Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gilchrist, Sandra

Keywords

Seagrass, Seawall, New College of Florida

Area of Concentration

Environmental Science

Abstract

Seagrass is an important primary producer in marine ecosystems. It is under threat by many anthropogenic activities, particularly the ones that reduce water clarity and uproot living seagrass. Coastal construction, such the New College of Florida (NCF) Seawall Project conducted spring 2012 by Tandem Construction, can disturb sediment and soil, causing it to cloud the water and cover the seagrass, reducing seagrass coverage. To monitor the impact of the NCF seawall reconstruction on the nearby seagrass cover, the changing distance of the seagrass Halodule wrightii from shoreline was determined and sediment and turbidity data were collected. The restoration construction did cause a recession in the seagrass, while the addition of a lagoon did not. However, the seagrass in the disturbed area did not recede past the location of a turbidity curtain that was placed before construction was underway. This indicates that the precautions for minimizing the effect of the construction project on the adjacent seagrass were effective in the short term.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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