SEAGRASS
MANAGEMENT:
IT'S
NOT JUST NUTRIENTS!
Proceedings
of a Symposium
St.
Petersburg, Florida
August
22–24, 2000
H.S.
Greening
editor
These
Proceedings contain presentations given at a symposium held August 22-24, 2000,
in St.
Petersburg,
Florida, entitled "Seagrass Management: It's Not Just Nutrients!" The
symposium was
held
to review recent advances in seagrass research and management, and to define
priority issues
for
effective management of seagrasses in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. More than
150 seagrass
scientists
and managers attended the three-day symposium. Each manuscript in these
Proceedings
has
been reviewed by three peers and by Holly S. Greening (editor).
In
addition to the input and direction provided by the Steering Committee for this
Symposium, we
gratefully
acknowledge the wisdom provided by Rick Batiuk (Chesapeake Bay Program) and Ken
Moore
(Virginia Institute of Marine Science) for their summary and critique of each
day's session.
Sponsors
Tampa
Bay Estuary Program
Gulf
of Mexico Program
Florida
Sea Grant
Charlotte
Harbor National Estuary Program
Sarasota
Bay Project
Break
Sponsors
Seagrass
Recovery, Inc.
Lewis
Environmental Services, Inc.
Janicki
Environmental, Inc.
Peninsula
Design and Engineering, Inc.
Tampa
Bay Regional Planning Council
Tampa
BayWatch
Walt Avery, City of
Tampa Bay Study Group; Kellie Dixon, Mote Marine Laboratory; Penny Hall, FWC
Florida Marine Research Institute; Roger Johansson, City of Tampa Bay Study
Group; Ray Kurz, PBS&J; Roy R. (Robin) Lewis III; Lewis Environmental
Services, Inc.; Andy Squires, Pinellas County Dept. of Environmental Management;
Tom Ries, Scheda Ecological Associates; Dave Tomasko, Southwest Florida Water
Management District
Layout
design and compilation of this volume was done by Sally F. Treat of TEXT, a
technical
writing
and editing service (SFTEXT@aol.com). Printing of the Proceedings was done by
the Tampa
Bay
Regional Planning Council. Funding for the Symposium and this document was
provided by a
grant
from the Gulf of Mexico Program and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
This
volume should be cited as: Greening, H.S., editor. 2002. Seagrass Management:
It's Not Just
Nutrients!
2000 Aug 22-24; St. Petersburg, FL. Tampa Bay Estuary Program. 246 p.
Available
on CD from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, 100 8th Ave. SE, St. Petersburg, FL
33701 or
at
www.tbep.org.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................................... vii
H. Greening
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF TAMPA BAY WATER QUALITY AND SEAGRASS: ISSUES AND TRENDS
J.O.R. Johansson....................................................................................................................................................................................1
STATUS AND TRENDS OF SEAGRASS COVERAGE IN TAMPA BAY, WITH REFERENCE TO OTHER
D.A. Tomasko.......................................................................................................................................................................................11
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS OF TAMPA BAY SEAGRASSES:NUTRIENT-RELATED ISSUES STILL PENDING
L.K. Dixon..............................................................................................................................................................................................21
IMPLEMENTING THE TAMPA BAY SEAGRASS RESTORATION MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
H. Greening...........................................................................................................................................................................................29
SEAGRASS TRANSPLANTING AND RESTORATION IN TAMPA BAY
J.N. Ehringer, J. Anderson.................................................................................................................................................................39
..
SEAGRASS SCARRING IN TAMPA BAY: IMPACT ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT OPTIONS
J.F. Stowers, E. Fehrmann, A. Squires.............................................................................................................................................47
SEAGRASS MONITORING ISSUES IN TAMPA BAY
W. Avery.............................................................................................................................................................................................55
L.J. Morris, R.W. Virnstein, J.D. Miller..........................................................................................................................................59
UTILITY OF SEAGRASS RESTORATION INDICES BASED ON AREA, DEPTH, AND LIGHT
R.W. Virnstein, E.W. Carter IV, L.J. Morris, J.D. Miller..............................................................................................................69
COMPLEMENTARY USE OF DIFFERENT SEAGRASS TARGETS AND ANALYTICAL APPROACHES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
PLRGS FOR THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON
J.S. Steward.......................................................................................................................................................................................81
LIGHT ATTENUATION BY COLOR, CHLOROPHYLL A, AND TRIPTON IN INDIAN RIVER LAGOON
D. Christian, Y.P. Sheng..................................................................................................................................................................91
DECADAL CHANGES IN SEAGRASS DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE IN FLORIDA BAY
M.O. Hall, M.J. Durako, J.W. Fourqurean, J.C. Zieman...........................................................................................................107
THE DISTRIBUTION OF SEAGRASS AND BENTHIC HABITATS WESTWARD OF THE PATCH REEF SYSTEM BOUNDARY IN
BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK, FLORIDA, USA
R.R. Lewis III, A.B. Hodgson, M. Tooze, C.D. Kruer..............................................................................................................125
RESPONSES OF SUWANNEE RIVER TIDAL SAV TO ENSO-CONTROLLED CLIMATE VARIABILITY
E.D. Estevez, J. Sprinkel, R.A. Mattson....................................................................................................................................133
SEAGRASS RECOVERY IN WEST GALVESTON BAY
J. Huffman.....................................................................................................................................................................................145
WATER DEPTH (MTL) AT THE DEEP EDGE OF SEAGRASS MEADOWS IN TAMPA BAY MEASURED BY GPS
CARRIERPHASE PROCESSING: EVALUATION OF THE TECHNIQUE
J.O.R. Johansson........................................................................................................................................................................151
ON DEFINING THE "EDGE" OF A SEAGRASS BED
R. Virnstein, W. Avery, J.O.R. Johannson.............................................................................................................................169
USE OF A WAVE EXPOSURE TECHNIQUE FOR PREDICTING DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLGOICAL CHARACTERISTICS
B.D. Robbins, M.S. Fonseca, P. Whitfield, P. Clinton.........................................................................................................171
THE POTENTIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE LONGSHORE BAR SYSTEM TO THE PERSISTENCE AND RESTORATION OF
R.R. Lewis III.............................................................................................................................................................................177
PRODUCTION OF RHIZOME MERISTEMS BY THALASSIA TESTUDINUM
C. Dawes, J. Andorfer..............................................................................................................................................................185
THE DYNAMICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SLIME MOLD LABYRINTHULA
THALASSIA TESTUDINUM POPULATIONS IN FLORIDA
B.A. Blakesley, D.M. Berns, M.F. Merello, M.O. Hall, J. Hynovia...................................................................................199
SEAGRASS MAPPING: ACCURACY ISSUES
R.C. Kurz...................................................................................................................................................................................209
THE INFLUENCE OF SEDIMENT SULFIDE ON THE STRUCTURE OF SOUTH FLORIDA SEAGRASS COMMUNITIES
P.R. Carlson, Jr., L.A. Yarbro, B.J. Peterson, A. Ketron, H. Arnold,
.
COMPACT AIRBORNE SPECTROGRAPHIC IMAGER (CASI) IMAGING OF THE COASTAL ZONE NEAR TAMPA, FLORIDA
C.W. Kovach, G.A. Borstad, M.M. Alvarez......................................................................................................................229
NITROGEN ISOTOPIC COMPOSITIONS OF SEAGRASS AND ALGAE: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRACING NUTRIENT SOURCES
K.S. Dillon, J.P. Chanton, D.R. Corbett, W.C. Burnett....................................................................................................239