Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Keywords

Bay Scallop Restoration, Sarasota Bay, Argopecten irradians, Seagrass, Biofouling

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies

Abstract

Bay scallops (Argopecten irradians) are an ecologically, economically, and culturally valued species in Florida. Coastal human expansion and development have reduced water quality through nutrient runoff and substantially reduced seagrass coverage, the bay scallop’s primary habitat. These pressures, in combination with commercial and recreational overharvesting, have promoted a statewide decline in bay scallop populations. Their susceptibility to environmental changes and unique life-history characteristics fail to promote natural recovery, even when limitations to harvesting are enacted. Restoration efforts have become a prominent component in Florida bays where scallop abundance has been compromised. Bay scallop populations in Sarasota Bay are currently non-existent, with a few individuals found sporadically throughout the area. There are numerous methods to restoring bay scallops, each of which presents specific challenges and tradeoffs. Restoration efforts by partners of local scallop restoration, Mote Marine Laboratory and Sarasota Bay Watch, involve translocation, free-release, and culture-based strategies. This thesis addresses these restoration strategies and their challenges, with a focus on one byproduct of the spawner sanctuary method: biofouling. In an effort to determine if seagrass presence or absence had an effect on biofouling accumulation, an exploratory field study was conducted in Sarasota Bay using settlement plates. This study revealed that seagrass presence reduced biofouling to a statistically significant degree across all dependent measures on plates located inside of seagrass beds. The dependent measures of biofouling (fouling mass wet weight, fouling mass dry weight, barnacles present, and percent coverage estimates) indicate that the physical properties of seagrass beds limit biofouling accumulation, which are important findings for the Sarasota Bay area. This thesis concludes with suggestions for improvements to current restoration practices.

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