1931 - 1946, 1974 - 1989 
Ogden, J. C. (1994) A comparison of wading bird nesting colony dynamics (1931 - 1946 
and 1974 - 1989) as an indication of ecosystem conditions in the southern Everglades. In: 
Everglades: The Ecosystem and Its Restoration . S. M. Davis and J. C. Ogden (eds.) St. Lucie 
Press, Delray Beach, FL. 
Patterns of nesting for five species of colonial wading birds (Ciconiiformes) in the 
central and southern Everglades in Florida were compared between two separate 
periods: an early drainage period (1931 - 46) and a late drainage period (1974 - 89). 
Parameters examined during the two periods were: (1) numbers of birds nesting in 
each colony, (2) locations of colonies, (3) timing and nesting, and (4) colony success. 
The five species analyzed were: great egret ( Casmerodius albus), tricolored heron 
(Egretta tricolor), snowy egret ( Egretta thula), white ibis ( Eudocimus albus), and wood 
stork ( Mycteria americana). These analyses were conducted to show changes in 
patterns of nesting between periods and to examine how theses changes may have been 
caused by broader scale changes in hydrological patterns. A more complete, recent 
colony database (1953 - 89) for wood storks was also examined to supplement these 
analyses. The total number of nesting wading birds declined from a peak of 180,000 - 
245,000 birds (1933 - 34) in the early period to a peak of 50,000 birds (1976) in the 
recent period. For all species, except the wood stork, the locations of the largest 
colonies changed between periods from a headwaters subregion located at the lower end 
of the Shark River Slough to a central Everglades subregion located north of Everglades 
National Park. Timing of nesting remained largely unchanged between periods, except 
for the wood stork, which shifted the average time of colony initiation from early 
December to late January. The best colony success data were for storks, which showed 
a change from 7 successful nesting years out of 9 years from 1953 to 1961 to 6 
successful years out of 28 from 1962 to 1989. Reductions in the number of nesting 
birds and changes in the location of major colonies appear to correlate with the 
reduction in the total area of wetland foraging habitat, an increased frequency of 
extensive dry outs in the lower Shark River Slough marshes, and the relocation of the 
longer hydroperiod marshes into the Water Conservation Area impoundments. Changes 
in timing of nesting by wood storks and the reduction in stork reproductive effort and 
colony success rate appear to correlate with a loss in food resources in the early dry 
season foraging habitats, located in the higher elevation freshwater marshes that flank 
the major sloughs and in the extensive mainland estuaries. Restoration of more natural 
patterns of colonial wading bird nesting will require substantial increases in volumes of 
water flowing into the southern Everglades, re-establishment of longer hydroperiods in 
the higher elevation marshes, increased flows into the mainland estuaries, and re¬ 
establishment of nearly permanent flooding in the deeper central sloughs. 
1913 - 1986 
Maul, G. A., and D. M. Martin (1993) Sea level rise at Key West, Florida, 1846-1992: 
America's longest instrument record? Geophvs. Res. Lett. . 20(18): 1955-8. 
The continuous series of sea level at Key West, Florida commenced in 1913, but we 
have discovered sporadic measurements that date back to 1846. From records at the 
US Army Corps of Engineers and the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the sea level 
series has been connected to a Summary (common) Datum. Thus, a gappy record of 
monthly and annual mean heights (H[t]), perhaps the United States longest series over 
San Francisco (ca. 1854) or New York (ca. 1856), can be tested to ascertain if the rise 
in relative sea level at this site is stationary. Applying first and second order least 
squares and two-phase regression analyses, we find that dH/dt is 0.19 ± 0.01 cm yr' 1 , 
and that d 2 H/dt 2 = [9.6 ± 8.6] 10' 3 cm yr' 2 ; the two-phase regression shows H[t] 
rising 0.15 ± 0.03 cm yr' 1 before ca. 1925 and 0.23 ± 0.01 cm yr* 1 afterwards. 
Neither the second-order regression coefficient nor d 2 H/dt 2 nor the two-phase 
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