Freshwater flow from the Everglades to Florida Bay: A historical reconstruction based on fluorescent banking in the coral Solenastrea bournoni

Fluorescent banding was found in a core taken from a 1-m high colony of the coral Solenastrea bournoni which was growing in the Petersen Key Basin region of Florida Bay. Fluorescent banding in massive, hermatypic corals from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, is known to result from the input of fulvic and humic compounds of terrestrial origin into the nearshore environment via river runoff. Relationships between the fluorescent banding pattern in the Solenastrea skeleton and flow in Shark River Slough (SRS) and Taylor Slough (TS), the two major outlets of freshwater from the everglades, were investigated.