Keywords

mangrove, living shoreline, Canaveral National Seashore, Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon

Description

This data tracks the survival and success for a range of starting sizes of the red mangrove Rhizophora mangle in living shoreline deployments in a shallow-water estuary (Mosquito Lagoon) that is the northernmost region of the Indian River Lagoon system.

Abstract

By combatting erosion and increasing habitat, mangrove living shorelines are an effective alternative to hard-armoring in tropical and subtropical areas. An experimental red mangrove living shoreline was deployed within Mosquito Lagoon, Florida, using a factorial design to test the impact of mangrove age, breakwater presence, and mangrove placement on mangrove survival within the first year of deployment. Mixed mangrove age treatments were included to identify if seedling (11-month-old) survival could be enhanced by the presence of transitional (23-month-old) and adult (35 to 47-month-old) mangroves. Environmental factors were monitored to detect possible causes of mangrove mortalities. Approximately half (50.6%) of mangroves died, and of those, 90.7% occurred within the annual high-water season, and 88.9% showed signs of flooding stress. Planting seedlings haphazardly among older mangroves did not attenuate enough wave energy to significantly increase seedling survival. Breakwaters alleviated stress through the reduction of water velocity and wave height, increasing the odds of survival by 197% and 437% when mangroves were planted in the landward and seaward rows, respectively. Compared to seedlings, deployment of adult mangroves increased survival odds by 1,087%. Collectively, our results indicate that sites with a high-water season should utilize a breakwater structure and mangroves with a woody stem.

Date Created

10-17-2021

Identifiers

linda.walters@ucf.edu

Notes

This data comes from the Spring 2021 MS Thesis of Rebecca Fillyaw. It also analyzed in an article in the fall 2021 journal Sustainability (October) for which R. Fillyaw is the first author.

College

College of Sciences

Type

article

COinS
 
 

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