| Contributors | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Heck, Kenneth | Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) | Principal Investigator |
| Byron, Dorothy | Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Rodriguez, Alexandra | Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) | Technician |
| Rauch, Shannon | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO) | BCO-DMO Data Manager |
Data were collected during day trips aboard a 21-foot powerboat conducted once per week in St. Joseph Bay, Florida during May 2016 and August 2019.
Lytechinus variegatus were surveyed at 16 sites spaced approximately 1 nautical mile apart in the southern part of St. Joseph Bay to estimate how Hurricane Michael's passage impacted resident urchin densities. Densities were recorded by snorkelers in 5 replicate, haphazardly thrown 0.25-square-meter (m2) quadrats at each site. Initial surveys were performed in May 2016, and post-hurricane surveys took place in August 2019. A t-test compared urchin density means between pre- and post-hurricane surveys.
- Imported original file "2016_2019_SJB_urchin_SUBMITTED.csv" into the BCO-DMO system.
- Renamed fields to comply with BCO-DMO naming conventions.
- Created the date field in YYYY-MM-DD format.
- Saved the final file as "958329_v1_st_joseph_bay_urchins_2016_2019.csv".
| Parameter | Description | Units |
| UID | Unique number in database for each data record | unitless |
| Year | Year during which surveys were conducted | unitless |
| MMDD | Four digits of the Month and Day during which surveys were conducted | unitless |
| Date | Date when survey was conducted | unitless |
| site | Unique name for each location surveyed | unitless |
| planned_lat | Planned Latitude, in decimal degrees, for each unique site | decimal degrees |
| planned_long | Planned Longitude, in decimal degrees, for each unique site | decimal degrees |
| visited_lat | Latitude, in decimal degrees, survey occurred at for each unique site | decimal degrees |
| visited_long | Longitude, in decimal degrees, survey occurred at for each unique site | decimal degrees |
| surveyor | Initials of survey team making and recording observations | unitless |
| urchin_count | Count of indivdual sea urchins, Lychineus variegatus, observed within a 0.25m^2 quadrat | number of individuals per 0.5m x 0.5m quadrat |
| urchins_m2 | Per square meter calculation of specific taxa found. Value is calculated by dividing the "urchin count" column by the area of the quadrat used for the survey (0.25m^2). Quadrat dimensions are 0.5m x 0.5m. | number of indviduals/m2 |
| Dataset-specific Instrument Name | 0.25-m2 quadrats |
| Generic Instrument Name | quadrat |
| Generic Instrument Description | A square or rectangular rigid frame of known area, often home-made, that is placed on the substrate to be sampled to mark a fixed area for sampling flora or fauna. |
NSF Award Abstract:
This project builds on an ongoing project that studies the tropicalization of seagrass beds in the northern Gulf of Mexico (NSF award OCE-1737144, https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/750843) where native species are prevented from moving north as temperature rises because of the continental land mass. Hurricane Michael opened a new pass from the Gulf of Mexico to St Joseph Bay, enabling elevated immigration of tropical species (e.g. parrotfish), and the associated winds and storm surge likely decimated green turtle populations. This project takes advantage of the hurricane's passage to study the interplay of turtles and parrotfish as consumers of the dominant seagrass and will support new and complemental sampling to evaluate the storm's effect on the ongoing tropicalization of St Joseph Bay. Seagrass communities provide major ecosystem services and their resilience to changing climate has consequences for coastal communities. This project will expand on the NSF-funded network to capture critical environmental information during this hurricane-induced natural experiment of increased species access. Training of two female early career scientists (one from an underserved group) will take place in addition to mentoring through collaborations with the partners of the network.
The recent passage of Major Hurricane Michael directly over the northernmost site (St. Joe Bay, FL) of the NSF collaborative project "Collaborative Research: The tropicalization of Western Atlantic seagrass beds" has raised additional questions regarding the trajectory and speed of the influx of tropical grazers along the northern Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Michael produced numerous overwash areas along Cape San Blas and opened a new pass from the Gulf of Mexico to St. Joseph Bay. This will likely alter salinities and water temperatures and bring additional larval and adult recruits to the Bay. Hurricanes have been documented to move species large distances from their low-latitude home ranges and while these can be only short-lived range shifts, there is potential for enhanced establishment in locations where tropicalization is already occurring owing to the decreasing frequency of cold winter temperatures. This study investigates to what extent these newly formed passes allow elevated immigration of tropically-associated species, such as the seagrass consuming emerald parrotfish into St. Joe Bay. Supporting new and complementary field activities, and leveraging the 12 year record of fish abundance and species composition in St. Joe Bay and the 2017 population estimate of green turtle abundance in the Bay are used to evaluate the storm's effects on the on-going tropicalization of St. Joe Bay that could dramatically affect the overall conclusions of our collaborators in other locations of the NSF funded network of sites.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
| Funding Source | Award |
|---|---|
| NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) |