Application of Chlorophyll and Carotenoid Pigments for the Chemotaxonomic Assessment of Seston, Periphyton, and Cyanobacterial Mats of Lake Okeechobee, Florida

Restoration and enhancement of Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades requires a comprehensive approach to manage agricultural runoff. The Florida Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Act of 1987 was promulgated to develop and implement plans for protecting Florida waters. The South Florida Water Management District was directed by Florida legislature to develop management plans for Lake Okeechobee (SWIM) and the Everglades ecosystem (Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Protection Act of 1991). These plans require agriculture to implement best management practices (BMPs) to reduce runoff phosphorus (P) loads. The Lake Okeechobee SWIM plan established a P load reduction target for Lake Okeechobee and set P concentration limitations for runoff from non-point source agricultural sources. Agricultural water users in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) are required to develop farm management plans to reduce P loads from the basin by 25%. The Everglades Forever Act of 1994 additionally emphasized linkage of these landscapes and consequent protection and restoration of the Everglades. Agricultural BMPs are being developed and implemented to comply with water management, environmental, and regulatory standards. Although BMPs are improving runoff water quality, additional research is necessary to obtain the best combination of BMPs for individual farms. This paper summarizes the development of comprehensive water management in south Florida and the agricultural BMPs carried out to meet regulatory requirements for Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.

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A Performance-Based Regulatory Program for Phosphorus Control to Prevent the Accelerated Eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee, Florida

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1993.0399 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 28 (3-5) ◽

pp. 13-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Alan L. Goldstein ◽

Gary J. Ritter

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Field Studies ◽

South Florida ◽

Lake Okeechobee ◽

Cost Share ◽

Scientific Application ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Regulatory Program ◽

A Performance

Following 15 years of data collection, field studies, and modeling efforts, the State of Florida in 1987 legislatively mandated the South Florida Water Management District, a regional water management agency, to create and implement a plan to reduce average annual inputs of total phosphorus to Lake Okeechobee by 40 percent. One element of the resulting plan was the creation and implementation of a performance-based regulatory program that set phosphorus discharge limitations for all parcels of land equal to or greater than 1/2 acre in size in almost all of the 1,735,000 acres of the lake's 31 tributary drainage basins. Owners of non-complying parcels are required to take measures to bring the parcels into compliance. This regulatory program, coupled with concurrent cost-share incentive programs and ongoing research efforts, has resulted in a decrease in phosphorus concentrations from individual properties and at some tributary discharge locations to the lake. This effort demonstrates that where there is sufficient historical information, scientific application of state-of-the-art modeling techniques, a political will, and appropriate powers vested in the institutions to take and enforce actions, such programs can be implemented and have positive effects on reducing non-point source pollutants.

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Biologically active micro-gradients in cyanobacterial mats of Antarctic lakes and streams

SIL Proceedings 1922-2010 ◽

10.1080/03680770.1992.11900289 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 948-952 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

J. C. Ellis-Evans ◽

P. R. Bayliss

Keyword(s):

Biologically Active ◽

Cyanobacterial Mats ◽

Antarctic Lakes

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Cyanobacterial Mats in Calcite-Precipitating Serpentinite-Hosted Alkaline Springs of the Voltri Massif, Italy

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms9010062 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 62

Author(s):

Aysha Kamran ◽

Kathrin Sauter ◽

Andreas Reimer ◽

Theresa Wacker ◽

Joachim Reitner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Microbial Mats ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Cyanobacterial Mats ◽

Cyanobacterial Community ◽

Mineral Precipitation ◽

Community Based ◽

Specific Adaptation ◽

Carbonate Buildups ◽

Generation Sequencing

(1) Background: Microbial communities in terrestrial, calcifying high-alkaline springs are not well understood. In this study, we investigate the structure and composition of microbial mats in ultrabasic (pH 10–12) serpentinite springs of the Voltri Massif (Italy). (2) Methods: Along with analysis of chemical and mineralogical parameters, environmental DNA was extracted and subjected to analysis of microbial communities based upon next-generation sequencing. (3) Results: Mineral precipitation and microbialite formation occurred, along with mat formation. Analysis of the serpentinite spring microbial community, based on Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons, point to the relevance of alkaliphilic cyanobacteria, colonizing carbonate buildups. Cyanobacterial groups accounted for up to 45% of all retrieved sequences; 3–4 taxa were dominant, belonging to the filamentous groups of Leptolyngbyaceae, Oscillatoriales, and Pseudanabaenaceae. The cyanobacterial community found at these sites is clearly distinct from creek water sediment, highlighting their specific adaptation to these environments.

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Diversified calcimicrobes in dendrolites of the Zhangxia Formation, Miaolingian Series (Middle Cambrian) of the North China craton

Journal of Palaeogeography ◽

10.1186/s42501-021-00087-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ming-Xiang Mei ◽

Muhammad Riaz ◽

Zhen-Wu Zhang ◽

Qing-Fen Meng ◽

Yuan Hu

Keyword(s):

North China ◽

Cyanobacterial Mats ◽

Third Order ◽

Depositional Sequence ◽

Middle Cambrian ◽

Forming Mechanism ◽

The North ◽

Biological Affinity ◽

History Of ◽

Group 3

AbstractAs a type of non-laminated microbial carbonates, dendrolites are dominated by isolated dendritic clusters of calcimicrobes and are distinct from stromatolites and thrombolites. The dendrolites in the upper part of the Miaolingian Zhangxia Formation at Anjiazhuang section in Feicheng city of Shandong Province, China, provide an excellent example for further understanding of both growth pattern and forming mechanism of dendrolites. These dendrolites are featured by sedimentary fabrics and composition of calcified microbes as follows. (1) The strata of massive limestones, composed of dendrolites with thickness of more than one hundred meters, intergrade with thick-bedded to massive leiolites, formimg the upper part of a third-order depositional sequence that constitutes a forced regressive systems tract. (2) A centimeter-sized bush-like fabric (shrub) typically produced by calcified microbes is similar to the mesoclot in thrombolites but distinctive from clotted fabrics of thrombolites. This bush-like fabric is actually constituted by diversified calcified microbes like the modern shrub as a result of gliding mobility of filamentous cyanobacteria. Such forms traditionally include: the Epiphyton group (which actually has uncertain biological affinity), the Hedstroemia group which closely resembles modern rivulariacean cyanobacteria, and the possible calcified cyanobacteria of the Lithocodium–Bacinella group. (3) Significantly, dense micrite of leiolite is associated with sponge fossils and burrows, and is covered by microstromatolite. The Lithocodium–Bacinella group is a controversial group of interpreted calcified cyanobacteria in the Cambrian that has also been widely observed and described in the Mesozoic. Therefore, dendrolites with symbiosis of leiolites in the studied section provide an extraordinary example for further understanding of growing style of bush-like fabrics (shrubs) of the dendrolites dominated by cyanobacterial mats. Furthermore, the present research provides some useful thinking approaches for better understanding of the history of the Early Paleozoic skeletal reefs and the microbe–metazoan transitions of the Cambrian.

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