The ecological effects of physical damage from motorboats on turtle grass beds in southern Florida
Zieman JC. 1976. The ecological effects of physical damage from motorboats on turtle grass beds in southern Florida. Aquatic Botany. 2:127-139
A report on the ecological effects of motorboat damage in Florida Bay (Everglades National Park) and Biscayne Bay (Biscayne National Park) revealed that beds of turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum, although highly productive, do not recover rapidly following physical disturbance of the rhizome system. In shallow waters, the most common form of rhizome disturbance was determined to be from the propellers of motorboats. In Thalassia beds which were otherwise thriving, tracks resulting from propellers were observed to persist from two to five years. The proportion of fine sediment components was reduced in the sediments from the boat tracks, and the pH and Eh were also reduced in comparison to the surrounding grassbed. Damage of this type was also reported to occur most often in shallow passes between islands and keys and were found to be the slowest to recover due to the rapid tidal currents. Study Period: 1 month; Study Type: Qualitative; Habitat: Grassbed banks, passes; Biological Component: Benthic flora; Gear Type: Aerial photography, corer, inverted bottle; Number of Stations: 8; Number of Replicates/Station: 1; Temporal Frequency: Once; Abiotic Parameters Measured: pH, Eh; Dominant Taxon/Taxa Studied: Thalassia testudinum.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Zieman, Joseph
- Units
- BISC , BUIS , EVER
- Keywords
- Boating, Impacts, Plant Studies, Recovery, Seagrasses, Sediment, Thalassia testudinum, Turtlegrass