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Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
in the Hudson River Estuary:
An overview of the past 20 years of monitoring
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The Hudson Estuary
152-mile tidal river with a
14,000 mi
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watershed
Salinity gradient from salt
to fresh
3 to 5 foot tide range
High biodiversity
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HR Habitat Distribution:
Troy Dam to the Battery
Shallow 34%
Tidal wetlands 9 %
Submerged aquatic vegetation 6 %
Floating vegetation 2 %
Non-vegetated shallows 17 %
Deep waters (> 3 meters) 66%
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Floating Vegetation:
Water chestnut (Trapa
natans)
SAV:
Water celery (Vallisneria
americana)
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Ecological Functions of SAV Water Quality
Contributes to
primary production
Maintains
dissolved oxygen
Traps fine sediment
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Ecological Functions of SAV: Habitat
More fish food = more fish
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Hudson River Estuary SAV Maps
Hastings - Troy Aerial Photo Inventory
River Section at Tivoli Bays
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SAV Mapping
Products
Hastings-on-Hudson to
the Troy Dam
1) Submerged Aquatic Vegetation 1997
2) Submerged Aquatic Vegetation 2002
3) Submerged Aquatic Vegetation 2007
4) Documented SAV (1997 2002 2007)
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SAV Change Analysis: Overall
Water Chestnut
SAV
1997 2002 2007
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SAV Change Analysis: Maintain
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SAV Change Analysis: Loss
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SAV Change Analysis: Replacement
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SAV Change Analysis: Gain
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SAV Volunteer
Monitoring
- Conducted annually since 2003
- Trained ~ 20 volunteers in kayaks
- Pre-determined GPS locations
- Collected plant presence/absence data
- Compared to water clarity and depth data
Documentation of SAV
between mapping
inventories
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Volunteers documented the return of this SAV bed in 2009
SAV Volunteer Monitoring
SAV Volunteer
Monitoring Points
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Documented SAV Layer
Merged three inventories (1997, 2002, 2007)
into one Documented SAV layer.
Identifies all areas where SAV was mapped
and thereby identifies the locations as suitable
habitat for SAV growth.
The Documented SAV Layer is being used in
regulatory reviews.
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Documented SAV Layer
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Documented SAV Layer
Documented SAV
Habitat
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2011 Hurricanes Irene and Lee
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SAV Volunteer Monitoring Program Data
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SAV Monitoring HRNERR
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Thank You!
Contact information:
Sarah H. Fernald
NEIWPCC Environmental Analyst
Research Coordinator
NYSDEC Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve
Norrie Point Environmental Center
PO Box 315, Staatsburg, NY 12580
845-889-4745 ext. 111
shfernal@gw.dec.state.ny.us
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