The effects of Hurricane Irma on seagrass meadows in previously eutrophic estuaries in Southwest Florida (USA)

Tomasko, David A.; Alderson, Mark; Burnes, R.; Hecker, Jennifer; Iadevaia, N.; Leverone, Jay R.; Raulerson, Gary; Sherwood, Edward T.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111247

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…From 2018 to 2020, seagrass coverage declined by 16% in Tampa Bay, with similar losses observed in Sarasota Bay (18%), Lemon Bay (12%), and Charlotte Harbor (23%) to the south (Southwest Florida Water Management District, unpublished results). These broader trends suggest regional drivers are affecting seagrass communities (e.g., variation in precipitation, Tomasko et al, 2020), yet local issues specific to individual bays also pose challenges to managing water quality and subtidal habitats. Recent seagrass losses in Sarasota Bay may be linked to decreased light availability from a persistent K. brevis bloom in 2018.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seagrasses in particular are valuable habitat-defining species that provide many ecosystem services, but are especially vulnerable to the impacts of nutrient pollution on water quality because of cascading negative effects of nitrogen, phytoplankton growth and persistence, water clarity, light limitation, and epiphyte loading on seagrass growth and survival (Beck et al, 2018b;Dixon and Leverone, 1995;Greening and Janicki, 2006;Kenworthy and Fonseca, 1996). Historical gains in seagrass coverage in southwest Florida estuaries have been achieved through public-private partnerships and consensus-based approaches to science applications that seek to limit the total nutrient loads delivered to surface waters (Greening et al, 2016;Janicki and Wade, 1996;Tomasko et al, 2020Tomasko et al, , 2018. Together, these efforts have resulted in the long-term recovery of Tampa Bay and other Gulf Coast estuaries through a reduction in external nitrogen loads, improvements in water clarity, and baywide expansion of seagrass coverage to benchmark targets established for the region (Greening et al, 2014;Sherwood et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Initial estuarine response to the nutrient-rich Piney Point release into Tampa Bay, Florida

Beck¹,

Altieri²,

Angelini³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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From March 30th to April 9th, 2021, 814 million liters of legacy phosphate mining wastewater and marine dredge water from the Piney Point facility were released into lower Tampa Bay (Florida, USA). This resulted in an estimated addition of 186 metric tons of total nitrogen, exceeding typical annual external nitrogen load estimates to lower Tampa Bay in a matter of days. Elevated levels of phytoplankton (non-harmful diatoms) were first observed in April in the lower Bay. Filamentous cyanobacteria blooms (Dapis spp.) peaked in June, followed by a bloom of the red tide organism Karenia brevis. Reported fish kills tracked K. brevis concentrations, prompting cleanup of over 1600 metric tons of dead fish. Seagrasses had minimal changes over the study period. By comparing these results to baseline environmental monitoring data, we conclude that many of the biological responses observed after the release from Piney Point are abnormal relative to historic conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial estuarine response to the nutrient-rich Piney Point release into Tampa Bay, Florida

Beck¹,

Altieri²,

Angelini³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The source data used to estimate the most current coverage of seagrasses, tidal flats, and oysters was the Seagrass in 2018 geospatial database [74]. The bi-annual seagrass monitoring program was initiated in 1988 under SWFWMD’s Surface Water Improvement and Management program [54,75]. SWFWMD has estimated oyster bed coverage as part of this program since 2014.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seizing diminishing habitat conservation and restoration opportunities in the Tampa Bay, FL watershed: An urban estuary in recovery

Raulerson

Robison²,

Beck

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Habitat restoration efforts should integrate past trends, current status, expected climate change and coastal development impacts, remaining realistic opportunities, and resource management community capabilities. Integrating these concepts, a new target setting approach is being implemented in the Tampa Bay region with broad transferability potential. Past changes, as determined through a three-decade habitat change analysis and over forty years of habitat restoration experience in the region, has informed the new approach. It is also primarily focused on what is possible today and the projected needs for the future, rather than focusing on or attempting to replicate past ecological conditions. Likewise, this new paradigm accounts for persistent local and global stressors – especially watershed development, sea level rise, and climate change. As such, newly established numeric targets are “place-based,” meaning that they attempt to maximize the remaining restoration and conservation “opportunity areas” within the watershed. Lastly, the approach is comprehensive in that targets for the range of critical habitats, from subtidal to uplands, are now defined. This approach represents a general framework for addressing competing interests in planning for habitat restoration that could be applied in other coastal settings where sustainable urbanization practices are desired to co-exist with natural environments.

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“…Tourism business managers may use the findings of this analysis to integrate hurricanes crises and strategies to sustain their business activities over time [6]. Many researchers analyzed the impact of tourism activities on business profitability and sustainability; however, less attention was paid to hotel managers' strategies to improve decision-making following a hurricane [9,13,11].…”

Section: ░ 2 Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When a crisis occurs, unbeknownst to an organization, the public will immediately seek to attribute blame; therefore, organizations must act swiftly and efficiently with how, when, and what type of information to disseminate. Some authors concluded that leaders should act responsibly to enhance tourism resistance, strengthen organizational defense mechanisms, and limit the time it takes to return to normalcy [12,13,10]. The theory of image restoration proposes five messaging strategies for crisis responses that can be used in different situations, which include denials, evasion of responsibilities, reducing offensiveness of events, corrective actions, and mortifications or forgiveness [14,37,38].…”

Section: Benoit's Theory Of Image Restoration Theoreticalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful Strategies to Sustain Profits from Tourism Following a Hurricane

James¹

2021

IJBMR

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Hurricanes have caused billions of dollars in damage to the hotel industry in Florida, significantly affecting tourism flow. The unpredictable impact of hurricanes makes sustaining profits challenging. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that hotel leaders use to sustain tourism profits following a hurricane. The theory of image restoration provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data was collected from company documents and semi-structured interviews with 5 hotel leaders in Central Florida. Transcribed data were coded then validated using member checking during the data analysis, which revealed 5 themes: storm impact, accommodations, operations, communications, and planning. Results indicated the relevance of the theory of image restoration to help hotel leaders get operations back to normal following a hurricane by emphasizing how effective crisis response strategies can help create opportunities to sustain profits beyond tourism. Results may be used by hotel leaders to sustain profits and support their communities during hurricane recovery by providing accommodations, safety, and security to stakeholders other than tourists, such as first responders, state, and residents.

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The effects of Hurricane Irma on seagrass meadows in previously eutrophic estuaries in Southwest Florida (USA)

Cited by 18 publications

References 12 publications

Initial estuarine response to the nutrient-rich Piney Point release into Tampa Bay, Florida

Initial estuarine response to the nutrient-rich Piney Point release into Tampa Bay, Florida

Seizing diminishing habitat conservation and restoration opportunities in the Tampa Bay, FL watershed: An urban estuary in recovery

Successful Strategies to Sustain Profits from Tourism Following a Hurricane

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