distribution via food-web relationships, and diverse multispecies interactions at the 
population and community levels, form the basis of ecosystem-level changes that 
remain imcomprehensible when subjected to limited sampling efforts. Comparative 
studies indicate that individual estuarine and coastal systems are unique in terms of 
how these common factors interact and respond to natural and anthropogenous 
disturbance; hence, another level of complexity is added via problems of interpretation 
and extrapolation of research results. Without adequate, long-term, interdisciplinary 
studies, properly scaled to answer questions not yet asked, resource management 
becomes a haphazard, crisis-oriented process that ultimately has one final outcome; 
the reduction or loss of the natural resource base as a result of the cumulative impacts 
of various anthropogenic activities. Even if the scientific data base is adequate for an 
understanding of basic system functions, and even if the data are held in a form that 
facilitates appropriate analysis on a continuing basis, there is no guarantee that the 
data will be applied to questions involving long-term planning and resource management. 
It is at this stage (i.e., the application of basic scientific findings to complex resource 
management questions) that most important unresolved problems remain in terms of 
management initiatives. A major ecosystem, such as Florida Bay, is composed of 
multitudinous factors that resemble the individual strands of a fine tapestry; in this 
case, the tapestry changes continuously in an episodic, kaleidoscopic fashion. Most 
ecosystem research is carried out in patchwork-quilt fashion, with 6 months of data 
here, 12 months of data there, in the hope that someone can stick it all together and 
make sense out of the results. The problems that result from this approach reflect the 
basic differences between a patchwork quilt and a fine tapestry. In terms of money and 
time spent for research, the patchwork quilt approach is both inefficient and 
scientifically unsatisfactory. This method also encourages the mindless generation of 
monitoring data, the so-called 'sorcerer's apprentice* approach to ecological studies. 
There is ample evidence that the patchwork-quilt proponents, who dominate in today's 
scientific world, are in part responsible for the wholesale deterioration of natural 
ecosystems, both in Florida, a rapidly developing state, and the nation as a whole. The 
reason is that, although a scientific database by itself cannot solve the important 
environmental problems of the world, without such data and an enlightened use of the 
results, habitat deterioration becomes a certainty. 
1989. 0 
Ludwig, G. M., J. E. Skjeveland, N. A. Funicelli, H. E. Bryant, D. A. Meineke, L. J. Mengel, 
and M. R. Dewey (1989) Survival of Florida Bay fish tagged with internally anchored 
spaghetti tags. Symp. on Florida Bay: A Subtropical Lagoon. Miami, FL. June, 1987. Bull. 
Mar. Sci. . 44(1 ):518. 
[ABSTRACT ONLY, DATE OF SAMPLING UNKNOWN OR NOT APPLICABLE.] Experimental 
studies to determine the short term survivability of tagged white (Mugil curema) and 
striped mullet ( M. cephalus), spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), and gray snapper 
(Lutjanus griseus), captured in the marine waters or Everglades National Park were 
performed. Survival was found to be related to the method of fish capture. Striped 
mullet mortality rates were: 16% for fish caught by commercial purse seines; 33.3% 
for those caught by gill nets; and 0% for those caught by trammel nets. White mullet, 
which were all caught with gill nets, had mortality rates of 77.4% while gray snapper 
was 0%. Mortality of spotted seatrout was 45.% for fish caught in nets and 5% for 
fish caught by angling. 
1989 0 
Merriam, D. F. (1989) Overview of the geology of Florida Bay, review of recent 
developments. Symp. on Florida Bay: A Subtropical Lagoon. Miami, FL. June, 1987. Bull, 
Mar. Sci, 44(1):519. 
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