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A Restored Seagrass (Thalassia) Bed and Its Animal Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Patsy A. McLaughlin ,
Sara-Ann F. Treat ,
Anitra Thorhaug  and
Rafael Lemaitre
Patsy A. McLaughlin
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, USA.
Sara-Ann F. Treat
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, USA.
Anitra Thorhaug
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, USA.
Rafael Lemaitre
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, USA.
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Extract

Quarterly sampling of animals in a restored seagrass (Thalassia) area in south Biscayne Bay, Florida, was undertaken to determine whether the recolonizing animal community would be similar in structure to a Thalassia community that had never been impacted by thermal effluents or restored. Samplings by 1 m bottom trawl (⅛ inch = 3.2 mm stretch-mesh), 3 replicates at each of 9 stations, and a 15-cm2 grab (5 replicates at 9 stations) were sorted as to species for most groups and quantified. Strong seasonal differences were found. The results were compared with data from previous work in the area which had been done during thermal emissions from a power-plant.

Significant differences were found between the abundance and species of animals in restored areas and a nearby barren area that had never recovered from impact, though differences in species and abundances between the restored Thalassia sites and an unaffected control site were not statistically different. Populations of certain groups such as the commercial Pink Shrimp (Penaeus duorarum), caridean shrimps, and juvenile fishes, were numerically far higher in the restored area than in control or naturally reestablishing successional seagrasses, and at least an order of magnitude higher than in barren areas that had never recovered from impact.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1983 , pp. 247 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1983

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