PREFACE 



This report gives preconstruction and postconstruction environmental 

 data related to short-term effects of beach nourishment at Panama City Beach, 

 Florida. Areas of study included water quality, sediments, and benthic in- 

 vertebrates. Dredging and beach restoration were done by the U.S. Army 

 Engineer District, Mobile, and research was sponsored by the U.S. Army Coastal 

 Engineering Research Center (CERC) , and by the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service (NMFS) , Gulf Fisheries Center, Panama City Beach, Florida. The work 

 was carried out under the coastal ecology research program. 



The report is based on data collected and compiled by Carl H. Saloman and 

 Steven P. Naughton, NMFS, who assisted Dr. John L. Taylor, Taylor Biological 

 Company, Inc., in preparing the report under CERC Contract No. DACW72-81-M-0198 . 

 Invaluable assistance with statistical programs and data processing was provided 

 by Dr. S.A. Bloom, Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville. 

 Editorial reviews were provided by E. Nakamura, NMFS, and by B. Hall, CERC. 



The authors acknowledge the assistance of their colleagues for identifica- 

 tion of the following faunal groups: Dr. R.W. Heard, Jr., Gulf Coast Research 

 Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi (crustacea) ; and J.R. Hall, National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, Washington, D.C. (mollusca) . Identification of spe- 

 cies in other groups was done by the authors with the aid of reference material 

 available from NMFS. 



E.J. Pullen, Chief, Coastal Ecology Branch, served as contract monitor for 

 this report, under the general supervision of R.P. Savage, Chief, Research 

 Division; he also assisted in the editorial review process and made arrange- 

 ments for several technical aspects of manuscript preparation and publication. 



Comments on this publication are invited. 



Approved for publication in accordance with Public Law 166, 79th Congress, 

 approved 31 July 1945, as supplemented by Public Law 172, 88th Congress, 

 approved 7 November 1963. 



TED E. BISHOP 



Colonel, Corps of Engineers 



Commander and Director 



