Abstract
Aerial surveys of coastal habitats can uniquely inform the science and management of shallow, coastal zones, and when repeated annually, they reveal changes that are otherwise difficult to assess from ground-based surveys. This paper reviews the utility of a long-term (1984–present) annual aerial monitoring program for submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) in Chesapeake Bay, its tidal tributaries, and nearby Atlantic coastal bays, USA. We present a series of applications that highlight the program’s importance in assessing anthropogenic impacts, gauging water quality status and trends, establishing and evaluating restoration goals, and understanding the impact of commercial fishing practices on benthic habitats. These examples demonstrate how periodically quantifying coverage of this important foundational habitat answers basic research questions locally, as well as globally, and provides essential information to resource managers. New technologies are enabling more frequent and accurate aerial surveys at greater spatial resolution and lower cost. These advances will support efforts to extend the applications described here to similar issues in other areas.
Highlights
Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) is an important shallow water habitat undergoing severe declines worldwide (Sand-Jensen et al 2000; Körner 2002; Waycott et al 2009; Moore et al 2010)
SAV meadows are subject to multiple stressors that result in losses, including propeller damage, dredging, commercial fishing and aquaculture activities, excessive
We provide eight applications that demonstrate the multifaceted value of this long-term SAV monitoring program for assessing and understanding the Chesapeake Bay’s ecological condition as well as its periods of decline and recovery
Summary
Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) is an important shallow water habitat undergoing severe declines worldwide Since the 1970s, developed land has doubled from 9.8 to 17.2% (Falcone 2015; Orth et al 2017a), and with it, there has been a corresponding increase in impervious surfaces, domestic and agricultural fertilizer, and animal agriculture production (Lamotte 2015), as well as a loss of forested areas (Jantz et al 2005) All of these factors reduced water quality (Kemp et al 2005), and light attenuation by suspended sediments, elevated phytoplankton populations in the water column, and epiphyte fouling on SAV leaf blades are all implicated in the significant reduction of SAV populations by the early 1980s (Orth and Moore 1983; Kemp et al 2004; Lefcheck et al 2018). As coastal populations increase and global climate shifts, long-term and spatially explicit monitoring programs will increase in value for tracking environmental change, identifying mechanistic drivers of natural resource degradation, and determining appropriate actions to prevent or reverse undesirable outcomes to estuaries, as has been done in Chesapeake Bay
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