Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography


21. Bayley, S., and H. T. Odum. 1976. Simulation of interrelations of the 
         Everglades marsh, peat, fire, water, and phosphorus. Ecol. Model. 
         2:169-188.

Some of the principal controlling factors affecting the Everglades marsh system including growth of grass, water levels, rain, transpiration, peat deposition, fire, phosphorus, and controlled inflow of water containing nutrients were combined in a simple model. Using published data, coefficients were estimated and the model was simulated for several regimes, for varying concentrations of nutrient in the inflows, and for varying access to fire. The resulting graphs resemble patterns reported from the Everglades, with some regimes producing regularly repeating patterns and frequent small fires and others producing erratic and widely fluctuating patterns of vegetation, flood, and fire. If this model is pertinent, a regular period of variation of water inflow and limited nutrients may be means for management of marshes for long-range stability. [From author's abstract]

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