Hurricane effects on seagrasses along Alabama's Gulf Coast

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In November 2004, we evaluated the effect of Hurricane Ivan on seagrass meadows in Alabama by surveying all coastal locations known to support seagrass prior to Hurricane Ivan's landfall in September 2004. We found that 82% of the sites containing seagrass in 2002 still supported seagrass, and that, as in 2002, the most abundant species was Halodule wrightii (shoalgrass). We also found more sites containing Ruppia maritima (widgeongrass) than previously recorded. We confirmed the existence of Thalassia testudinum (turtlegrass) in Little Lagoon, Alabama, whose first record in the state had been noted in 2002. A resurvey of the western half of Alabama's coastal waters in October 2005 after Hurricane Katrina found no loss of seagrass, with all sites that supported seagrass in 2004 still containing seagrass in 2005. There was no major loss of Alabama's seagrass resources due to Hurricanes Ivan or Katrina, even though both category 3 hurricanes severely affected the northern Gulf Coast.