Journal of Coastal Zone Management

United States Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Environmental Measurement & Modeling, Gulf Breeze, USA

Publications

• Research Article   
  Effects of Dredging Induced Resuspension of Fine-Grain Sediment on Two Scleractinian Corals, Montastraea cavernosa and Stephanocoenia intersepta
  Author(s): Cheryl Hankins*, Keisha D. Bahr, Daphne White, Yung Jones, Adam Glahn, Wade Lehmann, Vladimir Kosmynin and William S. Fisher
  
  Dredging, the removal of sediments and rocks from an aquatic environment, is necessary to ensure that adequate coastal infrastructure is maintained for maritime shipping. However, the sediment plumes generated by dredging could have adverse impacts on coral reef ecosystems that are already facing numerous local and global stressors. This is especially true in areas where the predominant strata are aragonitic limestone which must be physically broken apart to be extracted, leading to very high concentrations of fine suspended sediment in the water column. To examine the role suspended sediment plays in stress, this study exposed two coral species (Montastraea cavernosa and Stephanocoenia intersepta) to fine-grain sediment ranging from 0 to 511.7 mg L-1 for 30 days. Sediment characteristics were analyzed and water quality parameters were monito.. View more»
  

  DOI: 10.35248/2473-3350.24.27.650

  Abstract HTML PDF