Plenary speakers for the Conference include:

• Dr. Ellen Gilinsky, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Water, Environmental Protection Agency, "Numeric versus Narrative Nutrient Criteria for Florida"
• Professor Larry Band, Voit Gilmore Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina, "Sources, Cycling and Control of Carbon and Nutrients in Urban and Agricultural Watersheds”
• Professor Dan Childers, Director, Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER, Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, " Peak Phosphorus and the Sustainable Phosphorus Initiative"
• Professor Andrew Sharpley, Professor of Soils and Water Quality, "Cycling and management of phosphorus in agricultural systems", University of Arkansas.

In addition over 150 contributed oral and posters presentations and several panel discussions will focus on integrating new research, education, policy and technology developments in six interdisciplinary areas:

• Understanding natural, anthropogenic and legacy sources of nutrients
  
  This theme will focus on the various sources of nutrients within a watershed that could contribute to downstream water quality issues. These include potential anthropogenic sources that are actively being applied such as landscape and agricultural fertilizers, domesticated animal waste and use of reclaimed water. They also include natural sources of nutrients, specifically phosphorus, which is geologically abundant in several regions of Florida and can result in a naturally elevated trophic state of rivers and lakes in these regions. This theme will also address the issue of legacy nutrient storages within a watershed, which were applied historically and have accumulated in the biomass, sediment and soils. Quantifying and discriminating between new and legacy sources of nutrients poses a significant challenge with regard to both how these loads should be managed and who is responsible for their management. Examples of topics to be explored in this theme include:
  
  

  • Recognizing natural nutrient sources when determining Total Maximum Daily Loads and Numeric Nutrient Criteria
  • Quantifying nutrient loads associated with use of reclaimed water
  • Defining and quantifying legacy nutrients
  • Recognizing and quantifying natural sources of phosphorus that are liberated due to anthropogenic water and land use changes
  • Using stable isotopes to differentiate nutrient sources
  • Budget and simulation models: Synthesis of existing nutrient sources and downstream effects in Florida ecosystems
• Nutrient dynamics and enrichment impacts in aquatic ecosystems
  
  This theme highlights current understanding of the biogeochemistry of important water bodies, how the myriad ecosystems interact physically and biologically, and how to best plan for sustainable aquatic ecosystems in Florida's future. Florida is host to a wide range of aquatic ecosystems that are responding to a changing array of nutrient and hydrologic drivers and stressors. At local and regional scales, altered land use and water/nutrient management affects the nutrient status of aquatic ecosystems, directly influencing the ecological structure and function of those systems. Relevant topics include:
  
  

  • Florida ecosystems: Understanding N, P, and S biogeochemical dynamics within springs, streams, lakes, wetlands, and estuaries/coasts
  • Ecosystem interactions: Pathways and transformations of nutrients along freshwater - estuarine gradients
  • Hydrologic influence: Effects of changes in upstream hydrologic modifications and nutrient storages on receiving water bodies
  • Stream and spring assessments: Challenges of nutrient considerations in determining downstream protection
  • Wetland restoration: Water quality constraints on increasing water flows in both large- and small- scale wetland systems
  • Budget and simulation models: Synthesis of existing and future nutrient fluxes within and among Florida ecosystems
  • Case studies of lessons learned in restoring Florida ecosystems
• Efficacy of nutrient source control strategies
  
  This theme focuses on defining, measuring, interpreting and understanding the efficacy of on-site and regional nutrient source control strategies and technologies. Presentations will address science and implementation topics associated with urban and agricultural strategies for water quality protection and restoration. The following are examples of relevant topical areas that will be explored in the context of the goal of achieving maximum measureable reduction of nutrient loading in Florida’s watersheds:
  
  

  • Management and design tools for maximizing source control in urban landscapes
  • Role of Low Impact Development in nutrient control
  • Evaluation of Florida-Friendly Landscaping water quality impacts
  • Evaluation of efficacy of structural and non-structural BMPs
  • Effectiveness of on-farm BMPs vs. regional treatment systems
  • Nutrient budgets and water budgets as management tools
  • BMP monitoring and verification protocols and timeframes
  • Modeling tools to assess farm-level and watershed level effectiveness of BMPs
  • Allocating nutrient loads among urban, agricultural, and municipal interests
  • Case studies of lessons learned from 15 years of BMP development, implementation and assessment
• Innovative biological, physical and chemical nutrient reduction and recovery technologies
  
  This theme will explore innovative nutrient reduction and recovery technologies, and their implementation considering laboratory-scale, field-scale, and watershed-scale investigations. Nutrient reduction technologies are needed for treatment and management of domestic and industrial wastewater, urban and suburban stormwater, and agricultural runoff. In addition, reduction technologies are being used to remediate nutrient-contaminated water and sediment in natural ecosystems. Examples of biological, physical, and chemical technologies that are used for nutrient reduction include treatment wetlands, algae scrubbers, precipitation, adsorption, and coagulation. Topics listed below as well as additional nutrient reduction and recovery technologies will be considered in this theme:
  
  

  • Wastewater treatment technologies to achieve ultra-low nutrient levels
  • Coupled biological and physical-chemical processes for nutrient reduction
  • Use of waste byproduct materials as low-cost adsorbents for nutrients
  • Innovative use of wetland treatment technologies
  • Floating island treatment systems for in situ remediation of nutrients
  • Engineered materials for selective removal and recovery of nutrients
  • Advanced oxidation of recalcitrant nutrients to a form more readily removable
  • Comparison of nutrient reduction efficiency for phosphorus and nitrogen
  • Scale-up and field testing of reduction and recovery technologies
  • Applications of modeling innovative reduction and recovery technologies
  • Case studies of innovative reduction and recovery technologies
• Social, behavioral, and economic aspects of nutrient management
  
  This theme focuses on defining, measuring, interpreting and understanding the social, behavioral and economic (costs, benefits, and tradeoffs) aspects of nutrient management strategies. To be efficient, nutrient management strategies should be designed to account for attitudes, preferences, and water and nutrient use behaviors of watershed stakeholders. To facilitate public understanding and acceptance of nutrient management techniques, it is necessary to identify social, cultural, and economic factors that influence water and nutrient use of residential households, agricultural producers, utility managers, natural resources and environmental groups, recreational interests, and other watershed stakeholders. Recognizing those factors provides tools to affect attitudes and practices, and to select strategies that will be acceptable to citizens. In this theme, social and behavioral responses as well as economic implications that will be explored in the context of optimizing the measureable reduction of nutrient loading in Florida’s watersheds. The following are examples of relevant topical areas:
  
  

  • Defining social dimensions of efficacy, performance, and capacity for improvement targets for best management practices
  • Balancing perceived competing goals for water quality, landscape health and landscape aesthetics
  • Evaluation of Florida-Friendly Landscaping and its influence on water quality impacts
  • Farmers’ willingness to implement agricultural best management practices
  • Keeping the pristine waters clean: nutrient management strategies for forested lands
  • Public perceptions of water quality issues and nutrient management strategies for groundwater, surface water, and coastal waters
  • Fertilizer ordinances, public education, and price-based best management practices
  • Information dissemination, informal education, social marketing efforts
  • Market and non-market values of water quality/resources and ecosystem services
  • Cost-benefit analyses of best management practices and other nutrient management strategies
  • Total maximum daily loads, basin management action plans, remedial action plans, and other management programs: who pays, who benefits, when, and how?
• Governance approaches to nutrient management
  
  Governance approaches to nutrient management include legal, policy, organizational, and planning aspects. These interrelated approaches determine how and where efforts to improve water quality are targeted, and how effective these efforts and the associated economic investments made by society are in improving and protecting water quality. There are many recent developments in governance at local, regional, state, national, and international levels. At all levels there are debates about the appropriate roles of government and the private and civic sectors, whose interests should be represented in policies, and what scientific interpretation to accept. Research and communication of governance approaches are critical to ensure their desired outcomes and adoption in other places (or not), as well as public deliberation about their benefits and costs. The following list indicates the types of topics that would be relevant to this theme:
  
  

  • Decision making and planning processes, and resulting plans, for nutrient management from project to watershed scales
  • Federal and state policy making, implementation, and enforcement of nutrient management rules and programs
  • Analyses of nutrient management policies and programs, including cost-benefit analysis of alternative policy options
  • Measuring economic benefits associated with water quality improvement and protection at watershed, regional, and state levels
  • Judicial cases and legal precedent for nutrient management or related issues
  • The politics of nutrient management, and the integration of nutrient science and technology with policy making and public outreach
  • Public-private partnerships to promote the use of best management practices (BMPs) and technological innovation for nutrient management
  • Adaptive management and governance for nutrient management
  • Changing conceptions of watershed or ecosystem restoration goals, including application of the concepts of sustainability and resilience
  • The integration of nutrient management with other societal goals and practices such as water supply planning and growth management