The Advisory Board has the following responsibilities related to the Florida Springs Institute:

• Promote the Florida Springs Institute and the need for springs restoration and protection in Florida
• Annually evaluate progress and help to update the Three-Year Plan
• Provide outreach related to springs restoration and protection to the public and governmental decision-makers
• Promote teamwork across all interested groups for springs restoration and protection
• Provide credibility for the mission and actions of the Florida Springs Institute

Florida Springs Institute Advisory Board:

• Lars Anderson (Adventure Outpost)
• Pat Harden (retired)
• Dr. Todd Kincaid (Geohydros)
• Linda Bystrak (environmental activist)
• Harley Means (Florida Geological Survey)
• Elizabeth Odum (retired)
• Jim Stevenson (retired)
• Stephen Walsh (U.S. Geological Survey)

Introduction to Dr. Robert L. Knight, Director, Florida Springs Institute 

Dr. Knight is the founder and director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, a nonprofit program dedicated to supporting springs science and education necessary for restoration and wise management. Dr. Knight is a consulting environmental scientist with over 30 years of professional work experience in Florida’s springs and wetlands.

Dr. Knight is an adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida where he teaches graduate-level courses concerning Springs Ecosystems and Wetland Design for Water Quality Treatment.  Dr. Knight is the founder and president of Wetland Solutions, Inc. (WSI), specializing in projects related to wetlands for water quality treatment, springs ecology, and applied environmental studies.

Knowledge of the Florida’s Spring Ecosystems 

Dr. Knight has conducted/directed ecological assessments of Florida’s Spring ecosystems over the past 30+ years. In 1979-1980 Dr. Knight conducted his doctoral research at Silver Springs under the guidance of Dr. Howard T. Odum. Dr. Knight’s research included a repeat of Dr. Odum’s measurements of whole spring ecosystem metabolism, snail and fish counts, and new experimentation on the effects of consumer densities (fish and snails) on spring metabolism using in situ mesocosms. Since 2002, Dr. Knight has assisted the St. Johns River Water Management District with the assessment of minimum flows on the water resource and human-use values of Volusia Blue Spring. During 2004-2006, Dr. Knight was co-principal investigator on the 50-year retrospective study of the ecological health of Silver Springs conducted for the Florida Springs Initiative and the St. Johns River Water Management District. In that study, all of the most important environmental forcing functions affecting Silver Springs and the ecological response of the spring were quantified to document changes that had occurred in the ecosystem since the previous work conducted by Odum and Knight. Dr. Knight implemented a variety of springs projects related to assessing pollutant reduction goals and water resource values at Wekiwa springs, Rock Springs, Alexander Springs, and Juniper Springs. Dr. Knight recently directed a short-term but intensive study of the ecology of twelve of Florida’s largest springs, including Silver, Wakulla, Rainbow, Homosassa, Weeki Wachee, De Leon, Silver Glen, Ichetucknee, Madison Blue, Manatee, Jackson Blue, and Ponce de Leon Springs, for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Dr. Knight has attended and provided presentations to all of Florida’s seven springs working groups and has made numerous technical presentations to resource agencies and the interested public throughout the springs region of north and central Florida.

Interagency Collaboration and Public Sector Stakeholder Participation 

Dr. Knight has affectively coordinated multiple agencies/stakeholders for springs projects. For example, the ecosystem-level study of twelve Florida springs pulled together five individual funding/support agencies: the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Springs Initiative, the Florida Park Service, the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), the Southwest Florida Water Management District, and Three Rivers Trust (a private non-profit).

Dr. Knight was hired by the SJRWMD to coordinate and conduct portions of a complex Water Resource Values Action Plan for determination of compliance with minimum flows for Volusia Blue Spring. The group coordinated by Dr. Knight included: SJRWMD staff, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Park Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and faculty from Stetson University.

Knowledge of Scientific and Technical Water Resource Issues, Threats, and Strategies of Florida Springs 

Dr. Knight is currently teaching the first and only course on Springs Ecology to be offered world wide. This graduate-level course offered at the University of Florida’s Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences and on-line through the UF EDGE program, covers all aspects of environmental and water science, human uses, and regulations related to Florida’s artesian springs. Dr. Knight is regularly called upon to describe the technical aspects of springs responses to human activities and technologies available to mitigate impacts.

Dr. Knight teaches a graduate-level course on the use of wetlands for water quality management at the University of Florida. As part of this class, Dr. Knight has been developing a variety of approaches to reduce nitrate loads to springs through the use of constructed wetlands. Dr. Knight and WSI are currently operating a demonstration project for Gainesville Regional Utilities to develop design guidance for recharge of the aquifer with reclaimed water through infiltrating wetlands that greatly reduce nitrogen concentrations. Dr. Knight has developed plans and made presentations concerning this technology to the City of Tallahassee, the City of Lake City, and the City of Fanning Springs.

Dr. Knight was co-investigator with various faculty from the University of Florida on a summary and synthesis of the available literature on the effects of nutrients on spring organisms and systems.  This literature review integrated and interpreted the available information regarding the effects of nutrients on spring organisms and spring systems.   Dr. Knight’s specific topics of review in this collaborative project were Effects of Nutrients on the Ecosystem-Level Properties and Human Uses of Springs.  A review and synthesis of the available literature was conducted pertaining to impacts of increasing nutrients on organisms within springs, with particular emphasis on the alterations of and effects on algal and macrophyte communities and their importance for spring ecosystem primary productivity.  The literature review also addressed the influence of rising nutrient levels on trophic dynamics and ecological processes within Florida and other regions with spring ecosystems.  Synthesis of available literature (including published, peer reviewed documents and gray literature reports) addressed cause and effect relationships between nutrients and biological response at all affected trophic levels.  The final literature review document presented information to provide guidance for public policy strategies and to identify information gaps where further research should be addressed.  The synthesis focused on what we know now based on available literature as well as what we need to know, including identification of knowledge gaps and suggestions for future research directions. A springs literature database was also developed that contains bibliographic information and a short abstract on each literature source. Dr. Knight presented his findings at a workshop onEffects of Nutrients on Spring Organisms and Ecosystems held to summarize the literature review and present the initial findings of this project.  Topics discussed during the workshop were sources, transformations and sinks of nutrients; and macrophytes, algae, invasive species management, macroinvertebrates, fish, and ecosystem level processes as related to springs.

The Silver Springs, Wekiwa Springs, and Rock Springs monitoring projects completed to-date by WSI are the most detailed spring ecosystem studies that have been conducted in Florida in the past 55 years. Under Dr. Knight’s leadership, WSI staff have fine-tuned and perfected the field, analytical, and data analysis methods needed to efficiently execute holistic applied spring studies. The UF literature review and synthesis of information on the effects of elevated nutrients on spring ecosystems provides a state-of-the-art summary of this important water and land use management issue.

Experience in Presenting Scientific and Technical Concepts and Data to Non-Technical Stakeholders in Meetings and in Writing 

Dr. Knight has written dozens of technical and public interest papers related to environmental issues. He is the co-author of Treatment Wetlands, the first definitive and comprehensive text book covering the planning, design, and operation of these important water purification systems. He authored chapters in the U.S. EPA’s constructed wetland design manual and in the Water Environment Federation’s Natural Systems design manual. Dr. Knight has written a number of newspaper opinion pieces for the express purpose of educating the non-technical public on the issues related to springs impairment and recovery. Dr. Knight has made numerous presentations to the public about these issues, including the Marion County Springs Festival, the Rally for the Rivers, the Smart Growth Coalition, Save Our Suwannee, and the Ocala Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs. 

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