Seagrass Monitoring in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Data syntheses: Abstracts
An assessment of nearshore benthic communities of the Florida Keys
Department of Biology and the Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199, USA
Understanding the causes of degradation to coastal marine ecosystems in the Florida Keys is a significant research and management challenge. An important aspect of this challenge is distinguishing between influences of natural environmental factors and anthropogenic factors on spatial and temporal variations in nearshore environments. To this end, a landscape scale investigation of nearshore (<1 km from shore) benthic communities of the Florida Keys was initiated. Spatial variations in nearshore benthic communities were significantly related to variations in natural environmental factors (water depth, substrate type, and sediment depth). Spatial variation in the composition of nearshore benthic communities may be used to detect nutrient loading impacts, but additional experimental research is needed. Spatial variations in relative nutrient availability in nearshore environments exist, but are unrelated to variations in land use. Nearshore benthic macrophytes demonstrated slight temporal variations that differed between study areas, but these variations were also unrelated to land use.
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