ABSTRACT
The Florida Everglades is a vast subtropical wetland that now extends from the headwaters north of Lake Okeechobee, through a network of canals and storm water treatment areas (STAs), eventually into Everglades National Park (ENP) and the estuaries of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico (Fig. 1). Although the Everglades system was historically nearly twice as large, connecting directly to Lake Okeechobee to the north and fl owing freely to the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, now the Everglades is a managed system surrounded by control structures
1 Harvard Drive, Lake Worth, FL 33460, USA. Email: adgottlieb71@gmail.com 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International
University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. a Email: gaisere@fi u.edu b Email: slee017@fi u.edu * Corresponding author
of dikes, levees and pumps. Agricultural and urban development and corresponding change in historic spatial extent and connectivity of the Everglades, combined with infrastructure and water management operations, shape the drivers of structure and function of periphyton communities throughout the Everglades landscape (Ogden et al. 2005; Firbank et al. 2003). This chapter describes observed responses of periphyton structure and function to water management-driven changes in hydrology, phosphorus (P) cycling, and conductivity in the Florida Everglades.
