The coastline of Florida has been formed by geomorphic processes which have created suitable habitats for certain vegetation and organisms. One type of vegetation is the mangrove; this plant has a latitudinal range of 24° to 32° N latitude which is associated with local climatic changes (Mitsch 2000). There are three species of mangrove found in Florida: red (Rhizophora), black (Avicennia), and white (Languncularia) (USGS 2006). Mangroves have adapted overtime to live in different ecosystems which cause mangroves, along the Florida coast, of the same species not be the same. Climatic variation causes individual mangrove trees have structural differences such as: tree height, diameter, and density; these variations are related to geographic location (Pool 1997, Schaeffer-Novelli 1990). Tree height is the measurement from the base of the tree trunk of the ground to the top of the tree. The diameter, also known as diameter at breast height (DBH), is the circumference of the tree trunk 1.21 meters from the ground. Density is the frequency of individual tress within predetermined distance. Florida's southwest coast has one of the world's biggest mangrove swamps called Ten Thousand Islands (Mitsch 2000). In northern Florida the mangrove swamps begin to mix with salt marsh vegetation, here mangroves are more like shrubs than trees (Mitsch 2000). The changes in individual mangrove structure could be a result of available freshwater and temperature. This project was a quantitative analysis using published and original data for graph production to understand the structural variation of mangroves on Florida's gulf coast at different latitudes. Study sites were located in bays along the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf coast of Florida was the study area of this project because it is the northern latitudinal limit for mangroves and as the latitude changes mangrove plant structure changes (Mitsch 2000). The tree height, diameter, basal area, biomass, and densities were compared to the precipitation and temperature values to understand the effect climate has on mangroves.

Stakeholders’ perceptions of social, environmental, and economic concerns in the Rookery Bay Estuary were examined through this research. The purpose of this study was to discover the shared value and common resolution responses for the people of the Rookery Bay area that can extend to other local environmental management scenarios. Using Stakeholder Theory, Rational Choice Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Systems Theory as theoretical foundation, the following research questions were considered: RQ1) What are the points of shared value of community stakeholders facing environmental management issues? RQ2) How do the perspectives of the community stakeholders toward the social, environmental, and economic issues relate to their local environmental decision-making? RQ3) What are the attitudes and behaviors toward water? Participants identified the importance of water and the natural environment on the community. Additionally, participants were aware of the social, economic, and environmental issues and noted tension between stakeholders; however, they have a limited understanding of the concept of shared value. This research illustrates the benefit of weaving concepts from various fields together to strengthen the conflict studies field.The findings and recommendations in this research offer an outline that provides a path from dispute to common value generation that leads through creating shared meanings, a shared understanding, a shared story, to shared value that is stable over time.