Estuarine ecosystems are largely influenced by watersheds directly connected to them. In the 3 Mobile Bay, AL watersheds we examined the effect of land cover and land use (LCLU) changes 4 on discharge rate, water properties and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), including 5 freshwater macrophytes and seagrasses, throughout the estuary. LCLU scenarios from (1948, 6 1992, 2001, and 2030) were used to influence watershed and hydrodynamic models and evaluate 7 the impact of LCLU change on shallow aquatic ecosystems. Overall, our modeling results found 8 that LCLU changes increased freshwater flows into Mobile Bay altering temperature, salinity, 9 and total suspended sediments (TSS).
Revised: June 26, 2015 |
Published: April 11, 2015
Citation
Estes M.G., M. Al-Hamdan, J. Ellis, C.R. Judd, D.L. Woodruff, R.M. Thom, and D. Quattrochi, et al. 2015.A Modeling System to Assess Land Cover Land Use Change Effects on SAV habitat in the Mobile Bay Estuary.Journal of the American Water Resources Association 51, no. 2:513-536. PNWD-SA-10349. doi:10.1111/jawr.12263