(2009 – 2023) (Research Affiliate 2006 – 2008)
Florida International University, Department of Biological Sciences and Southeastern Environmental Research Center 

Evelyn Gaiser, Ph.D.

 Research Associate

Executive Director of Archbold Biological Station since 1995. 
Leadership for science, conservation, and education programs at Archbold 
Oversight for 8,800-acre Archbold Biological Station on the Lake Wales Ridge and the 10,500-acre Buck Island Ranch. 
Builds partnerships to amplify Archbold's science, conservation, and education impacts regionally, statewide and globally. 
Leadership role for science networks including USDA LTAR and GLEON. 
Facilitates liaison with local, state, and federal agencies, non-profits, and landowners to implement Archbold's goal to understand and protect Florida's ecosystems.
Responsible for programs, data and technology, budget, facilities and support. 
Manages 60-70 staff plus graduate students, interns, and visiting scientists.  
Personal research interests lie in conservation biology, agroecology, and limnology. Conducts research for federal and state agencies on sustainable ecosystems,  survival of listed species, Lake Annie, large landscape conservation and the Florida Wildlife Corridor. 
Long-term public role in protection of conservation lands in in Florida, most recently the implementation of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Hilary Swain, Ph.D.

Executive Director & CEO, Senior Research Biologist

Kevin oversees all aspects of land management on the Station and Reserve. This includes planning for and implementing prescribed burns, dealing with wildfire events, treating populations of exotic species and collecting monitoring  data. When not lighting fires Kevin enjoys photography, writing, and spending time with family.

Kevin Main, B.S.

Land Manager

Dr Amartya Saha has worked as an ecohydrologist with academia, government agencies and NGOs across North and South America, Africa, and South Asia for over two decades. He is interested in the sustainable management of watersheds to ensure water flow and quality in waterbodies, thereby maintaining aquatic/riparian biodiversity and ecosystem services. 

At ABS, Amartya serves as the technical lead for water and nutrient retention projects in the Northern Everglades Basin in collaboration with state agencies. He is a member of the USDA Long-term Agroecological Research water quantity/quality research groups.  His recent research includes the development of low-cost evapotranspiration measurement techniques in graminoid and wetland plant communities, nutrient cycling on ranchlands and groundwater movement in collaboration with the University of Florida. He also oversees installation/maintenance/troubleshooting of environmental monitoring instrumentation across ABS and other ranches/SFWMD properties that are part of the Northern Everglades Payment for Ecosystem Services program. 

Early on, Amartya switched careers from engineering to environmental conservation, and apart from contributing to scientific understanding and extension with government agencies, he has also started citizen science programs on biological water quality monitoring using aquatic invertebrates. On some weekends he leads kayak-based shoreline clean up trips in Biscayne Bay and Miami Beach. 


Amartya Saha, Ph.D.

Ecohydrologist/Instrumentation Specialist

In 2008 we deployed our first buoy over the deepest point on Lake Annie, measuring changes every minute to revealing impacts of short-term events like storms. In 2022, Archbold launched a new profiling buoy. In addition to surface water, meteorological, carbon, energy, and light  measurements, instruments travel (profile) from the surface to the bottom every hour, collecting multiple data. Both Lake Annie buoys have contributed high-resolution sensor data to the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network to understand, predict and communicate the role and response of lakes in a changing global environment. Link to project on Networked lake science 

Kevin Main Dr. Amartya Saha (Archbold), Andri Laidre (Flydog) and in the water Dr. Evelyn Gaiser (FIU) deploying buoy in Lake Annie, April 1-2, 2022. Photo by Gabe Kamener (FIU).

Primary Location(s)

Lake Annie Buoy 2008-2021  Lake Annie Profiling Buoy 2022 - present

Years Active

The new buoy profiles every hour measuring temperature, oxygen, light, algae (chlorophyll a), dissolved organic matter, turbidity, pH, and conductivity. On the surface there is a weather station measuring CO2, heat flux, temperature, oxygen, pH, conductivity, and light. Data are transmitted via cell phone and managed in Archbold's WISKI environmental data portal. 

Data and Analysis Types

Project Details

Lake Annie buoy data have been critical to help scientists understand how a subtropical, nutrient-poor lake compares to other lakes around the globe. Publications incorporating Lake Annie high frequency buoy data have shown, for example, how lakes around the world are becoming more tea-colored because of increased inflow and land use change, and that features such as temperature and transparency are changing because of global climate change. 

Major Findings & Impact

The Lake Annie buoy collects hourly/daily lake data to understand changes in features such as algae blooms, temperature mixing, nutrients for algae, oxygen for animals, and contributions to changing greenhouse gases.

Buoys and Sensors

Major Findings & Impact

Project Details

Related People

Featured Publications

Collaborators

Funders