Colonization of Dredged Material Placement Areas by Shoalgrass in Lower Laguna Madre, Texas, and the Habitat Value of These Sites for Fishery Species

Details

• Creators:
  Sheridan, Pete
• Corporate Creators:
  United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Technology Implementation Office ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Crustaceans Dredged Materials Fishes Grasses Habitat (Ecology) Lower Laguna Madre(Texas) Revegetation Seagrasses Seawater Sediments Shoalgrass Transplanting Waste Disposal

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• Publication/ Report Number:
  2960-1F
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Texas
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Texas. Department of Transportation
• Abstract:
  This project was designed to document the effects of transplanting on seagrass re-vegetation rate at dredged material placement areas and to compare utilization of these sites by fishes and crustaceans with that in adjacent re-vegetated placement areas and in undisturbed seagrass beds. The objective of the project was to determine ·whether dredged material placement operations can be modified to increase the seagrass re-vegetation rate between dredging cycles and thus improve habitat value over a shorter time frame. Water quality, light transmittance, seagrass density, sediment characteristics, and densities of fishery species and other natant macrofauna were measured at, and adjacent to, two experimental re-vegetation sites in Lower Laguna Madre near South Padre Island. Dredge deposits at experimental sites were completed in November 1994, and Halodule wrightii (shoalgrass) was transplanted onto the sites in June and September 1995. Light transmittance was monitored during November 1995 - November 1996. Water, sediment, seagrass, and faunal data were collected in April and October 1996 and April and September 1997. Seagrasses neither survived transplanting nor colonized naturally at either site. The failure of transplants at the experimental sites was likely a combination of planting seagrasses adapted to high light and low nutrients into an environment characterized by low light, high sediment ammonium concentration, and unstable substrate.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  USACE MIPR 96-PL-005
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dc5cb953b9ef775ad54727df831b7f518b8877d950717ab4b6c03adf7a76cc6fcf1c38e7c149bd18454d523a22d4c0507c53e20749039133dc0a4ca8a783e116
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/86563/dot_86563_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.16 MB ]