conspicuous in shallow turbid waters. Other 

 widespread forms include: green algae (Chlor- 

 ophyta) — Acetabularia, Batophora, Caulerpa. 

 Cladophoropsis, Codium, Enteromorpha, Hal- 

 imeda, Penicillus, Udotea, and Ulva; brown al- 

 gae (Phaeophyta) — Ectocarpus and Padina; red 

 algae (Rhodophyta) — Ceramium, Chondria, Gel- 

 idlum, Polysiphonia, and Spyridia. 



Most studies on the algae were made during 

 the past ten years except for the classic work of 

 Taylor (1928), which was later expanded and 

 revised (Taylor, 1960). In Florida Bay sea 

 grasses and algae carpet the flats, but in the 

 basins, which range from 1 to 10 ft (30 to 305 

 cm) deep, vegetation decreases markedly with 

 depth and becomes sparse in their deep portions 

 (Hudson, Allen, and Costello, 1970) . Intertidal 

 zonation on the rocky shores of the Keys was 

 described by Stephenson and Stephenson (1950) . 

 In Whitewater and Coot Bays floral abundance 

 alternates with scarcity depending on the degree 

 of freshwater inflow (Tabb and Manning, 1961; 

 Tabb, Dubrow, and Manning, 1962) . Extensive 

 sea grass beds characterize shallow areas near 

 the mouths of the rivers along the southwest 

 tip of the Florida peninsula. The flora of the 

 Caloosahatchee River area and Tampa Bay are 

 known in detail from the work of Phillips 

 (1960a), Phillips and Springer (1960b), Phil- 

 lips (1962), and Dawes (1967). From Anclote 

 Key to the St. Marks River the rocky bottom, 

 which is covered lightly by sediment, and the 

 relatively clear water permit the luxuriant 

 growth of Thalassia and many associated sea 

 grasses and algae. Biologists of the U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service (1967) collected the plants 

 of Chassahowitzka Bay periodically, Phillips 

 (1960c) described the marine plants of Crystal 

 Bay, and Strawn (1961) recorded the zonation 

 of sea grasses at Cedar Key. The flora of the 

 remainder of the coast are known mainly from 

 the work of Madsen and Nielsen (1950) , Humm 

 (1953), Humm and Taylor (1961), Van Breed- 

 veld (1966), and Earle (1969). 



The Tampa Bay area is the zone of separation 

 between tropical and temperate species in one 

 algal group. Earle (1969) found that of 72 spe- 

 cies of Phaeophyta (brown algae) in the eastern 

 Gulf the Tampa Bay area was the northern lim- 

 it of eight tropical species and the southern limit 

 of seven temperate species. 



Table 2. --The areas and major species if submerged 

 vegetation, tidal marsh, and mangrove swamps of 

 estuarine study areas, west coast of Florida. 



_ . Emergent vegetation 



_. Submerged _ 



Study area 



vegetation _... , . 



Tidal marsh Mangrove 



Acres- Acres— Acres — 



Florida Bay 256,609 12,148 36,897 



Lake Ingraham 1,024 891 



Whitewater Bay 155 68,757 75,976 



Cape Sable to 



Lostmans River 789 108,644 49,349 



Lostmans River to 



Mormon Key 768 23,840 36,000 



Mormon Key to 



Caxambas Pass 4,319 52,181 92,385 



Caxambas Pass to 



Gordon River 501 7,445 13,387 



Doctors Pass to 



Estero Pass 11 2,959 9,720 



Caloosahatchee River. 726 1,698 2,973 



Pine Island Sound 26,966 7,476 18,657 



Charlotte Harbor 23,383 9,087 23,474 



Lemon Bay 2,145 331 971 



Sarasota Bay System.. 7,610 235 3,616 



Tampa Bay 7,890 843 8,949 



Hillsborough Bay 383 203 1,077 



Old Tampa Bay 6,809 533 5,024 



Boca Ciega Bay 5,800 149 2,464 



St. Joseph Sound 8,723 608 1,259 



Baileys Bluff to 



Saddle Key 4,084 16,683 1,301 



Saddle Key to 



S. Mangrove Pt 62,730 32,587 7,915 



Waccasassa Bay 24,223 30,752 448 



Suwannee Sound 5,556 17,643 427 



Suwannee Sound to 



Deadman Bay 2,420 14,763 



Deadman Bay 1,834 2,549 



Deadman Bay to 



St. Marks River 8,110 14,325 



Apalachee Bay 23,521 55,669 



St: George Sound 8,641 3,605 



Apalachicola Bay 737 17,696 



St. Joseph Bay 6,325 853 



St. Andrew Sound 373 576 



East Bay (St. Andrew) 1,146 4,597 



St. Andrew Bay 2,540 875 



West Bay 1,542 3,349 



North Bay 1,030 1,664 



Choctawhatchee Bay... 3,092 2,816 



Santa Rosa Sound 4,683 309 



East Bay (Pensacola). 310 3,307 



Escambia Bay 43 5,152 



Pensacola Bay 1,547 213 



Perdido Bay 1,333 1,408 



Total 520,431 528,528 393,160 



— Hectares = acres x 0.4047. 



MEASUREMENT OF VEGETATED AREAS 



We mapped and planimetered the areas cov- 

 ered by mangrove, tidal marsh, and submerged 

 vegetation (Figs. 2 through 24; Table 2). 



Navigation charts, topographic maps, vege- 

 tation maps, personal communications, aerial 

 photographs, and field observations were em- 

 ployed to delineate mangrove areas and tidal 

 marshes. We used the vegetation maps in Davis 

 (1940) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 (1954) and a special map made for us by William 

 B. Robertson, Jr., Research Biologist, National 



51 



