dating from 1879 to the present are summarized. Over half of the studies were 
conducted for a period of one year or less; less than 40% between one and five years; 
and only 6% were over five years in duration. Twenty-three studies were conducted 
in Florida Bay, 17 in the Everglades estuary, 16 in southern Biscayne Bay, 14 in Card - 
Barnes Sound, 7 in the Big Cypress estuary, and five in the area of the northern coral 
reef tract. A total of 981 coastal water quality stations were identified from 47 
studies reporting specific station locations. In decreasing order, the most frequently 
measured water quality parameters from the 55 studies were salinity (87%), water 
temperature (74%), dissolved oxygen (38%), pH (26%), turbidity (11%), and 
chemical constituents (8%). A summary of variations and minimum and maximum 
values of these parameters is included. The greatest variations in salinity occur in 
Florida Bay. During the intensive drought periods of 1965-66 and 1974-75, salinities 
varied along the northern Florida Bay shoreline from 0 to 67 %o and 1 to 67 %o 
respectively. The highest coastal salinity known in the region, 70 °/oo was recorded in 
Snake Bight (Florida Bay) during the 1954 drought period. Water temperatures ranged 
between 11 and 42°C. Temperatures ranged from 11°C near the Buttonwood Canal to 
40°C over the shallow eastern Florida Bay mud flats while temperatures in southern 
Biscayne Bay varied from 11°C to about 42°C in waters near the influence of the 
Turkey Point Power Plant. Dissolved oxygen concentrations ranged from 0 to 15 ppm. 
The lowest values were recorded during peak periods of freshwater runoff in river 
headwaters and northeast Florida Bay, and in north central Florida Bay during the late 
summer dieoff of seagrasses. The highest value (15 %o) of record was observed over 
a shallow water, shoalgrass-algal community in western Florida Bay. The most 
extensive coastal dissolved oxygen analyses (diel observations) were recorded in the 
Everglades estuary. The Florida Bay waters also showed the greatest variations in 
recorded pH values. Coastal pH values ranged from 5.8 over the shallow western 
Florida Bay seagrass flats to 9.6 over the mid-bay, shallow water algal beds. These pH 
and dissolved oxygen values reflected the peak periods of respiratory and 
photosynthetic activity, respectively. Turbidities fluctuated from 0 to 73 FTU. In 
Florida Bay, turbidity ranged from 0.3 FTU, offshore in the western portions of the Bay 
and along the eastern boundary near Key Largo, to 53 - 73 FTU near the northern 
Florida Bay coastline. Consistently low values of 0 - 3 FTU were reported in the 
Everglades estuary and in southern Biscayne Bay. Several investigations reported 
chemical data for selected drainage basins. These publications give the range of 
variation, minima-maxima over occasionally very irregular sampling periods. 
Constituents of particular importance are those that have exceeded recommended 
levels which constitute a hazard in the marine environment as determined by EPA and 
include the following: NH 4 + , Al, As, Fe, Cu, Mn, Hg, F, Mg, and Ca. 
1881 - 1982 
Smith, T. J., J. H. Hudson, M. B. Robblee, G. V. N. Powell, and P. J. Isdale(1989) 
Freshwater flow from the Everglades to Florida Bay: a historical reconstruction based on 
fluorescent banding in the coral Solenastrea bournoni. Symp. on Florida Bay: A Subtropical 
Lagoon. Miami, FL. June, 1987. Bull. Mar. Sci. . 44(1 ):274-82. 
Fluorescent banding was found in a core taken from a 1-nn high colony of the coral 
Solenastrea bournoni which was growing in the Petersen Key Basin region of Florida 
Bay in 1986. Fluorescent banding in massive, hermatypic corals from the Great Barrier 
Reef, Australia, is known to result from the input of fulvic and humic compounds of 
terrestrial origin into the nearshore environment via river runoff. Relationships 
between the fluorescent banding pattern in the Solenastrea skeleton and flow in Shark 
River Slough (SRS) and Taylor Slough (TS), the two major outlets of freshwater from 
the Everglades, were investigated. These relationships were then used to hindcast flow 
for the period 1881 - 1939. In hindcasting flow in SRS, 57.2% of the variance in annual 
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