Seagrass map, Cat Island and Ship Island, Mississippi, 2011

Publication Date

2022-05-17

Start

2011-09-27

End

2011-10-08

Enwright, N.M., Cheney, W.C., Mouton, K., and Stelly, S.J., 2022, Seagrass map, Cat Island and Ship Island, Mississippi, 2011: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9TO5P3R.

Type: Related Primary Publication

Seagrasses are submerged marine plants that grow in shallow coastal environments where they form expansive meadows. They have been declining globally at increasing rates, which is problematic because they provide numerous ecosystem services. Patch-level seagrass mapping is being conducted through the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) Monitoring and Adaptive Management Program (MAMP). This map serves as a historical map for the MsCIP MAMP. This dataset will be combined with the baseline seagrass map (i.e., 2014) and future seagrass maps to assess whether MsCIP restoration efforts negatively impacted seagrass coverage and distribution. These restoration efforts included a beach and dune nourishment on Cat Island in 2017 and closing Camille Cut and re-join East Ship Island and West Ship Island in 2019. Due to widespread decline of seagrasses, researchers and natural resource managers are concerned with detecting and understanding changes in areal coverage, spatial distribution, and condition of these important ecosystems. These maps can be used by researchers and natural resource managers to explore trends in seagrass coverage along with more advanced assessments of spatial structure and configuration of seagrass.

ScienceBase WMS

ScienceBase WFS

• USGS Data Release Products
• USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center