Bare‑root harvesting of Halodule wrightii is widely used to supply donor material for seagrass restoration, yet the capacity of donor meadows to recover in near‑temperate systems remains poorly documented. We evaluated donor‑site recovery following bare‑root harvesting in St. Andrew Bay, northwest Florida—an estuary at the northern extent of Tropical Atlantic Bioregion 2 where H. wrightii exhibits strong seasonal senescence and a shortened growing season. Thirty harvest impact sites were monitored for 388 days to quantify changes in shoot density, percent frequency, and sediment elevation relative to nearby reference conditions. Shoot density and percent frequency at harvested sites converged with reference sites within one year, indicating rapid vegetative recolonization consistent with published rhizome elongation rates for H. wrightii. Harvest depressions also infilled naturally, with sediment elevations returning to within 2–3 cm of surrounding substrate levels. Recovery was facilitated by conducting harvests in April at the onset of peak seasonal growth, spacing extractions at ≥2 m intervals, and limiting extraction diameter and depth to 20 cm and 8 cm, respectively, to maintain meadow connectivity and minimize cumulative disturbance. These findings demonstrate that bare‑root harvesting can provide donor material for restoration without causing long‑term degradation of H. wrightii meadows in near‑temperate estuaries, offering science‑based guidance for restoration planning and permitting throughout northwest Florida.
Reflecting back on a long and rewarding career from 1980—2023 at the University of the West Indies, based on the small island of Barbados, this paper tracks the many and often remarkable changes in the marine environment, in attitudes and policies, and available opportunities that have influenced my journey as a marine scientist in an ever—changing but resilient Caribbean. From free—access fisheries to degraded stocks, from coral to algal dominated reefs, from flyingfish to Almaco Jacks, from sandy beaches and clear water to a Sargassum crisis — these are just some of the fundamental changes in the marine environment that have determined my research focus over the decades. An increasingly com-prehensive legal framework for marine management together with shifting attitudes that now see value and opportunities associated with healthy oceans have prompted policies and actions that aim to protect and sustainably manage marine resources. These changes have further shaped my research, teaching and mentoring of students, whilst improved access to knowledge, funding and employment opportunities for Caribbean marine graduates has provided some assurance that the future of the Caribbean Sea will be in the hands of well qualified and passionate local guardians.
Between 2006 and 2012, seagrass coverage across Sarasota Bay expanded by 1,108 ha, a 28% increase. During the subsequent years of 2012−2020, 830 ha of seagrass were lost, a 16% decline. In response to these findings, resource management efforts focused on determining the likely reason(s) why those 2 periods had such contrasting trends, to come up with strategies to reverse these losses. Based on results from the seagrass data, the 7—y period of 2006−2012 was designated a “reference period” and water quality data were compared against the subsequent 7—y designated “degraded period” of 2013−2019. Annual average chlorophyll-a (chl-a) values and macroalgae coverage on the bay bottom were significantly higher in 4 of 5 bay segments in the degraded period, suggesting that the bay was suffering from nutrient enrichment. In 2021, the difference in watershed—wide loads of dissolved inorganic nitrogen between the degraded and reference periods (20%) was set as the bay’s pollutant load reduction goal. Based on output from the bay’s pollutant loading model, it appeared that by 2022, the 20% load reduction target had been met through a series of management actions. During 2020−2024, double—digit percent declines in annual average total nitrogen and chl—a concentrations were documented in 4 of the bay’s 5 segments, along with reductions in the amount of drift macroalgae. Likely in response to these improvements, seagrass coverage in Sarasota Bay expanded by 774 ha between 2022 and 2024, a 19% increase.
In 2014, an unidentified eagle ray was incidentally caught using artisanal bottom—set gillnets in the coastal waters of Venezuela. The dental plates were recovered and deposited in a local ichthyological collection. Morphological analysis of the dental plate indicates that the specimen belongs to the eagle ray genus Aetomylaeus Garman, 1908 (Myliobatiformes, Myliobatidae), and constitutes the first documented evidence of the genus in the Caribbean Sea and in the Western Atlantic Ocean. Comparative assessment of the dental morphology with extant and fossil eagle rays supports the generic assignment but precludes confident identification at the species level due to pronounced intra and interspecific variability in dental plate morphology within the genus. Three hypotheses are proposed to explain these plates: 1) the persistence of an unknown relict and undescribed population of Aetomylaeus sp, which survived the separation of the Caribbean from the Pacific Ocean, 2) long— distance vagrancy of Aetomylaeus bovinus from the eastern Atlantic, and 3) the plates do not belong to a specimen of the genus Aetomylaeus, but rather belong to a hybrid of 2 extant eagle ray genera of the Caribbean. These new data highlight the need for further research on the diversity of eagle rays in the region, as most species of the genus Aetomylaeus are categorized under some degree of threat or as Data Deficient.
Globally, flooding is the most frequent and costly natural hazards, disproportionately affecting populations based on environmental, social, and economic factors. Understanding the spatial variability of flood risk as well as the respective flood drivers is essential for informing cost-effective mitigation strategies and enhancing community resilience. Here we mapped flood risk that combines flood hazards and vulnerability in an under-resourced coastal community prone to compound flooding. Our approach integrates stakeholder engagement with GIS-based analysis using open-access datasets. We first developed an initial flood hazard map using an equal-weight combination of factors commonly associated with flood occurrence/prevention, including upslope area, impervious surface coverage, canopy coverage, 20-year average rainfall, soil runoff potential, and distance to water bodies (a location’s proximity to water bodies). Local stakeholders and city officials were then consulted to provide insight into their past flood experience. Their input was used to calibrate the GIS model by adjusting the relative weights of the six contributing factors, resulting in a flood hazard map that best aligned with local experience. This locally calibrated flood hazard map was then combined with three flood vulnerability indicators, derived from a social vulnerability index, distance to parks, and proximity to critical infrastructure in GIS to provide a high-resolution map of total flood risk throughout the City. The resulting map showed substantial spatial overlap between flood hazards and flood vulnerability, indicating that the most vulnerable populations reside in areas most prone to repetitive flooding. Impervious surface coverage, tree canopy coverage, and precipitation emerged as the most influential factors in determining flood hazards. This study highlights the importance of stakeholder engagement and suggests that measures that reduce impervious surface coverage and increase tree canopy coverage, i.e. nature-based solutions, can effectively mitigate flood hazards in coastal communities.
