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Identifying Suitable
Eelgrass Restoration Sites in Commencement Bay
Eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds are important components of marine
ecosystems, acting as areas of high productivity and nutrient cycling,
stabilizing sediment, and providing critical habitat for juvenile salmon
and other marine organisms. Worldwide seagrass beds have been in decline
because of human activity and this trend is especially apparent in
Commencement Bay, WA. Due to the importance of eelgrass to salmon
restoration, government agencies, community groups, and environmental
organizations have been involved in eelgrass restoration efforts.
We have been using underwater videography techniques and Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) to map eelgrass beds in the nearshore area of
Commencement Bay along Ruston Way. The objective of this study is to
identify areas best suited for restoration by determining the
distribution and abundance of eelgrass in relation to water depth,
sediment type, and the distribution of the mat-forming, sulfide-
oxidizing bacterium Beggiatoa spp.
Our
research in Commencement Bay has so far shown that the mats are
associated with areas where there are high levels of hydrogen sulfide in
the sediments. These areas correspond to sites where large amounts
of wood waste were released into the nearshore area from historic sawmills that lined the Ruston Way
shoreline (Elliott,
J.K., E. Spear*,
and S. Wyllie-Echeverria. 2006.
Mats of Beggiatoa
bacteria reveal that organic pollution from lumber mills inhibits growth
of Zostera marina. Marine Ecology 27: 372–380.).
The videos shown here are for
the nearshore area at the mouth of Puget Creek, where there are
bacterial mats in areas where there is wood waste in the sediment.
There are also healthy beds of eelgrass to the southeast of the creek
outfall. Some short georeferenced videoclips are shown to illustrate
what the eelgrass beds and bacterial mats looks like at different
locations.
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Webpage and project content by:
Dr. Joel Elliott, University of Puget
Sound, Department of Biology
Liz Fly, University of Puget Sound, Department of Biology
Erin Spear, University of Puget Sound, Department of Biology
This project is funded by the
Northwest Academic Computing Consortium and the University of Puget
Sound
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jkelliott@ups.edu |
lfly@ups.edu | Send Feedback! |
