Long-term performance of seagrass restoration projects in Florida, USA.

ABSTRACT: Seagrass restoration is a common tool for ecosystem service enhancement and compensatory mitigation for habitat loss. However, little is known about the long-term performance of these projects. We identified seagrass restoration projects by reviewing historic permitting documents, monitoring reports, and studies conducted in Florida, USA, most of which have not been cited previously in peer-reviewed literature. We then revisited 33 seagrass restorations ranging in age from 3 to 32 years to compare seagrass percent cover, species diversity, and community structure in restored and contemporary reference seagrass beds. We found that 88% of restoration projects continued to support seagrass and, overall, restored percent cover values were 37% lower than references. Community composition and se

SUBMITTER: Rezek RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6820728 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature