ABSTRACT
Baseline seagrass parameters were established in autumn-winter 1998 for a small estuarine bay, Tarpon Bay, in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge of Sanibel Island, Florida. Distribution, abundance, and condition of the seagrasses were estimated using the transect method protocol adopted by the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Surface Water Management Program. Above-sediment biomass was estimated by weighing clipped plants. The 23 transects, varying in length from 9 to 200 m, involved the sampling of 80 1-m
quadrats that contained one or more of the three seagrass species present in Tarpon Bay, turtle grass (
Thalassia testudinum
)
,
shoal grass
(
Halodule wrightii
)
,
and manatee grass
(Syringodium
filiforme
). The seagrasses were evaluated for Blaun-Blanquet cover classes and mean blade length in each
m
quadrat along with the number of short shoots of each species that were enumerated in three 100-cm
frames placed within the quadrat. Length-mass regressions were independently developed to allow conversion of short-shoot densities, together with mean blade lengths, into estimates of standing crop biomass. The calculated and directly measured estimates of grams dry mass m
of the three species in Tarpon Bay are in the low range of those reported in other studies (
T
.
