Maintenance dredging effects on vegetation adjacent to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway-Cedar Lakes section.

Abstract

A study was initiated to examine along one section of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway the response of salt marsh vegetation to spoil deposition and bank erosion. The objectives of this study were: (1) to describe the vegetation of limited areas adjacent to the GIWW where it traverses coastal marsh; (2) to determine the environmental factors which are controlling with respect to the distribution of plants in the study areas; and (3) to examine the relationship of spoil deposition and bank erosion to habitat condition and vegetation.