South Florida Water Management District (Fla )

The vulnerability of prey to capture plays a fundamental role in determining
overall prey availability for wading birds. Structural complexity can act to decrease prey
vulnerability and influence foraging habitat selection. To determine how structural
complexity can affect habitat selection I conducted a use vs. availability study throughout
the Florida Everglades in 2005 and 2006. Results indicated that wading birds chose
foraging sites that had less emergent vegetation and a thicker flocculent layer relative to
random sites. Submerged vegetation, and the height of emergent vegetation did not
affect wading bird site selection. A difference in habitat selection between years was
evident due to hydrological conditions. Ideal hydrological conditions are probably the
most important parameter to wading bird success. Other factors affecting prey
vulnerability became increasingly important in years of poor hydrology, probably
because the penalty for choosing low quality foraging habitat would be greater than in
years of more optimal conditions.

This study investigated flow patterns in the FAS and tested Kohout's theory of "cyclic flow" in the vicinity of Naples, Florida. Temperature logs were analyzed to identify a reverse geothermal gradient in the Floridan aquifer system. The geochemical analysis consisted of inorganics (major cations and anions), stable isotopes (2H, 18O), radiocarbon (14C), and noble gas (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) data. The temperature logs were inconclusive in identifying a reverse geothermal gradient in the study area. The geochemical analysis suggests that within the FAS relatively old meteoric freshwater circulates in the UFA over relatively young seawater of the MCU and LFA. The analysis also supports the possibility of vertical flow from the LFA to the UFA in the study area along with ancient meteoric recharge into the UFA during the last glacial period. The study was inconclusive in identifying "cyclic flow" in the study area.