Planting Giant Cypress Root Clippings in Hopes of Regrowing a Forest

An experiment in regrowing forests of the world's oldest trees led environmentalists this week to climb a nine-story tall, 2,000-year-old cypress in central Florida known as Lady Liberty.

After plucking cuttings from her crown, climbers packed them on ice and shipped the specimens overnight to the nonprofit Archangel Ancient Tree Archive's nursery in northern Michigan.

Organizers hope to root the clippings to grow genetically identical trees that will be replanted elsewhere in Florida in an effort to grow a new forest of giant cypresses.

The organization is engaged in similar projects in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Ireland and England to preserve the offspring of the best surviving specimens of ancient trees.

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A bleak side of this, for me, is I wonder if this is even worth doing given the sea level rise that is coming for Florida.  :(

Jade Signature Tower Rendering, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida

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Evidence of two Different Cultural Groups in PreColumbian St. Joseph Bay, Florida

Sclerochronology of Busycon sinistrum: late prehistoric seasonality determination at St. Joseph Bay, Florida, USA

Authors:

Harke et al

Abstract:

Recent archaeological investigations indicate that coastal Fort Walton cultures in the St. Joseph Bay region of northwest Florida emphasized marine and estuarine foraging. These late prehistoric, Mississippi-period (A.D. 1000-1500) peoples collected fish, shellfish, and other aquatic resources. At the Richardson’s Hammock site (8Gu10), radiocarbon-dated to about A.D. 1300, large, predatory gastropods were a major subsistence component. This adaptation is in sharp contrast with that of contemporaneous inland Fort Walton societies, who relied on maize agriculture, and raises the question whether coastal groups were separate hunter-gatherer-fisher populations or migrated seasonally from inland farming villagers. We perform stable oxygen and carbon isotope sclerochronology on lightning whelks (Busycon sinistrum) to determine the seasonality of Fort Walton foraging and to compare the environment of prehistoric St. Joseph Bay with that of the modern bay. Oxygen isotope profiles suggest that shellfish collecting was relegated primarily to the summer months, producing a scheduling conflict with the primary growing season for maize in northwest Florida. Thus, coastal and inland Fort Walton sites probably represent separate culture groups. The relationship between δ18Oshell and δ13Cshell indicates similar environmental and climatic conditions between prehistoric St. Joseph Bay and today. However, modern whelks are depleted in 13C compared to Fort Walton whelks, which reflects both twentieth century CO2 emissions and years of dredging and wastewater pollution entering the bay.

Boeing Leases Processing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center to Build CST-100 Spacecraft

Boeing has finalized an agreement with Space Florida to use a processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to build the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft, an important step toward restoring the United States’ ability to launch humans into space.

“The resources and expertise on the Space Coast are essential to our plans and this agreement solidifies our partnership with the state of Florida,” said John Mulholland, Boeing vice president and program manager, Commercial Programs. “Boeing is committed to providing the most innovative, safest and cost-effective commercial space transportation system to NASA and other commercial customers, and adding the capabilities of the processing facility to our portfolio plays a big part in our plans.”

Renamed the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF), the former space shuttle hangar known as Orbiter Processing Facility-3 is being modernized by Space Florida to meet requirements for building the CST-100 capsule.

“Boeing and Space Florida continue our partnership in repurposing excess NASA facilities for future use by Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program,” said Frank Dibello, president and CEO, Space Florida. “With phase one complete, we look forward to finishing the next phase of facility modification.”

Space Florida is the state’s independent agency for aerospace development. Phase one of the C3PF renovation was completed in February; phase two began in September with improvements including technology upgrades to the environmental and electrical systems and reflooring the facility. Boeing expects to move into C3PF in spring 2014.

Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program is on track for an expected 2016 test launch time frame, with work continuing in Houston, Huntington Beach, Calif., and Florida. In partnership with NASA, Boeing is continuing to develop the CST-100 with the successful completion of water-recovery tests. The company recently unveiled the full-scale CST-100 mock-up to the world in Houston.

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The Importance of Wind Borne Dust to the Everglades

Holocene dynamics of the Florida Everglades with respect to climate, dustfall, and tropical storms

Authors:

Paul H. Glaser, Barbara C. S. Hansen, Joe J. Donovan, Thomas J. Givnish, Craig A. Stricker and John C. Volin

Abstract:

Aeolian dust is rarely considered an important source for nutrients in large peatlands, which generally develop in moist regions far from the major centers of dust production. As a result, past studies assumed that the Everglades provides a classic example of an originally oligotrophic, P-limited wetland that was subsequently degraded by anthropogenic activities. However, a multiproxy sedimentary record indicates that changes in atmospheric circulation patterns produced an abrupt shift in the hydrology and dust deposition in the Everglades over the past 4,600 y. A wet climatic period with high loadings of aeolian dust prevailed before 2800 cal BP (calibrated years before present) when vegetation typical of a deep slough dominated the principal drainage outlet of the Everglades. This dust was apparently transported from distant source areas, such as the Sahara Desert, by tropical storms according to its elemental chemistry and mineralogy. A drier climatic regime with a steep decline in dustfall persisted after 2800 cal BP maintaining sawgrass vegetation at the coring site as tree islands developed nearby (and pine forests covered adjacent uplands). The marked decline in dustfall was related to corresponding declines in sedimentary phosphorus, organic nitrogen, and organic carbon, suggesting that a close relationship existed between dustfall, primary production, and possibly, vegetation patterning before the 20th century. The climatic change after 2800 cal BP was probably produced by a shift in the Bermuda High to the southeast, shunting tropical storms to the south of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico.

Everglades Changing as Sea Level Rises

Just inland from the familiar salt-loving mangroves that line the Southern tip of the Florida Peninsula lie plant communities that depend on freshwater flowing south from Lake Okeechobee. These communities provide critical habitats to many wildlife species, and as salt water intrudes, it could spell problems for freshwater plants and animals alike.

Satellite imagery over the southeastern Everglades confirms long-term trends of mangrove expansion and sawgrass habitat loss near the shore. The trend is related to salt water intrusion caused by sea-level rise and water management practices, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Wetlands.

"I was very surprised at how well the results matched our understanding of long-term trends and field data.

Normally, we don't see such clear patterns," says Douglas Fuller, principal investigator of the study.

The findings show large patches of vegetation loss closer to the coast, approximately four kilometers from the shoreline, in and around a vegetative band of low productivity that has been shifting inland over the past 70 years. Growth trends were seen primarily in the interior, at about eight kilometers from the shore.

"Less salt-tolerant plants like the sawgrass, spike rush, and tropical hardwood hammocks are retreating. At the same time, salt-loving mangroves continue to extend inland," says Fuller, professor of Geography and Regional studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami.

Changes in water management, such as the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, may help offset the possible effects caused by future salt water intrusion. "However, restoration may not suffice if sea-level rise accelerates in the coming decades," Fuller says.

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Space Florida Pitching a Commercerial Spaceport in Volusia County