Seagrasses in the Chesapeake Bay have been declining since the wasting disease of the 1930s. To help seagrass restorers predict which places will be the best for planting seagrasses, Richard Zimmerman and Victoria Hill of ODU and Charles Gallegos of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center will combine two models that will predict restoration success based on water clarity and seagrass density better than either model could predict alone. Once the models are tested and combined, the end product could provide resource managers with an accurate, more affordable tool that links seagrass success to decisions on land that affect water quality.
Project detail: Richard Zimmerman (ODU), Victoria Hill (ODU), and Charles Gallegos (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center). Integrated modeling of SAV habitat requirements: Improving predictions of water quality on a critical marine resource.
