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II. iz .11 14 i. ffr F L 0 R I D A TECH Restore Lagoon Inflow Research Phase 1 Biological and Water Quality Monitoring in Advance of Enhanced Circulation Pilot Outcomes Ecosystem monitoring is critical to ecosystem health and answers important questions about the effectiveness of programs to maintain ecosystem health."This USGS statement on ecological monitoring is even more relevant when the strategy for maintaining ecosystem health is a dramatic intervention intended to reverse the decline of a degraded system. A large-scale engineering project intended to mitigate poor water quality and improve habitats,such as the proposed enhancement of circulation of the Indian River Lagoon(IRL),requires an accurate understanding of the current status of water quality and biological resources to determine impacts and assess project success. In the IRL system,possible changes or improvements will best be measured by their impacts on water quality(e.g.,salinity,temperature and nutrients)and biology(plankton,fishes, seagrasses and benthic fauna). Specific project outcomes include: 1) Predictions of biological responses to restored lagoon inflow based on hydrodynamic model projections of water changes and the environmental tolerances of the organisms 2) An inventory of the phytoplankton,including potentially harmful algal bloom species,that may be impacted,displaced or introduced as a result of restoring lagoon inflow 3) A measure of existing algal bloom activity(cell counts and photosynthetic pigment levels)in the region impacted by restored lagoon inflow 4) An inventory of the benthic fauna that may be impacted,displaced or introduced as a result of restoring lagoon inflow 5) An inventory of seagrasses and drift algae that may be impacted,displaced or introduced as a result of restoring lagoon inflow 6) Quantification of fish larvae recruiting into the IRL,with emphasis on the sites of interest in the current project. 7) Characterization of the environmental determinants of the community structure of fishes in the IRL,with emphasis on the sites of interest in the current project. 8) Formulation of biophysical models to predict the responses of key fish-species to environmental change in the IRL,with emphasis on the sites of interest in the current project. 9) Evaluating alternative indicators of ecological status to reliably assess and monitor anthropogenic disturbance and recovery. 10) Development of cost-effective tools to complement and enhance FWC fisheries resource monitoring with improved detection of historically under sampled species. 11) Calculate impacts of pumping,based on direct dilution by seawater,on concentrations of nutrients in the lagoon;plus,calculate the quantity of nutrients that could be discharged into the coastal ocean. 12) Determine if data from the few existing water quality sensors(-0.5-1.0 m)can be extrapolated to determine conditions in bottom water near proposed pumping locations. 13) Determine how changes to temperature,salinity,and DO that could result from various levels of pumping would influence the geochemical cycling of nitrogen,phosphorus,oxygen plus sulfate and sulfide in the lagoon. Page 2 of 3 Florida Institute of Technology • 150 West University Blvd • Melbourne,FL 32901 • FIT.edu vi ( A0