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HABITAT ASSESSMENT USING A RANDOM PROBABILITY BASED SAMPLING DESIGN: ESCAMBIA RIVER DELTA, FLORIDA
Citation:
SMITH, L. M., D. D. DANTIN, AND S. J. JORDAN. HABITAT ASSESSMENT USING A RANDOM PROBABILITY BASED SAMPLING DESIGN: ESCAMBIA RIVER DELTA, FLORIDA. Presented at Society of Wetland Scientists & Multi-Society Meeting, Pensacola Beach, FL, March 30 - April 02, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
Conference abstract
Description:
Smith, Lisa M., Darrin D. Dantin and Steve Jordan. In press. Habitat Assessment Using a Random Probability Based Sampling Design: Escambia River Delta, Florida (Abstract). To be presented at the SWS/GERS Fall Joint Society Meeting: Communication and Collaboration: Coastal Systems of the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern United States, 6-9 October 2004, Pensacola Beach, FL. 1 p. (ERL,GB R1023).
Conversion to open water and fill activities eliminating vegetation may alter salt marsh edge habitats so that they no longer support juvenile populations of economically important species of shrimp, crab, and fish. We have developed an approach to assess the relationship between habitat quality and nekton density in a Gulf of Mexico salt marsh. A probability based sampling design is being used in the Escambia River Delta pilot study to examine nekton densities in open water, altered edge and vegetated edge habitats. Randomly selected sites from the probability based design allow for spatial analysis of the three habitats with nekton density, salinity and shoot density as indicator components for comparative assessments. The results from this pilot study will be evaluated using existing nekton density data from similar Gulf coast habitats to determine if the probability based approach is an effective took for assessing habitat quality for protective criteria development.