Welcome...

...to this site. It's intended to be a clearinghouse for information pertaining to the sustainable management of the urbanizing forest within the Tampa Bay Watershed. Please check out the various links found on this site and if you have content that you would like to add please e-mail Rob Northrop, Dr. Michael Andreu, or Shawn Landry.

Hydrology and Ecology of Freshwater Wetlands in Central Florida—A Primer

Baltimore Ecosystem Study

Beyond the Pristine – an editorial in Nature (International weekly journal of science)

By Kim H. Haag and Terrie M. Lee (2010)
This report, from the U.S. Geological Survey, provides an authoritative introduction to freshwater wetlands in central Florida.

Statewide, 90 percent of the total wetland area is freshwater wetlands and 10 percent is coastal wetlands. About 55 percent of the freshwater wetlands in Florida are forested, 25 percent are marshes and emergent wetlands, 18 percent are scrub-shrub wetlands, and the remaining 2 percent are freshwater ponds.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1342/

National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research Site for the Study of Urban Ecosystem - This study conducts research on metropolitan Baltimore as an ecological system.

The program integrates biological, physical, and social sciences. As a part of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research Network, BES seeks to understand how urban ecosystems change over time.

http://www.beslter.org/index.html

“About half of [the] 77% of Earth's surface is in direct use by humans for agriculture and urban development. The other half is marked by past human influences… Nevertheless, these alternative states are often species-rich, energetically productive and vigorous providers of ecosystem services.”

In other words, Earth's disturbed ecosystems have much more to offer than many would give them credit for. (More...)