identify impact of changing land use on habitats
- Identify and model alterations to habitat size and connectivity
- Evaluate potential habitat degradation from pollution
- Link habitat threats to species threats
- Link manatee foraging needs to sea grass mapping and monitoring
- Evaluate invasive species and loss of habitat
Threats to Species: Research Gaps and Opportunities
- Identify keystone species and functions (example is blue crab in estuary)
- Productivity and role in ecosystem balance
- Versus flagship species (charismatic)
- Versus indicator species (indicative of a specific parameter)
- Map species distribution, biodiversity and link to habitat
- Identify populations, isolation, and genetic viability
- Identify susceptibility to changes in water supply and water quality
- Identify species mobility in response to climate and other changes
- Identify vulnerable populations and interrelated populations
- Develop BMP to conserve existing viable populations
- Assess role of benthic macrofauna and algal flora
- Role in mitigating sediment surface oxygen levels
- Impacts from changing water supply, load and quality
- Role in productivity, food web and trophic levels
- Evaluate abundance, biomass, diversity, and turnover rates
- Changes to habitat structure or function
- Evaluate role of subterranean fauna (planktonic microcrustaceans)
- Evaluate populations and locations
- Assess sensitivity to groundwater perturbations
- In trophic cycle and processing of nutrients; role as WQ indicators
- Evaluate sources and cycling of nutrients in terrestrial, fresh and tidal waters
- Conduct trophodynamic forensic studies with stable isotopes
- Define nutrient sources and sinks
- Evaluate recovery and survival of endangered or threatened species
- Relate to health and function of ecosystem
- Assess efficacy of management efforts
Research Opportunities in Basin Economics
- Evaluate impact of best management practices on economy and natural resources
- Evaluate cost/benefit of agricultural practices (timing/amount of fertilizer and water)
- Develop models and evaluate scenarios for land use and economic growth
- Evaluate potential for ecotourism, impact, and value of coordinated education
- Evaluate incentives for environmentally sensitive development
- Develop and evaluate educational programs (Master Farmers Curriculum, Florida Yards and Neighborhoods, Natural/Organic Farming Techniques)
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| We look forward to seeing you at the workshop! |
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