The bioarchaeology of prehistoric south Florida has been an area of archaeological interest for the last century because of the interplay between ancient populations and the unique environment of the Everglades. The purpose of this study is to analyze the pathology, demography and mortuary practice of the ancient Southeast Florida aboriginal population at Miami One to assess the similarity of Miami One to other south Florida populations during the prehistoric period. The Miami One site (8DA11) is one of many related sites located along the shore of the Miami River. It was continuously occupied from the Late Archaic (ca.1000 B.C.) through the Glades II period (1000 A.D.). Archaeological material associated with the Glades III period (ca. A.D. 1200) was also present. A large quantity of human remains was recovered and half of this collection is being temporarily housed at the University of South Florida. The burials were secondary and commingled in nature, having been recovered from solution holes which served as natural ossuaries. A total of forty-nine adults and fourteen juveniles are reported. Nineteen cases of osteoarthritis related to age and injury are described. Thirty-two cases of infection are described, including periostitis, osteomyelitis, and a possible treponemal infection. Seven cases of trauma are also present. Radiographic evidence demonstrates a low frequency of metabolic disruptions in the population. Dental pathology consists mostly of severe attrition, abscessing, calculus and very few caries, all consistent with a hunter-gatherer subsistence pattern. Mortuary data, including demography, pathology, type of burial, burial location and burial artifacts, are compared to that of five other contemporaneous sites and an earlier site associated with the Glades culture in southeast Florida. The data gathered in this study are consistent with those of the six additional sites, indicating that the local culture is indeed part of the larger Glades culture assigned to southeast Florida and that these groups are culturally heterogeneous.

Draining the Everglades has been the central issue of southern Florida ever since the state was apnexed by the U.S. in .1845. Not until the twentieth century did water resource managers realize the detrimental repercussions of draining the Everglades. Now, south Florida finds itself in a state of crisis. In the aquifers and Lake Okeechobee water levels have dropped. Nutrient pollution has caused cattails to overrun the saw grass, from which the Everglades get there name. Continued development has placed more strain on the Everglades, and human water uses have often.been put under restraints due to lack of water. In order to understand the political and social priorities that guided the various water management agencies in the Everglades to this state of crisis, this research will review key events throughout the history of the Everglades, specifically analyzing what led to these events and how management reacted to them. This research will then analyze the priorities demonstrated through the various stages of water management in order to determine the presence of underlying social attitudes. Finally, this research will analyze the social attitudes as they pertain to water management in order to determine the presence of governing attitudes and paradigms, as well as implications of current attitudes on the future of the Everglades.

"This study deals with patient admissions to the South Florida State Hospital, Hollywood, Florida. The purpose of the study was to determine how the racial groups, age groups, and the eight counties in the hospital district were being served by the hospital. To do this, population figures for the district were distributed by age, race, and county. A sample of hospital admissions was then drawn, and distributed by age, race, and county of admission. The findings of the study are based upon comparisons between the population and the hospital sample, in this manner. It was thought that such findings would be of interest to the hospital, as a public facility, in evaluating the service to its constituents"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1959." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work." / Advisor: Robert T. Lansdale, Professor Directing Study. / Includes bibliographical references.

Evaluating trends of historical rainfall on a weekly and seasonal basis is needed for optimizing the design and implementation of lawn water conservation strategies like outdoor water restrictions. While “day of the week” water restrictions are a typical strategy to limit the frequency and duration of urban lawn water use, they may not necessarily result in more conservative behaviors from end-users. Because weekly rainfall and local climate variables are seldom taken into account in water restriction strategies, they are not connected to actual lawn water demand. However, since lawn water demand is directly related to weekly rainfall totals, not to a particular number of watering days per week, water restriction schedules have the potential to unintentionally promote overwatering. This study investigated the weekly patterns of average seasonal rainfall and evapotranspiration in South Florida to determine the typical variability of weekly net irrigation needs and found that typical wet season weekly rainfall often provides a significant amount of water to meet the demand of residential lawns and landscapes. This finding underscores opportunity to reduce supplemental overwatering in residential landscapes if watering guidelines were modified to recognize seasonal average weekly rainfall in this region This study also tested a rainfall-based water conservation strategy to determine if providing residents with information about how local rainfall could promote more effective lawn watering behavior than just water restrictions alone. Experimental households reduced lawn water use by up to 61% compared to the control group by the end of the study. These results demonstrate that the neighborhood “rain-watered lawn” signs helped experimental study group households become more aware of rainfall as the primary input of water to their lawns. This study also investigated the role that lawn irrigation from self-supplied sources plays in the urban lawn water demand and investigates how the lawn water use and lawn watering behaviors of households that source from self-supply differ from those who source from the public supply. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The objectives of this study were to investigate temporal changes in the diversity of pine rockland Fabaceae, induced by anthropogenic factors. Herbarium collections spanning 170 years were used to analyze species frequency and richness. The results indicated temporal fluctuations in diversity with frequency of native species highest previous to the year 1920, and exotic-invasive species richness peaking after the 1960s. The accompanying species list resulting from the inventory included 122 Fabaceae species, in 56 genera, with an additional 19 species not previously listed for pine rocklands. The results emphasize the damage caused by early and deliberate introductions of exotic species, and reinforces previous knowledge that exotic-invasives seem to be increasingly harmful to local biodiversity. The results also provide evidence of the historical distribution of species, helpful to conservation and restoration efforts. This study provides a needed review and status update for the Fabaceae taxa of the pine rocklands.

Adolescents engage in a range of risk behaviors during their transition from childhood to adulthood. Identifying and understanding interpersonal and socio-environmental factors that may influence risk-taking is imperative in order to meet the Healthy People 2020 goals of reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections among youth. The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behaviors among South Florida youth. More specifically, this study examined how protective factors, risk factors, and health risk behaviors, derived from a guiding framework using the Theory of Problem Behavior and Theory of Gender and Power, were associated with HIV risk behavior. A secondary analysis of 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data sets from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach school districts tested hypotheses for factors associated with HIV risk behaviors. The sample consisted of 5,869 high school students (mean age 16.1 years), with 69% identifying as Black or Hispanic. Logistic regression analyses revealed gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behavior. An increase in the health risk behaviors was related to an increase in the odds that a student would engage in HIV risk behavior. An increase in risk factors was also found to significantly predict an increase in the odds of HIV risk behavior, but only in females. Also, the probability of participation in HIV risk behavior increased with grade level. Post-hoc analyses identified recent sexual activity (past 3 months) as the strongest predictor of condom nonuse and having four or more sexual partners for both genders. The strongest predictors of having sex under the influence of drugs/alcohol were alcohol use in both genders, marijuana use in females, and physical fighting in males. Gender differences in the predictors of unprotected sex, multiple sexual partners, and having sex under the influence were also found. Additional studies are warranted to understand the gender differences in predictors of HIV risk behavior among youth in order to better inform prevention programming and policy, as well as meet the national Healthy People 2020 goals.

The overall objective of this dissertation research is to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of water quality parameters in different water bodies of South Florida. Two major approaches (multivariate statistical techniques and remote sensing) were used in this study. Multivariate statistical techniques include cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA), discriminant analysis (DA), absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR) and PMF receptor modeling techniques were used to assess the water quality and identify and quantify the potential pollution sources affecting the water quality of three major rivers of South Florida. For this purpose, a 15-year (2000–2014) data set of 12 water quality variables, and about 35,000 observations were used. Agglomerative hierarchical CA grouped 16 monitoring sites into three groups (low pollution, moderate pollution, and high pollution) based on their similarity of water quality characteristics. DA, as an important data reduction method, was used to assess the water pollution status and analysis of its spatiotemporal variation. PCA/FA identified potential pollution sources in wet and dry seasons, respectively, and the effective mechanisms, rules, and causes were explained. The APCS-MLR and PMF models apportioned their contributions to each water quality variable. Also, the bio-physical parameters associated with the water quality of the two important water bodies of Lake Okeechobee and Florida Bay were investigated based on remotely sensed data. The principal objective of this part of the study is to monitor and assess the spatial and temporal changes of water quality using the application of integrated remote sensing, GIS data, and statistical techniques. The optical bands in the region from blue to near infrared and all the possible band ratios were used to explore the relation between the reflectance of a waterbody and observed data. The developed MLR models appeared to be promising for monitoring and predicting the spatiotemporal dynamics of optically active and inactive water quality characteristics in Lake Okeechobee and Florida Bay. It is believed that the results of this study could be very useful to local authorities for the control and management of pollution and better protection of water quality in the most important water bodies of South Florida.

Local ecological knowledge (LEK) is a useful method to capture environmental or resource changes when there is an absence of biological data. Since the bonefish fishery is data limited, this study aims to understand the trend of bonefish decline over the last 40 years using LEK and to assess whether varying fisher experience and fisher type would influence perception of bonefish decline. Semi-structured surveys and key informant interviews were conducted to collect LEK data. Along with perceiving an overall decline (p

Biochar has been heralded a mechanism for carbon sequestration and an ideal amendment for improving soil quality. Melaleuca quinquenervia is an aggressive and wide-spread invasive species in Florida. The purpose of this research was to convert M. quinquenervia biomass into biochar and measure how application at two rates (2% or 5% wt/wt) impacts soil quality, plant growth, and microbial gas flux in a greenhouse experiment using Phaseolus vulgaris L. and local soil. Plant growth was measured using height, biomass weight, specific leaf area, and root-shoot ratio. Soil quality was evaluated according to nutrient content and water holding capacity. Microbial respiration, as carbon dioxide (CO2), was measured using gas chromatography. Biochar addition at 5% significantly reduced available soil nutrients, while 2% biochar application increased almost all nutrients. Plant biomass was highest in the control group, p2 flux decreased significantly in both biochar groups, but reductions were not long term.

Over 3.7 million people are in high risk of coastal flooding and live within 1 mile of high tide in the US alone. The Atlantic coast is one of the most vulnerable areas due to its low elevation, large population, and economic importance (Bray, et. al, 2016). Coastal municipalities in the region of Southeast Florida, such as the cities of Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, etc., are at especial risk from coastal flooding related to sea level rise. The US National Climate Assessment has named Miami, Florida as the economically most vulnerable city impacted by this sea level rise in the world (Melillo et. al, 2014). Virtually all coastal communities in Southeast Florida are now experiencing increased incidents of coastal tidal flooding and coastal storm flooding related to sea level rise. This has led to a variety of responses by coastal communities in how to address this issue. In the case of the City of Miami Beach, the city has [CS1] come up with an ambitious but expensive plan to help combat the increased urban coastal flooding that is now occurring multiple times a year. They invested over 500 million dollars into replacing the increasingly less-effective gravity-based drainage system with a pump-based system (Bray, et. al, 2016). With these influences, we hypothesized that microbial communities would significantly differ between three years (2014-2016) and that the potential pathogens would increase over the past years . Genetic analyses of the 16S rRNA V4 region yielded a total of 77,346 unique bacterial OTUs from a total of 96 samples collected monthly for three years from 2014-2016. The most abundant OTU within the whole sample set was New.ReferenceOTU407 or Arcobacter in the Campylobacter family with an overall abundance of 0.008232535481%.The second most abundant organism in the sample set was Bacillus, or OTUNew.CleanUp.ReferenceOTU121132, with an overall abundance of .007797807097%. Bacillusmay cause many more foodborne illness than is known and one main reason that there is not more reported cases is because people do not seek medical attention (FDA 2012). The remaining pathogens except for Serratia, Pleisomonas, and Cronobacter were all with an abundance over .001%, with Salmonella, Yersinia,andListeria not being identified at all within the data set. By showing that genetic signatures for this bacterium, especially Arcobacter,was present in more than half of the samples stresses the importance of better understanding of the microbial population within South Florida waters and how to prevent or reduce future outbreaks by making sure the water is treated correctly before use, and to better identify potential exposure sources in water.