Eighth International Symposium on Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research POSTER SESSION A [STUDENTS]

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STUDY OF BEDS OF Rupppia maritima AND whrightii AT GRAND BAY NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE,

Cristina C. Nica and Hyun J. Cho

Department of Biology, Jackson State University, 1400 Lynch St., Jackson, MS 39217, USA,

Abstract: beds provide nursery and foraging habitats for marine life, help improve water clarity, help reduce coastal erosion, and buffer wave energy. Therefore, temporal changes in their distribution and abundance indirectly reflect changes in the habitat quality and environmental health status. maritima, the most abundant and common species in the Mississippi seagrass beds, is an opportunistic, pioneer species that is highly dependent on sexual reproduction. In order to provide information needed to identify areas that can support seagrass growth and to understand the temporal variations in the seagrass structures within the areas, we conducted biannual surveys at Ruppia maritima and beds in Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), Mississippi. We hypothesized that there were significant spatial and short-term fluctuations in the coverage of Ruppia/Halodule beds. Three-way ANOVA was used to analyze seagrass depth distribution and abundance, which we surveyed along water depth gradients and shoreline orientation. Other pertinent water quality parameters - turbidity, [chlorophyll a], dissolved color, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, temperature, sediment, nutrients, and water level were monitored or obtained from the NERR monitoring data. The coverage and distribution of the beds dominated by R. maritima and the Ruppia – Halodule mixed beds of the tidal bay area (the estuarine area) in the reserve vary substantially primarily due to changes in R. maritima abundance between summer and fall. Our results suggest that water temperature, and precipitation regime might be contributing factors to the temporal difference. We also analyzed the biomass variation over one year period for three sites; the biomass of H. wrightii population at three sites varied significantly during study period. Post hoc analysis for sites showed that shoot, root, and total biomass for both Halodule wrightii and Ruppia maritima are significant different among sites. When we used season as independent variable, post hoc analysis showed a significant difference between spring/summer and fall/winter biomass, for both .

Key words: Submerged aquatic vegetation, ecology, coastal ecosystem, water quality, wetlands.

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