USF St. Petersburg campus Master's Theses (Graduate)
First Advisor
James Krest, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Deby Cassill, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Barnali Dixon, Ph.D.
Publisher
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Document Type
Thesis
Date Available
2012-03-28
Publication Date
2010
Date Issued
2010-07-01
Abstract
Sediment tubes were placed in the unvegetated trenches created in seagrass meadows by boat propellers. The sediment tubes facilitated the natural recovery by stabilizing the sediments and by allowing recruitment of healthy seagrass from the surrounding, undisturbed area. Still images taken of the study sites before and after restoration were assigned a Braun-Blanquet ranking based on the percentage coverage of seagrass. Statistical analysis, using the Mann-Whitney U Test, supported the visual observation that the sediment tubes successfully facilitated natural restoration of the propeller scars. After two years there was an increase in the percent coverage of seagrass at each of the restored study sites as compared to the sites that were studied but not restored. As part of this project, an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) was modified for studying seagrass. Specifications for a working design are given in the paper.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Dreger, Karen Leigh, "Restoration of Propeller Scars in Seagrass Meadows Using Sediment Tubes and Design of a Working Prototype Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Seagrass Studies" (2010). USF St. Petersburg campus Master's Theses (Graduate).
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/masterstheses/81
Certificate of Approval
Comments
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Geography College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida St. Petersburg