Multiscale Assessment of the Population Status of Thalassia testudinum (Turtle Grass): a New Approach to Ecosystem Assessment
The Multiscale Assessment of the Population Status of Thalassia testudinum will help develop the methods and framework for a statewide seagrass management program.
This project will help develop the methods and framework for a statewide seagrass monitoring program. The response of several well documented bio-indicators of
Thalassia health, as well as several new parameters to natural and anthropogenic stress is being measured at nine sites from the Chandeleur Islands to the Florida Keys.
By evaluating the response of several demographic, morphological, physiological and chemical characteristics of seagrass to natural and anthropogenic environmental stresses, we hope to extract a suite of rapid, cost-effective assessment techniques that can be used to closely monitor seagrass health in areas where GIS mapping indicates decline in seagrass abundance.
