5/27/2023 0 Comments Pine islandMangroves typically outcompete salt marsh vegetation in the estuaries of Southwest Florida. Salt marshes are present in CHAP but are found only in Lemon Bay, Gasparilla Sound-Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound aquatic preserves. In Charlotte Harbor, as in all of South Florida, salt marshes generally serve as a transitional zone between mangroves and freshwater marshes. Cordgrass is found where the marsh is flooded almost daily, whereas needle rush and saltgrass are found where the marsh is flooded less frequently. Flooding frequency and soil salinity are the two major environmental factors that influence salt marsh vegetation saltgrass ( Distichlis spicata), needle rush ( Juncus spp.) and saltmarsh cordgrass ( Spartina alterniflora) all tolerate a wide range of salinities. Salt marshes may have distinct zones of vegetation, each dominated by a single species of grass or rush. The width of the intertidal zone depends on the slope of the shore and the tidal range. Salt marshes occur in the portion of the coastal zone affected by tides and seawater but are protected from large waves either by the broad, gently sloping topography of the shore, by a barrier island, or by location along a bay or estuary. The relative abundance (0.1 percent) of oyster reef is low throughout CHAP. Natural predators impacting mollusk reefs within CHAP include stone crabs, blue crabs, oyster drills ( Stramonita haemastoma), sheepshead ( Archosargus probatocephalus), black drum ( Pogonias cromis) and other fishes and invertebrates. At least 90 percent of oyster reef habitat in the Charlotte Harbor region is estimated to have been lost as a result of dredging, mining for road beds, hydrologic changes and harvest ( Boswell, Ott, Birch, & Cobb, 2012). Tolley, Volety and Savarese (2005) studied the resident communities of oyster reefs in the Caloosahatchee estuary and identified 10 species of decapods and 16 species of fish living on the oyster reef. Oyster reef habitat provides numerous ecosystem services: They are essential fish habitat, bio-assimilate nutrients, filter water, reduce turbidity and stabilize shorelines among numerous other functions. Mollusk reefs, perhaps the most affected natural habitat type in CHAP, are expansive concentrations of sessile mollusks (usually the Eastern oyster in Florida) occurring in intertidal and subtidal zones to a depth of 40 feet, and are typically referred to as oyster reefs or oyster beds. Thus, the majority of the coastal sites from these earliest periods lie on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and the extensive bay system of the aquatic preserves. Part of the problem centers on the fact that there has been an overall 30- to 50-meter rise in sea level in the past 10,000 to 12,000 years. While there are many recorded sites, the prehistoric cultural sequence for the coastal areas around CHAP is still incompletely understood, particularly the earlier pre-ceramic occupations. These historic sites include Native American and European encampments, villages and shipwrecks, along with prehistoric shell kitchen middens. However, much of the area has not been surveyed, and it is expected that there are still unrecorded sites located along the coastline of the uplands, on islands and in inundated areas. There are hundreds of historic or archaeological sites recorded in the Florida Master Site File within or immediately adjacent (i.e., within 50 meters or 164 feet) to CHAP, most of which are within CHAP boundaries. Human activity within CHAP and Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park dates back to the Archaic period, 10,500 – 3,000 B.P. Species diversity on these islands areįlorida’s coastal areas, especially uplands adjacent to water, often have a rich history of human settlement. The total peak nesting effort for these three islands combined from 2009-2016 is 5,032 nests. The three largest colonial rookeries are in Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve: Broken Islands, Hemp Key and Useppa Oyster Bar. Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve contains 16 of the 32 colonial rookery islands monitored monthly as a part of the Wading and Diving Bird Colonial Nest Monitoring Program. Monthly water quality monitoring since 1996 at five sites indicates that water quality and clarity is good within Pine Island Sound due to the proximity of the Gulf of Mexico and small watershed size. Some of the deepest-growing seagrass beds in CHAP occur within Pine Island Sound. With more than 17 years of monitoring data, results indicate that seagrasses vary significantly throughout the five Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves, but they generally appear healthy and diverse. In Pine Island Sound, waters from Charlotte Harbor, San Carlos Bay and the Caloosahatchee River mix with water from four passes to the Gulf of Mexico.Īnnual seagrass monitoring at 11 different sites in the Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve examines types, density, distribution and other parameters.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |