from pollution to 43 percent of estuarine areas, filling of 23,521 

 acres mainly for residential and industrial development, and draining 

 of 26,676 acres of tidal marshes for mosquito control. Increasing 

 population correlates directly with the number of sources of pollution, 

 filled area, and the area closed to shellfishing by public health 

 authorities; thus, failure to control the adverse effects of population 

 growth will clearly result in continued rapid degradation of estuarine 

 habitat on Florida's west coast. (A. A.) 



Keywords: coastal marshes, mangroves, oyster beds, estuarine 

 vegetation, Florida Gulf coast 



I-D-4 



Christmas, J.Y., ed. 1973. Cooperative Gulf of Mexico estuarine inventory 



and study, Mississippi. Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, 



Mississippi . 434 pp. 



This study represents a portion of the larger Cooperative Gulf of 

 Mexico Estuarine Inventory and Study, which was done in cooperation 

 with the National Marine Fisheries Service and was conducted in the 

 Gulf Coast states--Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and 

 Texas. The publication consists of four phases of study: area 

 description, hydrology, sedimentology, and biology. Lists of references 

 follow each section. 



Phase I, area description, contains a discussion of the estuarine 



basin, principal environmental factors, special benthic features, 



and pollution. This section is general and provides an overview of 

 the study area. 



Phase IV, biology, contains more detailed information on the marshes, 

 distribution of flora, seasonal and areal distribution of invertebrate 

 and vertebrate species, and plankton distribution. 



Juncus roemerianus dominates the marshes of Mississippi. Freshwater 

 marshes exhibited a great diversity of plant species, whereas saline 

 marshes were more homogeneous with few species. Marsh regions, 

 based on species composition, were established and zonation of each 

 region was recorded. Total standing crop and annual production was 

 estimated at 3 million tons. 



Approximately 20,000 acres or 31.2 sq. mi. of submerged vegetation 

 were located in the Mississippi Sound study area. The species 

 of greatest abundance was Diplanthera wrightii , followed by 

 Cymodocea manatorum , Thalassia testudinum and Ruppia maritima , 

 in that order. HaTophila engelmanni was found in only one locality 

 and was considered to be of rare occurrence. Red algae dominated 

 certain areas and was found in association with all the other plant 

 species except Ruppia maritima , which is located near the mainland shore 



20 



