Abstract:
The Caloosahatchee River and Estuary (CRE) Collaborative Research Project is one part of the Comrehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP)and is used to describe present-day conditions in the study area and to determine causal relationships of river flow to the distribution, abundance and/or condition of various ecosystem components. Role of hydrology on red tide, ecological significane of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV)as it affects juvenile fish communities and manatees, oyster bars, and effect of red tide on all. Report is divided into multiple sections: Gary Kirkpatrick, Brad Pederson, Chris Higham, & Barbara Berg of the Phytoplankton Ecology Program on the hydrographic conditions associated with red tide bloom development and maintenance. Brad Robbins, Michelle Gittler and Aaron Adams of the Landscape Ecology and Fisheries Habitat Programs studied submerged aquatic vegetation, juvenile fish and fisheries habitat with emphasis on seagrass distribution. Aswani Volety, Greg Tolley & Michael Savarese of FGCU looked at the ecological significance of the oyster, decapods, etc.
