The Ecology of the Seagrass Meadows of the West Coast of Florida

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The Ecology of the Seagrass Meadows of the West Coast of Florida r - i J _‘.; . ,I b : I .. - ! klogical Repal 85(7.25): ;‘*’ < September 1989 THE ECOLOGY OF THE SEAGRASS MEADOWS OF THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA: A Community Profile a Minerals Management Service and Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Department of the Interior Biological Report 85(7.25) September 1989 THE ECOLOGY OF THE SEAGRASS MEADOWS OF THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA: A COMMUNITY PROFILE Joseph C. Zieman Rita T. Zieman Department of Environmental Sciences University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22903 Project Officer Edward Pendleton U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Research Center 1010 Gause Boulevard Slidell, LA 70458 Conducted in Cooperation With Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Research and Development Washington, D C 20240 DISCLAIMER The opinions and recommendations expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, nor does the mention of trade names constitute endorsement or recommendations for use by the Federal Government. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zieman, Joseph C. The ecology of the seagrass meadows of the west coast of Florida. (Biological report ; 85 (7.25) “National Wetlands Research Center.” “Conducted in cooperation with Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico.” “September 1989.” Bibliography: p. 1. Marine ecology--Florida. 2. Marine ecology--Mexico, Gulf of. 3. Seagrasses--Florida--Ecology. 4. Seagrasses--Mexico, Gulf of--Ecology. I. Zieman, Rita T. II. Pendleton, Edward C. III. National Wetlands Research Center (U.S.) IV. United States. Minerals Management Service. V. Title. VI. Series: Biological report (Washington, D.C.) ; 857.25. QH105.F6Z49 1989 574.5’2636’0916364 89-600197 Suggested citation: Zieman, J.C., and R.T. Zieman. 1989. The ecology of the seagrass meadows of the west coast of Florida: a community profile. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Biol. Rep. 85(7.25). 155 pp. PREFACE Seagrass beds have come to be known as synthesizing what is known of the extremely productive and valuable coastal ecologic structure, functioning, and wetland resources. They are critical values of these marine and estuarine nursery areas for a number of fish, communities. This profile in particular shrimp, and crab species, and support the builds on the author's earlier profile on adults of these and other species that the seagrass meadows of south Florida. forage around seagrass beds, preying on As will become apparent to the reader, the rich and varied fauna that occur in while enough is known to describe the these habitats. Seagrass beds support gulf coast seagrass community, there has several endangered and threatened been little study of the finer points of species, including sea turtles and the structure and function of seagrass manatees along the west coast of Florida, beds in this region. To shed light on the geographic area covered in this the ecology of Thalassia, Syringodium, profile. and Halodule meadows on Florida's aulf., coast, one is forced to extrapolate a For these reasons and others, seagrass good deal from information from studies beds or meadows have been the topic of conducted on the south and southeast several of the reports in this community Florida coasts and elsewhere. However, profile series. This report, covering in so doing the author has been able to the seagrass community of the Florida update his own earlier communitv profile. Gulf of Mexico coastline from south of Thus, The Ecology --of the Seagra;s'Meadows Tampa Bay to Pensacola, is the fifth --of the West Coast of Florida is not only community profile to deal with submerged a synthexof &IC, but also serves aquatic vegetation beds; others in the as- a state-of-the-art review of series have synthesized ecologic data on subtropical seagrass ecology and a seagrasses of south Florida, eelgrass beds in the Pacific Northwest and along the Atlantic coast, and kelp forests of the central California coastline. this series, the profile finally high- lights how much is still left to learn These reports in total represent a about these valuable natural habitats. major effort toward summarizing and iii CONVERSION FACTORS Metric to U.S. Customary Multiply BY To Obtain millimeters (mm) 0.03937 inches centimeters (cm) 0.3937 inches meters (m) 3.281 feet meters (m) 0.5468 fathoms kilometers (km) 0.6214 statute miles kilometers (km) 0.5396 nautical miles square meters (m’) 10.76 square feet square kilometers (km’) 0.3861 square mrles hectares (ha) 2.471 acres liters (I) 0.2642 gallons cubic meters (m3) 35.31 cubic feet cubic meters (m3) 0.0008110 acre-feet milligrams (mg) 0.00003527 ounces grams (9) 0.03527 ounces kilograms (kg) 2.205 pounds metric tons (1) 2205.0 pounds metric tons (1) 1.102 short tons kilocalories (kcal) 3.968 British thermal units Celsius degrees (‘C) 1.8(%) + 32 Fahrenheit degrees U.S. Customary to Metric inches 25.40 millimeters inches 2.54 centimeters feet (ft) 0.3048 meters fathoms 1.829 meters statute miles (mi) 1.609 kilometers nautical miles (nmi) i ,852 kilometers square feet (ft2) 0.0929 square meters square miles (mi2) 2.590 square kilometers acres 0.4047 hectares gallons (gal) 3.785 liters cubic feet (ft3) 0.02831 cubic meters acre-feet 1233.0 cubic meters ounces (02) 28350.0 milligrams ounces (02) 28.35 grams pounds (lb) 0.4536 kilograms pounds (lb) 0.00045 metric tons short tons (ton) 0.9072 metric tons British thermal units (Etu) 0.2520 kilocalories Fahrenheit degrees (“F) 0.5556 (“F - 32) Celsius degrees iv CONTENTS Page PREFACE ........................................................................... iii CONVERSION FACTORS ................................................................ iv FIGURES ........................................................................... vii TABLES ............................................................................ viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................... 1 Seagrass Ecosystems ..................................................... :*: The Seagrasses of the West Coast of Florida ............................. 1:3 Physical Environment .................................................... Geologic Environment .................................................... ::: Succession and Ecosystem Development .................................... CHAPTER 2 AUTECOLOGY OF FLORIDA GULF COAST SEAGRASSES ........................... 11 2.1 Plant Morphology and Growth ............................................. Reproduction ............................................................ :2' z Plant Constituents ...................................................... 14 214 Physiological Ecology ................................................... 2.4.1 Environmental Tolerances and Responses ........................... ;: 2.4.2 Photosynthetic Carbon Fixation ................................... 23 2.4.3 Isotopic Fractionation ........................................... 23 2.5 Nutrient Uptake and Supply .............................................. 24 CHAPTER 3 DISTRIBUTION, BIOMASS, AND PRODUCTIVITY ............................... 27 3.1 Distribution ... ........................................................ 27 3.1.1 Seagrass Distribution in Tampa Bay ............................... 27 3.1.2 Seagrass Distribution in the Big Bend Area ....................... 29 3.2 Biomass ................................................................. 34 3.2.1 Seagrass Biomass in Tampa Bay .................................... 3.2.2 Seagrass Biomass in the Big Bend Area ............................ :: 3.3 Productivity ............................................................ 37 3.3.1 Seagrass Productivity in Tampa Bay ............................... 3.3.2 Seagrass Productivity in the Big Bend Area ....................... :; CHAPTER 4. COMPONENTS OF THE SEAGRASS COMMUNITY .................................. 40 4.1 Algal Associates ........................................................ 4.1.1 Phytoplankton .................................................... t; 4.1.2 Benthic Algae .................................................... 4.1.3 Epiphytic Algae .................................................. t: 4.2 Invertebrates ........................................................... 46 4.3 Fishes .................................................................. 48 V Page 4.4 Reptiles ................................................................ 53 4.5 Birds ................................................................... 53 4.6 Mammals ................................................................. 54 CHAPTER 5. STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN SEAGRASS SYSTEMS........... 58 5.1 The Relationship of Structure, Shelter, and Predation ................... 58 5.1.1 Fauna1 Abundance and Structure ................................... 58 5.1.2 Structure and Predation .......................................... 60 5.1.3 Fauna1 Sampling: The Problems of Gear and Technique .............. 66 5.2 General Trophic Structure ............................................... 67 5.2.1 Seagrass Grazers ................................................. 68 5.2.2 Epiphyte Seagrass Complex ........................................ 70 5.2.3 Detrital Feeding ................................................. 70 5.2.4 Carnivory ........................................................ 71 5.2.5 Trophies and Ontogenetic
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