ABSTRACT
The field-sampling effort (Figure 7.1) showed that the three long-term field efforts (Apalachee Bay, Apalachicola Estuary, Perdido Estuary) were run in such a way that there was an initial 10-year period of sampling that was not affected by a major drought. The Perdido study was included in this statement, because the first major drought occurred in 1999-2002 and that drought was followed by a second such event from 2006 to 2007. All three ecosystems were subsequently affected by the series of droughts that occurred over the succeeding years of the studies. This allowed an evaluation of the effects of the droughts on these estuaries. The short-term studies (Choctawhatchee Bay, Escambia Bay, Blackwater Bay) were carried out during no-drought periods. The relatively abbreviated analyses of these estuaries precluded an evaluation of climatic effects.
