Simulated response of St. Joseph Bay, Florida, seagrass meadows and their belowground carbon to anthropogenic and climate impacts.

ABSTRACT: Seagrass meadows are degraded globally and continue to decline in areal extent due to human pressures and climate change. This study used the bio-optical model GrassLight to explore the impact of climate change and anthropogenic stressors on seagrass extent, leaf area index (LAI) and belowground organic carbon (BGC) in St. Joseph Bay, Florida, using water quality data and remotely-sensed sea surface temperature (SST) from 2002 to 2020. Model predictions were compared with satellite-derived measurements of seagrass extent and shoot density from the Landsat images for the same period. The GrassLight-derived area of potential seagrass habitat ranged from 36.2 km² to 39.2 km², averaging 38.0 ± 0.8 km² compared to an observed seagrass extent of 23.0 ± 3.0 km

SUBMITTER: Lebrasse MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9924051 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature