Title: Preliminary comparison of natural versus model-predicted recovery of vessel-generated seagrass injuries in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Description: Describes use of cellular automata model as part of a damage assessment process to forecast seagrass recovery rates in areas of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary affected by vessel groundings. Notes field validation of the forecasts was done by comparing model-predicted recovery to that observed to be occurring naturally for 30 documented vessel grounding sites. Preliminary findings indicate that the recovery model is generous to Responsible Parties, since the model forecasts a faster recovery than was observed to occur naturally. Report also notes that an examination of the relationship between select environmental factors and injury recovery dynamics is also underway.
Subjects: Stranding of ships, Restoration ecology, Estimates, Cellular automata, Seagrasses, Ecology, Conservation, Habitat
Places: Florida, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary