The
Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems Science Conference is a
forum for researchers to exchange technical information, to share
that information with resource managers and other interested
conference attendees, and to establish collaborative partnerships.
The conference provides scientists AND MANAGERS an opportunity to
highlight their work through oral and poster presentations and open
discussions.
All scientists and resource managers working in Florida Bay and
adjacent systems are strongly encouraged to attend this conference
to share information about their work and establish new avenues of
collaboration. Florida Bay is attended by an average of 200-225
attendees – a comfortable size that promotes interaction and
networking amongst colleagues at all levels – an ideal setting for
the exchange of valuable information.
To give you an idea of the type of information being presented at
the conference, we invite you to watch these interviews with a few
key individuals actively working in Florida Bay.
Patrick Pitts has been involved in South Florida
coastal, estuarine, and wetland research and management for the past
25 years. His work at the US Fish and Wildlife Service is focused on
the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), with
particular emphasis on the downstream end of the system. He develops
system-wide and project-level performance measures, ecological
evaluation methods, and assesses the current hydrologic and ecologic
status of Florida’s southern estuaries as it relates to CERP.
David Hallac,
Chief, Biological Resources Branch,
National Park Service
Email: David_Hallac@nps.gov
David Hallac serves as Chief of the Biological
Resources Branch at Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks. He
directs a branch that conducts natural resource management,
restoration planning, inventory and monitoring, and invasive species
management. David has experience on issues related to recreation in
National Parks, fish and wildlife biology, and wetland restoration.
William Dennison,
Vice President for Science Applications,
UMCES
Email: dennison@umces.edu
Dr. Bill Dennison is the Vice President for
Science Applications at the University of Maryland, Center for
Environmental Science. He is a marine ecologist with a specialty in
ecophysiology of marine plants and has conducted coastal marine
research in all of the world’s oceans.
Christopher S. Martens,
Distinguished Professor of Marine Sciences,
UNC-Chapel Hill Email:cmartens@email.unc.edu
Dr. Chris Martens is the W.B. Aycock Distinguished
Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. His major research interests are
biogeochemical processes controlling C, N and S cycling in coastal
environments and tropical rain forests, gas hydrates in the deep sea
and science education. Educated at Florida State University and Yale
University, Chris is an avid SCUBA diver and boater. He is a
recipient of the 1984 and 1998 Best Paper Awards from The
Geochemical Society, the Bostwick H. Ketchum Award for Leadership in
Coastal Oceanography from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and
is a Fellow of the Geochemical Society and the European Association
of Organic Geochemists.
Jerry Lorenz,
State Research Director,
Audubon of Florida
Email: jlorenz@audubon.org
As director of research for Audubon of Florida,
Dr. Jerry Lorenz overseas research projects with conservation
implications. His primary focus is applied research to Everglades
and Florida Bay restoration through studies of indicator species
such as roseate spoonbills and prey base fishes. He has 20 years of
experience in Florida Bay studies and supervises projects in the Big
Cypress Swamp, Tampa Bay and Central Florida ecosystems. With a
staff of 20 plus researchers, Jerry manages an annual budget in
excess of $1.5 million in research grants.
Peter Ortner,
Director,
Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS),
University of Miami
Email: portner@rsmas.miami.edu
As the Director of the University of Miami (UM)
Rosenstiel School's Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric
Science, Dr. Peter Ortner heads a diverse interdisciplinary academic
research enterprise supporting science programs such as the Florida
Bay Science Program. Until retiring from NOAA he served as the
federal co-chair of the Florida Bay Science program and the long
term manager of NOAA's South Florida program. He still represents
NOAA to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and serves on
the interagency science leadership group for CERP. As a Professor at
UM/RSMAS his graduate students and post-doctoral investigators
continue to work in and around the South Florida ecosystem including
Florida Bay.
Lynn Wingard,
Geologist, Project Chief,
U.S. Geological Survey
Email: lwingard@usgs.gov
Dr. Lynn Wingard has been a scientist with the
U.S. Geological Survey since 1991, and is currently the project
chief of the US Geological Survey’s Ecosystem History of South
Florida’s Estuaries Project. Her research specialization is in the
application of paleoecologic techniques to the interpretation of
Holocene marine and estuarine ecosystems. Since 1995 her research
has focused on the natural and anthropogenic changes to Everglades
and Biscayne National Parks’ ecosystems.
