Grantee Research Project Results
2000 Progress Report: Red Snapper Demographics on Artificial Reefs: The Effect of Nearest-Neighbor Dynamics
EPA Grant Number: R827072C002Subproject: this is subproject number 002 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R827072
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Alabama Center For Estuarine Studies (ACES)
Center Director: Shipp, Robert L.
Title: Red Snapper Demographics on Artificial Reefs: The Effect of Nearest-Neighbor Dynamics
Investigators: Cowan, James H. , Shah, Arvind
Institution: University of South Alabama
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: October 1, 1999 through September 30, 2000
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 1999 through September 30, 2000
RFA: Alabama Center For Estuarine Studies (ACES) (1999) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Estuarine Studies , Targeted Research
Objective:
The goals of this study pertain to two interrelated projects. The first goal is to determine the effectiveness of various prefabricated artificial reef designs (funded by Alabama Department of Marine Resources). To accomplish this goal reef fish abundance, size structure, species diversity, and turnover rate (collectively referred to as reef fish demographics) on each of several different artificial reef designs was assessed using several fishery sampling techniques These techniques included hook-and-line catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE), diver visual census, video camera, and tag-recapture. The second goal, which is directly related to this project, is to relate the abundance, distribution, and bottom area of artificial and natural reefs to measures of reef fish demographics (obtained from the State funded project) at each experimental reef. To accomplish this goal a side-scan sonar was used.Progress Summary:
Catch-per-unit-effort tagging trips took place quarterly from February 1999 through December 2000. During CPUE trips, 14 experimental artificial reefs of two designs (grouper ghettos? and reefballs?) were sampled. All reef fish were captured by hook-and-line, measured, tagged and released. Estimates of fish abundance, biomass, species diversity, and size structure were calculated for each artificial reef. During spring and summer 1999-2000, diver visual censuses were also conducted. Divers surveyed artificial reefs and estimated reef fish demographics for each reef location. Estimates of reef fish demographics obtained from each of these methods were then related to the abundance, distribution, and volume of artificial and natural habitats (nearest-neighbor) surrounding each experimental reef. To quantify nearest-neighbor variables, a side-scan sonar was used. Side-scan mapping took place during March 2000. In May 2001, side-scan mapping will again be used to quantify nearest-neighbor variables and to determine temporal changes in habitat distribution (both natural and artificial habitats) and abundance. Based on side-scan mapped images from year-1 of the study, the abundance, proximity, and total bottom area of natural and artificial habitats within 1.0 km2 of each experimental reef have been quantified using GIS software.Analysis of reef fish demographics has been completed. Estimates of CPUE, biomass, species diversity, and red snapper total length were determined to vary by season, reef design, and sampling method. Biomass and CPUE were greatest during fall and winter sampling, and declined during spring and summer. Mean biomass of grouper ghetto reefs (mean Biomassgg = 26.8 kg) was twice that of reefballs (mean Biomassspr = 13.23 kg). Reef fish demographics were also found to vary within replicate reef designs. Four fold differences in biomass (i.e., 32.6 kg vs. 8.0 kg) and two-fold differences in CPUE (i.e., 10.87 vs. 4.75 fish fisher-1 hr-1) were observed within replicate artificial reef designs. Additionally, site fidelity was greater at larger artificial reefs (42% yr-1 vs. 28 yr-1). Analysis of the side-scan sonar data revealed that reef location has only minor influence on artificial-reef fish demographics. Distance to natural reef, distance to artificial reefs, artificial reef abundance, total bottom area of artificial reefs, substrate, and total bottom area of natural reefs explained less than 40% of the observed variability in reef fish demographics. Of the nearest-neighbor variables measured, substrate and total bottom area of artificial reefs (within 0.10 km2 of experimental reef) explained the greatest percentages of variability (33% and 25% respectively) in reef fish abundance and biomass.
Supplemental Keywords:
estuarine research, coastal ecosystem, artificial reef design, fishery sampling, human modifications, land and water use, watersheds, aquatic ecosystems., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Geographic Area, Water, ECOSYSTEMS, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, estuarine research, Aquatic Ecosystems & Estuarine Research, Chemical Engineering, exploratory research environmental biology, Environmental Chemistry, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Chemistry, Restoration, State, Aquatic Ecosystem, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Aquatic Ecosystems, Ecological Effects - Human Health, Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecology and Ecosystems, Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration, Ecological Indicators, water use, coastal ecosystem, estuaries, artificial reef design, watersheds, Alabama (AL), coastal environments, fish communities, ecosystem, red snapper, estuarine waters, water quality, fishery sampling, human modifications, red snapper demographicsProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractMain Center Abstract and Reports:
R827072 Alabama Center For Estuarine Studies (ACES) Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R827072C001 Fluorescent Whitening Agents As Facile Pollution Markers In Shellfishing Waters
R827072C002 Red Snapper Demographics on Artificial Reefs: The Effect of Nearest-Neighbor Dynamics
R827072C003 Stabilization of Eroding Shorelines in Estuarine Wave Eliminates with Constructed Fringe Wetlands Incorporating Offshore Breakwaters
R827072C004 Interaction Between Water Column Structure and Reproduction in Jellyfish Populations Of Mobile Bay (SGER)
R827072C005 Effects of Variation in River Discharge and Wind-Driven Resuspension on Higher Trophic Levels in the Mobile Bay Ecosystem
R827072C006 Results of Zooplankton Component
R827072C007 Benthic Study Component
R827072C008 A Preliminary Survey of Macroalgal and Aquatic Plant Distribution in the Mobile Tensaw Delta
R827072C009 Fisheries-induced changes in the structure and function of shallow water "nursery habitats": an experimental assessment
R827072C010 Effects Of Variation in River Discharge and Wind-Driven Resuspension on Lower Trophic Levels of the Mobile Bay Ecosystem
R827072C011 Evaluation of Alabama Estuaries as Developmental Habitat for Juvenile Sea Turtles
R827072C012 Effects of Salinity Stress on Natural and Anthropogenically-Derived Bacteria in Estuarine Environments
R827072C013 The Role of Land-Use/Land-Cover and Sub-estuarine Ecosystem Nitrogen Cycling in the Regulation of Nitrogen Delivery to a River Dominated Estuary; Mobile Bay, Alabama
R827072C014 Environmental Attitudes of Alabama Coastal Residents: Public Opinion Polls and Environmental Policy
R827072C015 Synthesis and Characterization of an Electrochemical Peptide Nucleic Acid Probe
R827072C016 Determinants of Small-Scale Variation in the Abundance of the Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus
R827072C017 Effects of Estrogen Pollution on the Reproductive Fitness of the Gulf Pipefish, Syngnathus scovelli
R827072C019 A Model for Genetic Diversity Aquatic Insects of the Mobile/Tensaw River Delta
R827072C020 Evaluating Trophic Processes as Indicators of Anthropogenic Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems: An Exploratory Analysis
R827072C021 Effects of Anthropogenic Eutrophication on the Magnitude and Trophic Fate of Microphytobenthic Production in Estuaries
R827072C022 Characteristics of Ship Waves and Wind Waves in Mobile Bay
R827072C023 Methods Comparison Between Stripping Voltammetry and Plasma Emission Spectroscopy for Metals in Mobile Bay
R827072C024 Changes in Water Conditions and Sedimentation Rates Associated With Construction of the Mobile Bay Causeway
R827072C025 Cold-Induced Hibernation of Marine Vibrios in the Gulf of Mexico: A Study of Cell-Cell Communication and Dormancy in Vibrio vulnificus
R827072C026 Holocene Sedimentary History of Weeks Bay, AL: Human and Natural Impacts on Deposition in a Gulf Coast Estuary
R827072C027 Shelter Bottlenecks and Self-Regulation in Blue Crab Populations: Assessing the Roles of Nursery Habitats and Juvenile Interactions for Shelter Dependent Organisms
R827072C028 Predicting Seagrass Survival in Nutrient Enriched Waters: Toward a New View of an Existing Paradigm
R827072C029 DMSP and its Role as an Antioxidant in the Salt Marsh Macrophyte Spartina alterniflora
R827072C030 A Preliminary Survey of Aerial and Ground-Dwelling Insects of the Mobile/Tensaw Delta
R827072C031 Natural Biogeochemical Tags of Striped Mullet, Mugil cephalus, Estuarine Nursery Areas in the North Central Gulf of Mexico
R827072C032 Resolution of Sedimentation Rates in Impacted Coastal Environments Using 137Cs and 210Pb Markers: Dog River and Fowl River Embayments
R827072C033 Investigation of the Use of Pulse Amplitude Modulated (PAM) Fluorometry as an Indicator of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Health in Mobile Bay
R827072C034 Influence of Invasive Plant Species in Determining Diversity of Aquatic Vegetation in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta
R827072C035 The Influence of Shallow Water Hydrodynamics on the Importance of Seagrass Detritus in Estuarine Food Webs
R827072C036 Food Web Interactions, Spatial Subsidies and the Flow of Energy Between the Mobile Bay Delta and Offshore Waters: A SGER Proposal to the Alabama Center for Estuarine Studies
R830651C001 Meteorological Modeling of Hurricanes and Coastal Interactions: A Stability Study For Vertical Pressure Levels
R830651C002 Characterization of Glycoprotein Cues Used by the Parasitic Rhizocephalan Barnacle Loxothylacus texanus To Identify Its Blue Crab Host, Callinectes sapidus
R830651C003 Survey of Diamondback Terrapin Populations in Alabama Estuaries
R830651C004 An Assessment of Environmental Contaminant Levels in Water and Dragonfly Larvae Tissues from the Mobile/Tensaw Delta
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.