Abstract
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve is an approximately 1100 ha cypress swamp, encircled by residential and commercial development and crossed by four highways. Road construction, land development, and water management have significantly reduced the historic watershed from over 14,500 ha to approximately 8500 ha. This reduction in watershed area, along with suppression of fire, proliferation of invasive exotic species, and past logging appears to have had a profound ecological impact on the swamp, resulting in suboptimal water depths and hydroperiods for the sustainable maintenance of the cypress forest. In 2006, Kevin Erwin Consulting Ecologist and Florida Gulf Coast University established a long-term monitoring program of hydrology and vegetation in the swamp. The objectives of the monitoring are to examine the dynamics of surface- and -ground water, and to examine the relationships between hydrology and vegetation dynamics. Preliminary analysis of the first two years of hydrologic monitoring illustrates the annual variability of hydroperiods, the fine spatial variance in rainfall inputs, and the impact of human activity on surface and groundwater levels in adjacent areas of the swamp. Future study includes examining the impact of large rainfall events, and correlating hydrology to vegetation to determine the likelihood of maintaining a cypress-dominated forest.
