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854
WETLANDS, Vol. 25, No. 4, December 2005, pp. 854–869
2005, The Society of Wetland Scientists
BISCAYNE BAY CONCEPTUAL ECOLOGICAL MODEL
Joan A. Browder1
, Richard Alleman2
, Susan Markley3
, Peter Ortner4
, and Patrick A. Pitts5
1 National Marine Fisheries Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami, Florida, USA 33149
2 South Florida Water Management District
3301 Gun Club Road
West Palm Beach, Florida, USA 33406
3 Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management
33 SW 2nd Ave.
Miami, Florida, USA 33130
4 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, Florida, USA 33149
5 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1339 20th St.
Vero Beach, Florida, USA 32960
Abstract: Biscayne Bay is a naturally clear-water bay that spans the length of Miami-Dade County, Florida,
USA. It is bordered on the east by barrier islands that include Miami Beach and is an almost completely
urban bay in the north and a relatively natural bay in the south. Planned water management changes in the
next few years may decrease freshwater flows to the bay from present sources, while offering reclaimed
wastewater in return. In addition, a project is planned to restore the former diffuse freshwater flow to the
bay through many small creeks crossing coastal wetlands by redistributing the water that now flows into the
bay through several large canals. To guide a science-based, adaptive-management approach to water-management planning, a conceptual ecological model of Biscayne Bay was developed based upon a series of
open workshops involving researchers familiar with Biscayne Bay. The CEM model relates ecological attributes of the bay to outside forcing functions, identified as water management, watershed development,
and sea-level rise. The model depicts the effects of these forcing functions on the ecological attributes of
the bay through four stressors. The hypothesized pathways of these effects include salinity patterns, water
quality, sediment contaminant concentrations, and physical impacts. Major research questions were identified
with regard to uncertainties explicit in the model. The issues addressed include, for example (1) the quantitative relationship between upstream water management, rainfall, and flow into Biscayne Bay; (2) the
salinity gradient required to restore the historical estuarine fish community; (3) the potential effect of freshwater inputs on benthic habitats; (4) the effect of introduced nutrient and contaminant loads, including the
effects of reclaimed wastewater.
Key Words: Biscayne Bay, seagrass, dolphins, manatees, fish, pink shrimp, water quality, coastal wetlands,
freshwater inflow
BACKGROUND
Biscayne Bay (Figure 1) is a naturally clear-water
bay with tropically enriched flora and fauna. Prior to
the development of Miami-Dade County, Florida,
USA, much of the bay was bordered by mangroves
and, otherwise, with herbaceous wetlands. The bay
was once connected to the Greater Everglades ecosystem hydrologically through tributaries, sloughs, and
ground-water flow. It possessed not only a marine habitat and fauna but also a substantial area of estuarine
habitat and associated fauna. Because of the bay’s
shallow depths and naturally clear waters, its productivity is largely benthic-based (Roessler and Beardsley
EXHIBIT 7
Browder et al., Biscayne Bay CEM 855
Figure 1. Boundary of the Biscayne Bay Conceptual Ecological Model.
EXHIBIT 7
856 WETLANDS, Volume 25, No. 4, 2005
Figure 2. Biscayne Bay Conceptual Ecological Model Diagram.
1974). Benthic communities in the central and southern bay (i.e., south of the Rickenbacker Causeway)
consist of several species of seagrasses, a mix of soft
and hard corals, attached macroalgae and sponges, and
coral-algal bank fringes that alternate in dominance in
different areas. Benthic communities in northern Biscayne Bay are dominated by seagrasses intermixed in
some cases with calcareous green algae. Parts of the
bay are afforded various levels of state or federal protection, being designated or contained within MiamiDade County Aquatic Park, Florida Aquatic Preserve,
Outstanding Florida Water, Outstanding National Resource Water, Florida Surface Water Improvement and
Management Priority Water Body, Biscayne National
Park, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and
Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Biscayne Bay is one of several south Florida estuaries that will be affected by the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) and its 68 individual
projects. The selected plan, as described in the 1999
document (USACE and SFWMD 1999), contains provisions that will affect the sources, amount, and therefore quantity and quality of fresh water that Biscayne
Bay receives, as well as the timing and location of
flow. The specific projects likely to affect the bay most
directly are the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project, the C-111 Spreader Project, the South Dade Waste
Water Reuse Project, the L31-N Seepage Management