Seagrass transect data summary and analysis from a six-year period: 1999 - 2004

This report contains a summary and analysis of data from a seagrass transect monitoring project begun in 1998 by the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves, Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Seagrass abundance and distribution data at twenty-six locations around Upper Charlotte Harbor, Gasparilla Sound / Lemon Bay, and the Peace and Myakka Rivers have been collected annually each year since 1999 to characterize the local and regional abundance of seagrasses. The purpose of this report is to summarize the dataset, to detect changes (if any) in seagrass abundance and distribution which may have occurred over time, to suggest mechanisms that may be associated with observed seagrass variability (i.e. regional water quality, meteorological events), and to develop a relationship between seagrass transect data and seagrass habitat maps based on aerial photographs