Record Display for the EPA National Library Catalog

RECORD NUMBER: 155 OF 581

Main Title Comparative Effects of Water-Column Nitrate Enrichment on Eelgrass, Shoal Grass, and Widgeon Grass.
Author Burkholder, J. M. ;
CORP Author North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh. Dept. of Botany.;North Carolina Dept. of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, Raleigh. Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study.
Publisher Aug 93
Year Published 1993
Report Number APES-PR-50178; APES-93-09;
Stock Number PB94-192630
Additional Subjects North Carolina ; Water quality ; Grasses ; Aquatic plants ; Widgeon grass ; Environmental issues ; Comparative evaluation ; Coasts ; Nutrients ; Eutrophication ; Ecosystems ; Nitrates ; Water pollution effects ; Eelgrass ; Shoal grass ; Zostera marina ; Halodule wrightii ; Ruppia maritima ; Mesocosms ; Coastal development
Holdings
Library Call Number Additional Info Location Last
Modified
Checkout
Status
NTIS  PB94-192630 Some EPA libraries have a fiche copy filed under the call number shown. 07/26/2022
Collation 65p
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to work toward determining the threshold range of water-column nitrate enrichment that promotes destruction of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.), and to examine whether nitrate enrichment is toxic to two other submersed aquatic marine/estuarine plants, shoal grass (the seagrass Halodule wrightii Ascher) and widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima L.). These species are of interest for potential use in re-establishing beds of submersed aquatic vegetation within areas where eelgrass habitat loss has been correlated with nutrient enrichment or other factors associated with cultural eutrophication and coastal development. This research indicates that Halodule wrightii or Ruppia maritima could be established by transplanting efforts as a management strategy in nitrate-enriched waters where eelgrass meadows have disappeared. Unlike Zostera marina, these plants apparently have physiological mechanisms to more efficiently process and control consumed nitrate; indeed, R. maritima seems to have derived a competitive advantage in nitrate-enriched conditions.