The H-2A temporary agricultural workers visa program is a federal program allowing agricultural employers to bring in foreign workers on a seasonal basis. The extent to which H-2A workers earn more compared to their domestic unauthorized counterparts is of interest for both producers and workers. Using novel data on citrus harvest workers in the state of Florida, we estimate hourly earnings differentials by legal status using Classical and Bayesian inference. Findings suggest that participation in the H-2A program is associated with 18–23% higher hourly earnings for migrant harvesters in Florida after controlling for observable demographic and work-related variables.

The American crocodile Crocodylus acutus occurs across the Americas, with its northernmost distribution being in South Florida, USA. This species has undergone severe declines across its range and is categorized globally as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and as Threatened on the U.S. Federal Endangered Species List. Long-term monitoring studies in the USA have documented a shift in American crocodile nesting activity and an expansion of its range throughout the southern and eastern coasts of South Florida. However, no successful American crocodile nests have been recorded until now on the west coast of South Florida. Here we document the American crocodile nest monitoring conducted during 1997–2021 at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the first successful nest from the west coast of South Florida for C. acutus. Marco Airport and McIlvane Marsh are the two main American crocodile nesting areas identified at the Reserve, with 92 nests and 3,586 eggs recorded during 1997–2021. We found most nests at Marco Airport (95.7%) and only four nests (4.3%) at McIlvane Marsh. To date, none of the nests found at Marco Airport have produced successful hatchlings. In contrast, hatchlings have been produced at McIlvane Marsh since nests were first documented there in 2020. We discuss the implications of our findings in terms of the future conservation of the species.

Nontyphoidal salmonellosis is the leading reported foodborne illness in Florida. Although the diversity of Salmonella serotypes circulating in Florida has been identified, the geographical characteristics of the major serotypes are poorly described. Here we examined the geospatial patterns of 803 whole-genome sequenced Salmonella isolates within seven major serotypes (Enteritidis, Newport, Javiana, Sandiego, Braenderup, Typhimurium and I 4,[5],12:i:-) with the metadata obtained from Florida Department of Health during 2017–2018. Geographically, the distribution of incidence rates varied distinctively between serotypes. Illnesses with Enteritidis and Newport serotypes were widespread in Florida. The incidence rate for Javiana was relatively higher in the north compared to the south. Typhimurium was concentrated in the northwest, while I 4,[5],12:i:-, the monophasic variant of Typhimurium was limited to the south. We also evaluated space–time clustering of isolates at the zip code level using scan statistic models. Space–time clusters were detected for each major serotype during 2017–2018. The multinomial scan statistic found the risk of illness with Javiana was higher in the north and southwest in the fall of 2017 compared to other major serotypes. This serotype-specific clustering analysis will assist in further unpacking the associations between distinct reservoirs and illnesses with major serotypes in Florida.

The Florida orange juice industry has experienced great challenges—declining orange juice consumption and a domestic supply shortage that has led to increasing imports over the past decade. As growers look for a foothold, the question remains whether it is better to continue promoting orange juice (OJ) sales by focusing on the Florida “brand” or whether orange juice, in general, should be promoted using a federal marketing program. This study aims to identify the value of promoting “Florida” on OJ products to help the industry understand the potential benefits of enhancing the image of “Florida” in consumers’ perceptions of OJ.

Tropical forest ecosystems are rich in epiphytes that make up a significant portion of the overall plant diversity. However, epiphytic plants are often understudied due to inaccessibility and the lack of basic ecological information poses challenges to their conservation, particularly in a time of rapid global change. The mule-ear orchid, Trichocentrum undulatum (Orchidaceae), is a large flowering epiphyte found in southern Florida (USA), the Greater, and Lesser Antilles including Cuba. The plant is Florida state-listed as endangered with only one remaining small and declining population in a coastal mangrove forest due to historical extraction and habitat destruction. Currently, there is no systematic understanding of the species’ habitat requirements. To fill this void, we compared the habitat and microhabitat of the species on its northern distribution edge (southern Florida) and the core range (in Cuba). The Florida population has only one host species, Conocarpus erectus, found in one habitat type. This is in sharp contrast to the 92 documented hosts and 5 habitats across 8 provinces in Cuba. Based on our findings from Cuba, we suggest conservation and restoration options in Florida by proposing potential suitable host plants and habitats. Proactive restoration of this species will help to ease the threat from sea-level rise to the species by securing and expanding range margins.

To successfully reduce overall invasive plant cover over time, an effective treatment plan must be established such that mortality exceeds new colonization and resprouting growth rates. However, few evaluations of the effects of long-term, consistent treatment at different intervals exist. We report the effects of treatment intensity on Old World climbing fern [Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R. Br.], Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi), and punktree [Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S. F. Blake] as part of a large restoration project that has been underway for 6 yr in Telegraph Swamp at Babcock Ranch Preserve, a 27,520-hectare (68,000-acre) conservation area in Florida, USA. We found that at the end of the 6-yr period, for all three species, average live cover did not exceed 5% across all transects. In addition, dead foliar cover was higher than live cover for all three invasive plants, indicating progress toward restoration goals. We also found that percent live cover of L. microphyllum was significantly reduced only after four or more treatments were applied during the 6-yr period, as opposed to when three or fewer treatments were applied. Reductions in percent cover of live foliage were apparent only when the treatments were applied more often than biennially, as opposed to less often than biennially. Additionally, we found higher L. microphyllum cover in clear-cut and replanted cypress stands than in natural stands. Based on these findings, we conclude that treatments applied four or more times, or more often than biennially, were more effective at significantly reducing advanced invasions of L. microphyllum, S. terebinthifolia, and M. quinquenervia, especially where previous management activities or their effects may have increased the cover of invasive plants.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis has been found in Florida, USA, from the panhandle in the north to Miami and surrounding areas in the southern parts of the state, in both definitive and intermediate hosts in a limited studies completed in 2015. Additional studies have identified this parasite in a variety of intermediate hosts, both native and non-native gastropod species, with new host species recorded. Many areas in Florida with higher A. cantonensis prevalence were those with a high human population density, which suggests it is a matter of time before human infections occur in Florida. Case reports in the state currently involve non-human primates and include a gibbon and orangutan in Miami. Here, we report the current status of A. cantonensis in the state, as well as the infection in a capuchin monkey and presumptive infection in a red ruffed lemur in Gainesville, Florida.

This paper investigates cost-share program attributes that would affect producers' willingness to enroll in a cost-share program to fund the adoption of best management practices to improve water quality and decrease water use. Through a survey administered to Florida agricultural producers, we conducted choice experiments to assess farmers’ preferences for cost-share programs using five attributes: contracting agency, length of contract, annual verification process, costs included, and percent of costs covered. Results suggest that producers prefer cost-share programs with shorter contract lengths, self-monitoring, and administration by agricultural (as opposed to environmental) agencies. Our findings suggest the importance of an existing trust between the local communities and the contracting agencies for higher enrollment rates in cost –share programs. Our results can inform policymakers on ways to increase enrollment rates that move towards long-term environmental goals.

This article takes a close look at the history of an American tree now known as sassafras but known to the Timucua of early modern Florida as pauame. Sassafras root was a major anti-febrile medicament in the early modern world. The history of that medicament has thus far primarily been written in terms of the Spanish empire, which commodified it in post-contact Eurasia. Yet Native Americans, in particular the Timucua, as well as the French, the British, and the Russians, all played major roles in the history of sassafras. That history involves several objects derived from the tree sometimes called sassafras, knowledge about those objects, and Eurasian ideas about the Americas. This article focuses on the issues of entangled empires, and commodity and knowledge exchanges, to show that early modern commodities were not unitary objects, but rather shifting entanglements of objects, words, and ideas.

Integrating geophysical survey with the study of community settlement patterns can be challenging because of cultural and environmental factors including (1) site formation and house preservation, (2) the coordination of domestic tasks at extra-household scales, and (3) the survey environment of the study area. In this article, we present the results of a program of geophysical survey comprising magnetic susceptibility and magnetometry at Weeden Island (8Pi1)—a shell-bearing, wooded site with nearly pure sand soils on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Combining remote sensing techniques mitigated some of the challenges of surveying forested terrain while providing insight into community organization at a site with minimal preserved structural remains. Compared with previous traditional surveys of the area, the geophysical survey extended the recognized boundaries of occupational activity, provided additional definition to the spatial structure of deposits, and allowed us to identify specific domestic features. Excavations at each area of intensive occupation provided evidence about the organization of the domestic economy at the site and showed the potential of this approach to reveal significant patterns of community settlement.

English overseas colonialism is generally traced to the anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish ideologies of Richard Hakluyt, Humphrey Gilbert, and other exponents in the 1570s and 1580s. This article puts Florida at the forefront of English colonialism by taking seriously Thomas Stukeley's proposed colonisation expedition in 1563. The focus on the 1560s reveals how a dynastic rivalry with France, rather than a religious rivalry with Spain, gave birth to England's first colonial impulse. Jean Ribault, well known as the founder of French Florida, serves as the connecting link between Florida and England. His previously unappreciated role in European diplomacy unwittingly turned his fledgling colony into a pawn to be traded among France, Spain, and England. Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth's interest in joining the race for colonies may have been fuelled more by her desire to regain Calais from the French than to plant settlers in America. But while her motives may well have been cynical, the English public for the first time began to see itself as a colonising people. The end result was that Florida not only emerged as part of the fountainhead of English colonialism, but also came to play an important role in European politics.

Human alteration of the planet’s terrestrial landscapes for agriculture, habitation and commerce is reshaping wildlife communities. The threat of land cover change to wildlife is pronounced in regions with rapidly growing human populations. We investigated how species richness and species-specific occurrence of bats changed as a function of land cover and canopy (tree) cover across a rapidly changing region of Florida, USA. Contrary to our predictions, we found negligible effects of agriculture and urban development on the occurrence of all species. In contrast, we found that a remotely sensed metric of canopy cover on a broad scale (25 km2) was a good predictor of the occurrence of eight out of ten species. The occurrence of all smaller bats (vespertilionids) in our study increased with 0–50% increases in canopy cover, while larger bats showed different patterns. Occurrence of Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) decreased with increasing canopy cover, and Florida bonneted bats (Eumops floridanus) were not influenced by canopy cover. We conclude that remotely sensed measures of canopy cover can provide a more reliable predictor of bat species richness than land-cover types, and efforts to prevent the loss of bat diversity should consider maintaining canopy cover across mosaic landscapes with diverse land-cover types.

Prior research predicts that election administration changes that increase voting costs should decrease participation, but it fails to consider that some interpret those changes as attacking their franchise. Drawing on psychological reactance theory, this study tests whether such perceived attacks might instead activate those citizens. It leverages the State of Florida’s multi-stage effort in 2012 to purge suspected non-citizens from its voter rolls, comparing the voting rates of suspected non-citizens whose registration was and was not formally challenged by the state. Within-registrant difference-in-difference and matching analyses estimate a positive, significant participatory effect of being challenged, particularly for Hispanics (the vast majority of the sample). Placebo tests show that those challenged were no more likely than those not challenged to vote in previous elections.

Multiple introductions of an exotic species can facilitate invasion success by allowing for a wider range of expressed trait values in the adventive range. Schinus terebinthifolius (Brazilian peppertree) is an invasive shrub that was introduced into Florida in two separate introductions and has subsequently hybridized, resulting in three distinct lineages (eastern, western, and hybrid). To determine whether allocation of aboveground biomass differed by introduction history, we destructively sampled 257 stems from each of six populations with differing introduction histories. The proportion of aboveground biomass allocated to fruit, wood, and leaves differed among the three populations. To determine whether the relationship between stem size and several dependent variables that measure plant performance (total dry weight, wood dry weight, number of fruits, fruit dry weight, leaf dry weight, and number of leaves) differed quantitatively by introduction history, we performed analyses of covariance. Slopes of these relationships (dependent variable vs. stem size) varied by lineage. Hybrid populations had the steepest slopes for one set of dependent variables (total dry weight, wood dry weight, and leaf dry weight), while western populations had the steepest slopes for a different set of dependent variables (number of fruits, fruit dry weight, and number of leaves). The parameterized regression equations for each dependent variable and lineage were used to nondestructively estimate different kinds of production by individuals that are part of long-term longitudinal studies to understand the demographic consequences of these different biomass allocation strategies for the performance of S. terebinthifolius individuals across the invaded range in Florida.