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Growth Patterns Of Shoal Grass Halodule Wrightii And Manatee Grass Syringodium Filiforme In The Western Gulf Of Mexico, Melissa A. Gutierrez, Annette A. Cardona, Delbert L. Smee

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Although manatee grass is becoming increasingly abundant in Texas bays, its growth characteristics have not been measured in the western GOM. Changes in seagrass species composition can have significant community effects (Micheli et al. 2008), but the effects of a transition from shoal to manatee grass in the LM have not been extensively studied (but see Tolan et al. 1997). The goals of our study were to measure growth patterns of these two seagrass species in two locations in the western GOM that vary in salinity, epiphyte loads, and nutrient inputs.