The Role of Mathematical Models is Restoring the Everglades of Florida
by
Hussam Al-Rabaiah
Tafilah Technical University
Coauthors: Ali Otaiwi

The everglades of Florida, USA, is a mosaic of urban, agricultural, marsh and forest habitats in a vast neotropical wetland, with a pattern that has been altered by water management vie canals, levees, and water control structures. The Everglades system is a countless interconnected system of rivers, creeks, lakes, marshes, prairies, forests and estuaries.

The Everglades is often referred to as a marsh, a wetland, a region, a river, a watershed, an ecosystem. In hydrologic terms, the everglades is a watershed - a land area that delivers runoff water, sediment and dissolved substances to a major river and its tributaries.

South Florida is facing series challenges due to the rapidly increasing population and the increasing awareness of the unique ecosystem in the area. (e.g. Everglades).

To provide decision makers and water managers with objective , high quality advice on scientific and engineering issues pertaining to understanding, preserving and restoring the fauna and flora of the Everglades ecosystem, a management strategies need to be planned. in the process of developing management strategies for long-term protection and restoration of the Florida Everglades ecosystem, there is a clear need for a "predictive" methodology to allow evaluation of future water quality responses under alternative management scenarios. mathematical models are widely accepted as providing the means to evaluate such response. a key advantage of numerical models is their ability to delineate the cause-end-effect relationships, allowing the environmental manager to identify, target, and control problem sources by location and magnitude.

in this paper, a critical review on some ecological modeling efforts on the Everglades restoration in recent years. Many organizations and programs are dependent on scientific knowledge and more accurate models for restoring the Everglades ecosystem. these includes federal, state, and local agencies,Native American tribal government, as well as private organization.

some major models including the US Geological Surveys' (USGS) Across Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS) which provides models for assessing effects of greater Everglades restoration hydrologic scenarios on indicator species and key biotic components. Further, the Everglades Landscape Model (ELM) which is a regional-scale, integrated ecological assessment tool designed to understand and predict the landscape response to differ water management scenarios in south Florida.

A smaller scale models such as efish, which study the effect of hydroperiods on the fish population in the Everglades. Other ecological models which study the effect of toxicant (such as PCB's & Mercury) on the aquatic ecosystem are reviewed.

PDF

Date received: February 7, 2007