Mission Statement
The mission of the Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is to conduct detailed investigations of wetlands and their component fish and wildlife resources, emphasizing the linkages with both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This charge will include research at a range of levels including population, community, and ecosystem, and will emphasize the interaction of biological populations with features of their habitats, both natural and those impacted by human activities.About the Unit
The Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit was established in 1979 as one of the first three combined units. The purpose of the Florida Unit is to provide for active cooperation in the advancement, organization, and conduct of scholarly research and training in the field of fish and wildlife sciences principally through graduate education and research at the University of Florida. The Florida Unit has the mission to study wetland ecosystems within the state. Florida is a low relief, sub-tropical peninsula that is ecologically fragile. Though apparently abundant, Florida's water resources are under increasing pressure from a burgeoning human population. Domestic, recreational, and development needs threaten Florida's water/wetland resources. In following its program directive, the Florida Unit has developed a research program that addresses management issues from approaches spanning species to ecosystem perspectives. Specifically, this Unit conducts detailed investigations of aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem interfaces and their component fish and wildlife resources.Between 1979 and 2002, over 267 projects totaling more than $28 million were funded through the Unit. These projects covered a wide variety of fish, wildlife, and ecosystem subjects and have involved 48 line, affiliate, and adjunct faculty members as principal and co-principal investigators. Unit staff have their own research projects which accounted for about 1/3 of the total effort. Projects associated with the Unit have resulted in 317 publications, 82 technical reports, 64 theses and dissertations, and 25 presentations.
Cooperation has been the Florida Unit's strength. Now, in its new capacity as a cooperative unit of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) - Biological Resources Division (BRD), it serves as a bridge between the principal cooperators (the University of Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC), and the USGS) and the community of state and federal conservation agencies and non-governmental organizations. Evidence of this role is the Unit's funding which has included contributions from FWCC, 10 USGS-BRD research labs and centers, 12 offices within the USFWS Southeast Region, the University of Florida, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Navy, USDA, U.S. Air Force, U.S. National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, St. Johns River Water Management District, South Florida Water Management District, U.S. AID, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USGS, Florida Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Florida Alligator Farmers' Association, American Alligator Farmers' Association, Florida Fur Trappers' Association, and other private contributions. Many Unit projects involve multiple investigators from several agencies. This cooperative interaction stimulates continuing involvement of funding sources, provides for student contacts with potential employers and agency perspectives, and directs transfer and application of research results.