NASA-TM-112712 <, ) i / . SAVING SPACE: WILDLIFE RESEARCH ON KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA Rebecca B. Smith Mary Jo Barkaszi David R. Breininger The Bionetics Corporation NASA Biomedical Operations and Research Office Mail Code BIO-2 Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899 Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is 57,000 ha of land and lagoons located on the east central coast of Florida. Owned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the 55,000 ha not used for space operations are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and the National Park Service as Canaveral National Seashore (CNS). KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Air Force. Most of KSC is located on northern Merritt Island and forms a barrier island complex with Cape Canaveral. The resulting topography is a ridge and swale system of relict dunes that intergrades a variety of uplands with fresh and brackish water wetlands. KSC is in a transition zone between the temperate and subtropical biotic provinces. These characteristics have given rise to a remarkably diverse assemblage of plants and animals. Fourteen species of animals federally listed as threatened or endangered regularly occur on KSC, as well as 15 species that are under review for federal listing. Forty wildlife species on KSC are protected by Florida state laws. In order to responsibly manage this resource and comply with legal mandates, NASA has established a long-term environmental monitoring and research program that includes studying the effects of the space program on wildlife and wildlife habitat. Effects result not only from Space Shuttle launches, but also from new construction and ongoing operations. To answer specific questions, studies are conducted on focal wildlife species which are particularly vulnerable to development and whose status on KSC is important to their entire population. Approaches used to quantify species' biological patterns on KSC allow researchers to address a variety of operational issues. Seven examples of current projects are discussed here. The Atlantic loggerhead (Caretta caretta) is a marine turtle that was federally listed as threatened in 1978. The east coast of Florida, including KSC area beaches, supports the second largest density of nesting loggerheads in the world and surveys have been done on the KSC beach since 1976. A study on the effects of sand temperature on the sex determination of loggerhead hatchlings showed that eggs incubated on the KSC beach produced 95% females, while the majority of hatchlings produced in cooler North Carolina 230 AAZPA 1993 RI_IONAL PROCEH)II_TS