RECOVER MAP 3.3.3.4 SAV Quadrats Caloosahatchee 2012 -2015

RECOVER initiated this project as part of the Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP), to provide a long-term program for monitoring submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the Caloosahatchee Estuary while examining the effects of variation in salinity. The premise is that RECOVER will ultimately determine if the restoration of beneficial patterns of freshwater inflow, salinity and water quality to the Caloosahatchee Estuary will improve the spatial and structural characteristics of SAV communities.

This long-term monitoring network has been successful in providing the start of a baseline dataset of existing SAV beds in the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary. A five-year continuation of the SAV Monitoring Network in the Caloosahatchee is recommended to ensure that an accurate evaluation is made of the effects of the C-43 Basin project storage facilities

During the next five years of this project, additional data will be collected to understand and predict the effect of restoration activities influencing hydrologic changes and freshwater releases as the result of the implementation of the C-43 Basin project.

In 2009, RECOVER standardized the method used to monitor SAV across all of the Northern Estuaries (east and west coast). The standardized method is referred to as the quadrat method. SAV species presence/absence, percent cover and canopy height was collected bi-monthly.