Determining bathymetric distributions of the eelgrass Zostera marina L. in three turbid estuaries on the eastern North Pacific coast
-
David Young
,
Patrick Clinton
Abstract
Improved methods for determining bathymetric distributions of dominant intertidal plants throughout their estuarine ranges are needed. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a seagrass native to estuaries of the northeastern Pacific and many other marine regions of the northern hemisphere. The techniques described here employed large-format aerial photography using false color near-infrared film with digital image classification, and the production of digital bathymetric models of shallow estuaries, such as those occurring in turbid waters of the United States Pacific Northwest. Application of geographic information system procedures to Z. marina classifications and estuarine bathymetries yielded intertidal eelgrass bathymetric distributions based on a very large number of data points. Similar bathymetric patterns were obtained for the three estuaries surveyed, and approximately 90% of the classified Z. marina occurred within the depth range -1.0 m to +1.0 m (mean lower low water). Comparison of these depth distributions with ground surveys of Z. marina lower depth limits indicated that the area of undetected subtidal eelgrass constituted <10% of the areal distributions classified (with ≥86% overall accuracy) in each estuary. Zostera marina areal distribution in one estuary was distinctly different from those in the other two systems, which illustrated the potential usefulness of this technique in exploring causal factors for such differences in areal distributions of estuarine intertidal vegetation.
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Research Articles
- Fucoid assemblages on the north coast of Spain: past and present (1977–2007)
- New record of Sargassum denticarpum Ajisaka (Fucales, Phaeophyceae) from Iriomote Island (Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan)
- Seasonal periodicity and reproduction of brown algae (Phaeophyceae) at Puerto Deseado (Patagonia)
- Determining bathymetric distributions of the eelgrass Zostera marina L. in three turbid estuaries on the eastern North Pacific coast
- Morphological and molecular evidence demonstrates the amphi-Atlantic distribution of Laurencia catarinensis (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta)
- Effects of temperature, salinity, irradiance, and nutrients on the development of carposporelings and tetrasporophytes in Gracilaria domingensis (Kütz.) Sonder ex Dickie (Rhodophyta, Gracilariales)
- A novel method for phosphoprotein extraction from macroalgae
- Antioxidants in mangrove plants and endophytic fungal associations
- The marine halophytes Carpobrotus edulis L. and Arthrocnemum macrostachyum L. are potential sources of nutritionally important PUFAs and metabolites with antioxidant, metal chelating and anticholinesterase inhibitory activities
- Culture medium optimization and lipid profiling of Cylindrotheca, a lipid- and polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich pennate diatom and potential source of eicosapentaenoic acid
- Short Communications
- Application of image analysis software to the morphometrics of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile and Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson
- Delayed modifications in plant-water relations in the coastal marsh halophyte Spartina patens following sudden increases in soil salinity
- Algicidal activity and potential antifouling defenses in macroalgae from the western Antarctic Peninsula including probable synergistic effects of multiple compounds
