A Comprehensive Study of Successional Patterns of Plants and Animals at Upland Disposal Areas.
Abstract
This study examines the existing biota and plant and animal successional patterns at five upland dredged material disposal areas in the United States. The sites selected for study are: (a) Nott Island in the Connecticut River; (b) six islands in Hillsborough Bay near Tampa, Florida; (c) an area paralleling a portion of the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel in the Atchafalaya River basin of Louisiana; (d) a disposal area paralleling a short segment of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between Port Arthur and Galveston, Texas; and(e) Mott Island in the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon. With the aid of historical aerial photography, on-site analysis and familiarity with regional biology, successional patterns of site are discussed. Semiquantitative sampling methods were used in the generation of data to document the occurrence of existing biota, particularly plant, small mammal, and avian populations. Qualitative methods were used for other important biota. Annotated lists of plant and vertebrate animal species encountered during the study are included as appendixes. Succession on dredged material is considered to act under the same major set of factors operating at the regional level, but processes on dredged material substrates are modified by insular aspects of disposal areas. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA040464