Benthic Fauna of an Offshore Borrow Area in Broward County, Florida.

• Main Authors: Turbeville,David B, Marsh,G Alex
• Other Authors: FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIV BOCA RATON DEPT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1982
• Subjects: Biological Oceanography; Civil Engineering; *AQUATIC ANIMALS; VARIATIONS; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; SAMPLING; PRODUCTIVITY; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; DREDGING; SEDIMENTS; BEACHES; OCEAN BOTTOM; FLORIDA; GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION; BENTHONIC ZONES; OFFSHORE; Borrow areas; Broward County(Florida); Faunal survey; LPN-CERC- G31266; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA110666; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA110666

Benthic fauna from two stations within a 5-year-old borrow area and two control stations off Hillsboro Beach (Broward County), Florida, were sampled quarterly from June 1977 to March 1978 to evaluate the long-term impact of offshore dredging. Generally enhanced productivities occurred within the borrow area, although there was much seasonal variation among stations. Species diversities were usually higher at the borrow stations than at the control stations. The single exception was due to a high concentration of the bivalve E. nitens at one of the control stations in June. Although faunal similarity analysis revealed a qualitative change in the fauna of the borrow area, this change is not considered detrimental. Conspicuous patterns of heterogeneous faunal distributions were evident in this study, particularly for the bivalve E. nitens. No lasting detrimental effects, in terms of numbers of species, faunal densities, or species diversity, resulted from the dredging operation. (Author)