Restricted from its historic freshwater input from the Everglades, the Florida Bay estuary is plagued by hypersaline conditions and disturbances such as aperiodic seagrass die-off events. One of the largest restoration efforts in the US, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) aims to restore the freshwater inputs lost. Providing world-renowned recreational fishing opportunities and nursery habitat for valuable commercial fisheries, the bay’s condition, coupled with the potential changes from CERP and future climate, highlight the need to implement an ecosystem-based management (EBM) approach. We developed a comprehensive ecosystem model of Florida Bay using Ecopath with Ecosim to provide a thorough understanding of its structure and resilience to environmental disturbances. The results supported the hypothesis that the bay is stabilised through detrital pathways but is not driven primarily through bottom-up control as predicted. Several predator–prey relationships are identified for suggested ecological attention in fisheries management, including the ecological benefits of the forage species pink shrimp, clupeids, pinfish and mullets, and a negative top-down effect of common snook on red drum. The results further support the hypothesis that the restoration of freshwater flows will improve overall resilience in Florida Bay, namely by providing a regime of lower salinity and reduced nutrient enrichment.

中文翻译：

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佛罗里达湾河口的生态系统结构和恢复力：对大沼泽地恢复有影响的原始生态系统模型

佛罗里达湾河口受到来自大沼泽地的历史性淡水输入的限制，受到高盐度条件和非周期性海草死亡事件等干扰的困扰。作为美国最大的恢复工作之一，大沼泽地综合恢复计划 (CERP) 旨在恢复丢失的淡水输入。海湾的状况，加上 CERP 和未来气候的潜在变化，为有价值的商业渔业提供世界知名的休闲捕鱼机会和苗圃栖息地，突出了实施基于生态系统的管理 (EBM) 方法的必要性。我们使用 Ecopath 和 Ecosim 开发了佛罗里达湾的综合生态系统模型，以全面了解其结构和对环境干扰的恢复能力。结果支持了这样的假设，即海湾通过碎屑路径稳定，但不是像预测的那样主要通过自下而上的控制驱动。确定了几种捕食者 - 猎物关系以建议渔业管理中的生态关注，包括草料物种粉红虾、鲇鱼和鲻鱼的生态效益，以及普通斯诺克对红鼓的负面影响。结果进一步支持了这样一个假设，即淡水流量的恢复将提高佛罗里达湾的整体恢复力，即通过提供较低盐度和减少养分富集的制度。包括草料种类粉红虾、鲇鱼、鲻鱼和鲻鱼的生态效益，以及普通斯诺克对红鼓的负面影响。结果进一步支持了这样一个假设，即淡水流量的恢复将提高佛罗里达湾的整体恢复力，即通过提供较低盐度和减少养分富集的制度。包括草料种类粉红虾、鲇鱼、鲻鱼和鲻鱼的生态效益，以及普通斯诺克对红鼓的负面影响。结果进一步支持了这样一个假设，即淡水流量的恢复将提高佛罗里达湾的整体恢复力，即通过提供较低盐度和减少养分富集的制度。