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Home | Gulf of Mexico Seagrass Publications
This page is archived and is no longer being maintained. Content was last updated in 2015. For current research, visit http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/. |
| Gulf of Mexico 2004 Seagrass Publications |
| Seagrass Communities of the Gulf Coast of Florida: Status and Ecology |
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The waters along Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coastline, which stretches from the tropical Florida Keys in the south to the temperate Panhandle in the north, contain the most extensive and diverse seagrass meadows in the United States. Seagrass meadows rival or exceed most kinds of agriculture in their productivity and also provide unique aesthetic and recreational opportunities. The importance of seagrasses as food, shelter, and essential nursery habitats for commercial- and recreational-fishery species and for the many other organisms that live and feed in seagrass beds is well known. A single acre of seagrass can produce over 10 tons of leaves per year and can support as many as 40 thousand fish and 50 million invertebrates. This high level of production and biodiversity has led to the view that seagrass communities are the marine equivalent of tropical rainforests. The importance of seagrasses to society has become fully recognized by government agencies. Seagrasses are now receiving focused attention from environmental managers, who require integrated science to aid in developing seagrass-protection programs. Studies concerning the ecology, biology, and management of Gulf-coast seagrasses are increasingly diverse and complex; yet a synthesis of this research has not been prepared since the late 1980s. The need for an up-to-date synthesis resulted in the production of this document, which compiled and organized the many diverse research efforts that have been accomplished for this region since that time. |
| Download PDF (2630 KB) 80 Pages |
Contact Info: Misty Cladas (Manager, Tampa Bay Estuary Program)
Email: misty@tbep.org, Phone:727-893-2765
For current information about the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, go to http://www.tbep.org
For TBEP technical publications from 1992–2015, go to https://tbeptech.org/data/34-tech-pubs
Published Year: 2004, Author: Clinton J. Dawes, Ronald C. Phillips, Gerold Morrison |
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| Seagrass Habitat in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Degradation, Conservation and Restoration of a Valuable Resource |
The Gulf of Mexico Program (GMP) is a network of citizens dedicated to managing and protecting the resources of the Gulf of Mexico in ways consistent with the economic well-being of the region. Administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the GMP engages many organizations across the Gulf for leadership on four ecological issues across the Gulf watersheds: (1) public health, (2) excess nutrient enrichment, (3) habitat degradation and loss, and (4) introduction of nonindigenous species. The GMP includes representatives from state and Federal agencies, non-profit organizations, the scientific community, business and industry, and an organized citizens group whose members are individually appointed by the governors of the five Gulf States (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida). The GMP has long recognized estuaries and coastal wetlands as vital to providing food and shelter for certain plants and animals, improving water quality, providing sediment filtration and flood and erosion control. In 1999, the GMP’s Habitat Team set a goal to restore, enhance, or protect 20,000 acres of important coastal and marine habitats in U.S. areas of the Gulf by 2009. The GMP Habitat Team also developed several objectives to support this goal, including the production of an updated Seagrass Status and Trends Report. The purpose of this report was to provide scientists, managers, and citizens with valuable baseline information on the status of seagrasses in coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and to increase awareness that the seagrasses of the Gulf are of global significance. To produce this report, the GMP’s Habitat Team formed a Seagrass Subcommittee consisting of scientists and environmental managers along the Gulf Coast. This committee provided valuable information regarding the latest seagrass maps, seagrass status and trends, causes of change and current monitoring, restoration, and enhancement activities important to their area.
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| Download PDF (873 KB) 28 Pages |
Contact Info: Diane Altsman (Gulf of Mexico Program)
Email: Altsman.Diane@epamail.epa.gov, Phone: 228-688-7015
Published Year: 2004, Author: Gulf of Mexico Program |
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