Aquatic Communities of the Okefenokee Swamp

Proceedings of the 1997 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 20-22, 1997, Athens, Georgia.The Okefenokee Swamp lies over a perched water table on the Coastal Plain of southern Georgia. The swamp ecosystem consists of a mosaic of aquatic communities: cypress swamps, blackwater lakes, sand islands, floating peat batteries, prairies, and tree islands. It is kept in a dynamic disclimax by disturbance and hydroperiod. Nutrients, bound within refractory dissolved organic matter and peat, are released by physical processes such as drying, fire, and degradation by light. Maintenance of groundwater levels and hydroperiod is essential for the dynamic integrity of the swamp.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of the University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors