WEBVTT 00:03.370 --> 00:06.840 >>NARRATOR: They are an ancient species of flowering plants 00:06.840 --> 00:10.644 that grow submerged in all of the world's oceans 00:10.644 --> 00:14.014 from the latitudes of northern Alaska to the tip 00:14.014 --> 00:16.283 of South America. 00:16.283 --> 00:19.553 Sea grasses evolved during the age of the dinosaurs 00:19.553 --> 00:23.457 nearly 100 million years ago and are found toda 00:23.457 --> 00:27.728 in bays and estuaries around the globe. 00:27.728 --> 00:30.764 In shallow tropical and subtropical waters, 00:30.764 --> 00:34.835 these "prairies of the sea" link the offshore coral reefs 00:34.835 --> 00:38.071 with coastal mangrove forests. 00:38.071 --> 00:41.375 They provide food and shelter for many marine species 00:41.375 --> 00:46.446 that will one day inhabit the reefs. 00:46.446 --> 00:50.217 Sea grasses and mangroves stabilize coastal sediments 00:50.217 --> 00:54.821 and create buffers against storm surge and flooding. 00:54.821 --> 00:58.091 They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, 00:58.091 --> 01:01.461 filter contaminants from coastal waters, 01:01.461 --> 01:06.300 and add value to local economies. 01:06.300 --> 01:10.671 But sea grasses are in decline globall 01:10.671 --> 01:14.875 and mangroves are being lost to coastal development. 01:14.875 --> 01:17.077 >>These areas are degrading right now. 01:17.077 --> 01:19.580 It's not 50 years from now or 100 years from now, 01:19.580 --> 01:21.348 but it's occurring right now. 01:21.348 --> 01:23.517 >>The rate at which we're losing sea grass habitat 01:23.517 --> 01:26.587 globally could result in an ecosystem collapse 01:26.587 --> 01:29.156 from the bottom of the food chain all the way up. 01:29.156 --> 01:30.591 >>NARRATOR: Will restoring sea grass 01:30.591 --> 01:34.194 and mangrove communities help sustain the ecological 01:34.194 --> 01:38.966 and economic values of the ocean's bays and estuaries? 01:38.966 --> 01:42.669 And how will rising sea levels impact their survival 01:42.669 --> 01:43.770 in the future? 02:09.229 --> 02:11.865 >>Major funding for this program was provided 02:11.865 --> 02:14.067 by the Batchelor Foundation. 02:14.067 --> 02:16.670 Encouraging people to preserve and protect 02:16.670 --> 02:21.675 America's underwater resources. 02:37.290 --> 02:39.526 >>NARRATOR: Over the last few decades, 02:39.526 --> 02:43.096 worldwide human populations have increased dramaticall 02:43.096 --> 02:45.198 along coastlines. 02:45.198 --> 02:48.402 At the same time, sea grasses have declined at a rate 02:48.402 --> 02:52.873 of nearly 7% per year-- a rate higher than the loss 02:52.873 --> 02:56.476 of coral reefs or tropical rain forests. 02:56.476 --> 03:00.647 Storm water runoff from coastal communities and human activities 03:00.647 --> 03:05.252 along the shoreline contribute to the decline. 03:05.252 --> 03:10.257 Boat groundings and anchor damage add to the problem. 03:19.800 --> 03:24.037 Unlike the more recognizable icons of the seas, 03:24.037 --> 03:26.139 the value of sea grasses and mangroves 03:26.139 --> 03:29.409 can be easily overlooked. 03:29.409 --> 03:31.778 >>If you just casually read newspapers in places 03:31.778 --> 03:33.246 that science stories are published, 03:33.246 --> 03:34.748 you often read about tropical forests, 03:34.748 --> 03:36.149 you often read about coral reefs, 03:36.149 --> 03:38.351 and occasionally you'll even read about mangroves, 03:38.351 --> 03:41.154 but you almost never read about sea grasses. 03:41.154 --> 03:44.391 Sea grasses are the Rodney Dangerfield 03:44.391 --> 03:46.426 of coastal marine ecosystems. 03:46.426 --> 03:47.694 They really get no respect. 03:49.496 --> 03:52.933 >>NARRATOR: But researchers have discovered that sea grasses 03:52.933 --> 03:56.136 and mangroves deserve a great deal of respect 03:56.136 --> 03:59.406 for their many values in the ocean. 03:59.406 --> 04:02.509 >>Sea grasses keep erosion down, they lock sediments 04:02.509 --> 04:04.611 into the bottom, and they actually remove sediments 04:04.611 --> 04:06.012 from the water column. 04:06.012 --> 04:08.014 When that happens, it maintains a clear water column 04:08.014 --> 04:09.916 so a lot of light reaches the bottom. 04:09.916 --> 04:12.319 If sea grasses were to disappear, then all of a sudden 04:12.319 --> 04:14.788 they are no longer holding these sediments in place. 04:14.788 --> 04:16.623 Sediments get up in the water and the water 04:16.623 --> 04:19.025 becomes very, very turbid. 04:19.025 --> 04:22.362 >>That's really important when you're thinking about areas 04:22.362 --> 04:24.564 that are heavily populated, where folks like to recreate 04:24.564 --> 04:26.533 where sediments can be stirred up. 04:26.533 --> 04:29.002 They kind of root them down and keep them stable. 04:29.002 --> 04:31.071 And they provide some hurricane protection, 04:31.071 --> 04:32.973 much like mangroves do on a global scale. 04:32.973 --> 04:34.374 You've got sea grasses and mangroves 04:34.374 --> 04:36.977 that break wave action when storms come, 04:36.977 --> 04:40.947 and that also provide nature's way of stabilizing 04:40.947 --> 04:42.549 the shoreline. 04:42.549 --> 04:43.984 >>We live in an area of the world where we get 04:43.984 --> 04:46.853 these catastrophic storm events, hurricanes and tropical storms 04:46.853 --> 04:50.490 and, where they hit the coast they can definitely create 04:50.490 --> 04:51.958 erosion problems. 04:51.958 --> 04:54.928 And what we find is that areas that are protected or buffered 04:54.928 --> 04:58.131 by mangrove forested wetlands tend to do much better. 04:58.131 --> 05:00.867 And then we lose a lot of coastline in areas 05:00.867 --> 05:03.036 where we removed mangroves and replaced them 05:03.036 --> 05:04.538 with things like seawalls. 05:06.907 --> 05:09.309 >>NARRATOR: Still, some of the most important values 05:09.309 --> 05:13.213 of these resources are less obvious. 05:13.213 --> 05:15.782 >>It's been shown that about a hectare of sea grass, 05:15.782 --> 05:17.517 which is equivalent to a soccer field, 05:17.517 --> 05:20.287 can use the same amount of nitrogen that would come 05:20.287 --> 05:24.791 from treated sewage from 800 people in one year. 05:24.791 --> 05:26.793 And then, if you're looking at the carbon numbers, 05:26.793 --> 05:30.964 sea grass can fix the same amount of carbon 05:30.964 --> 05:33.733 per meter squared in a year that you would produce 05:33.733 --> 05:37.037 by driving your car 7,500 miles. 05:37.037 --> 05:39.706 Just the amount of nitrogen they pick up is worth 05:39.706 --> 05:44.477 $19,000 a year for that one little spot of sea grass. 05:44.477 --> 05:46.513 And you start to look at everything else 05:46.513 --> 05:48.114 that is associated with them. 05:48.114 --> 05:52.919 You're not talking a monetary amount for fisheries 05:52.919 --> 05:55.856 because you've got the shrimp industry down here 05:55.856 --> 06:00.026 in South Florida, you've got all of the sports fishing, 06:00.026 --> 06:02.462 as well as most of the fish from either the mangroves 06:02.462 --> 06:05.332 or the coral reefs having some sort of connection 06:05.332 --> 06:08.535 with sea grass. 06:08.535 --> 06:10.804 >>Sea grasses and mangroves provide the nursery habitat, 06:10.804 --> 06:13.240 the foundation of our ecosystem, 06:13.240 --> 06:17.577 and without having a healthy nursery habitat 06:17.577 --> 06:19.980 where fishery industries can survive 06:19.980 --> 06:21.615 and our tourism industry thrives 06:21.615 --> 06:23.817 because we've got this industry that depends on having 06:23.817 --> 06:26.286 nice clear water and habitat where fish can grow 06:26.286 --> 06:29.456 both for sustainability and sustenance for people to eat 06:29.456 --> 06:31.258 and also for our tourism industry where people 06:31.258 --> 06:33.393 like to recreate. 06:33.393 --> 06:35.929 From the basic part of that food chain up through 06:35.929 --> 06:39.466 human consumption you'd have, really, an ecosystem collapse. 06:39.466 --> 06:41.668 >>It certainly is a crisis. 06:41.668 --> 06:43.570 Sea grasses are very valuable for the ecosystem services 06:43.570 --> 06:45.839 they provide, besides being just hotspots of biodiversit 06:45.839 --> 06:48.541 and beautiful places to visit. 06:48.541 --> 06:50.810 >>I'm fascinated by sea grass habitats. 06:50.810 --> 06:53.013 On the surface you look at a sea grass habitat 06:53.013 --> 06:55.115 and you see a bunch of green grass, 06:55.115 --> 06:57.083 essentially, that doesn't look too different from your lawn, 06:57.083 --> 06:58.351 for example. 06:58.351 --> 07:00.020 But sea grasses, or the habitats, 07:00.020 --> 07:01.721 are incredibly complex. 07:01.721 --> 07:04.391 There are so many different organisms that live there, 07:04.391 --> 07:07.027 there are so many different bio-geochemical cycles 07:07.027 --> 07:09.729 and processes that are going on in there. 07:09.729 --> 07:13.266 If you put your face up close to a sea grass habitat, 07:13.266 --> 07:15.168 you'll be amazed at the number of different things 07:15.168 --> 07:17.203 that you'll see on the small scale. 07:24.878 --> 07:28.048 >>NARRATOR: In the sub-tropical waters of southeast Florida, 07:28.048 --> 07:32.118 neighboring metropolitan Miami, Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve 07:32.118 --> 07:37.357 manages nearly 70,000 acres of submerged land. 07:37.357 --> 07:42.529 Nearly three-quarters of that is covered by sea grass. 07:42.529 --> 07:46.166 Mangrove forested islands and shorelines grow adjacent 07:46.166 --> 07:48.568 to these sea grass communities. 07:48.568 --> 07:51.838 The most common variety, red mangroves, 07:51.838 --> 07:54.174 are found growing at the water's edge. 07:54.174 --> 07:58.812 Behind them, black mangroves, and farther upland, 07:58.812 --> 08:00.981 white mangroves. 08:02.849 --> 08:06.219 Historically, Biscayne Bay received freshwater 08:06.219 --> 08:09.589 from the Everglades, but in modern times 08:09.589 --> 08:13.760 the hydrology has been altered by drainage canals, 08:13.760 --> 08:16.763 channelized rivers, and changes in the flow 08:16.763 --> 08:21.468 of ground water into the bay. 08:21.468 --> 08:24.104 The diversity of species has also changed, 08:24.104 --> 08:27.007 but it still remains an estuar 08:27.007 --> 08:30.877 where freshwater and saltwater meet. 08:30.877 --> 08:33.246 >>One of the things we do is form partnerships 08:33.246 --> 08:36.816 with local resource agencies, universities, 08:36.816 --> 08:39.252 researchers who are looking at what the resources are 08:39.252 --> 08:41.788 in Biscayne Bay so that we can get a better understanding 08:41.788 --> 08:44.024 of what's there now, but also, 08:44.024 --> 08:48.028 how have things changed and how are they changing? 08:57.837 --> 08:59.939 >>NARRATOR: Marine biologists are monitoring 08:59.939 --> 09:03.777 salinity, sediments and organisms that live on 09:03.777 --> 09:07.580 sea grasses found in Biscayne Bay with a long term goal 09:07.580 --> 09:11.418 of determining what effect a new freshwater canal 09:11.418 --> 09:15.422 flowing into the bay will have on the ecosystem. 09:18.124 --> 09:19.859 >>This project is directly related 09:19.859 --> 09:22.796 to the Everglades Restoration Project, 09:22.796 --> 09:24.397 and what's going to be happening is, 09:24.397 --> 09:28.501 the freshwater regime of south Florida is going to be changing. 09:28.501 --> 09:32.705 And everybody that's involved wants to try to get an idea 09:32.705 --> 09:36.676 of what and how these changes are going to be affecting 09:36.676 --> 09:39.012 what's already here. 09:39.012 --> 09:42.348 Overall, if you have salinities changing 09:42.348 --> 09:45.485 on a much larger scale, then you start getting into 09:45.485 --> 09:51.157 chemistry a lot more: how warmer waters are going 09:51.157 --> 09:55.028 to be acidifying with higher levels of CO2. 09:55.028 --> 10:00.300 That's going to be affecting how the sediments actually work 10:00.300 --> 10:01.534 or don't work. 10:01.534 --> 10:03.870 It starts to get pretty ugly pretty quick. 10:03.870 --> 10:07.607 We don't know exactly what's going to happen. 10:07.607 --> 10:10.643 >>NARRATOR: Photo archival data of the sea grass beds 10:10.643 --> 10:13.947 is recorded with a specially designed boat 10:13.947 --> 10:22.388 and shallow water positioning system known as SWAPS. 10:22.388 --> 10:25.792 >>We've got a glass bottom boat so that you can see the stuff 10:25.792 --> 10:27.293 that's out there. 10:27.293 --> 10:29.229 We've got a digital camera attached to the glass bottom. 10:29.229 --> 10:31.097 We can move that around as we need to. 10:31.097 --> 10:33.133 That runs directly through a computer, 10:33.133 --> 10:34.767 goes straight to a hard drive. 10:34.767 --> 10:39.839 We've got GPS, so it codes every photo with exactly where it is. 10:39.839 --> 10:42.742 Even if we're doing a straight line or just trying to sit 10:42.742 --> 10:47.180 in one spot, each one of these is tagged so precisel 10:47.180 --> 10:50.283 that we can follow it around, because sea grass doesn't grow 10:50.283 --> 10:54.154 all the time as just one big meadow like your yard. 10:54.154 --> 10:56.856 There's going to be little patches of it. 10:56.856 --> 11:02.695 This gives us a nice snapshot of the community as it is 11:02.695 --> 11:06.966 right up against the mangroves, and how that changes as it moves 11:06.966 --> 11:09.269 into a little bit deeper water. 11:09.269 --> 11:11.938 We're going out, and year after year, 11:11.938 --> 11:16.342 taking photo quadrants, basically, and so that wa 11:16.342 --> 11:20.013 in the future we can always come back if we need to check 11:20.013 --> 11:23.816 for any specific organisms or any specific changes 11:23.816 --> 11:27.887 that we may have missed on our preliminary analysis. 11:33.560 --> 11:35.828 >>NARRATOR: Sea grass and mangrove communities 11:35.828 --> 11:38.731 in Biscayne Bay nurture juvenile fish 11:38.731 --> 11:44.904 and marine creatures that feed and find shelter here. 11:44.904 --> 11:47.941 Some will make their way offshore to the coral reefs. 11:47.941 --> 11:51.911 Others will live out their entire life cycles in the bay. 11:55.915 --> 12:00.086 More than a hundred bottlenose dolphins reside in the bay, 12:00.086 --> 12:04.524 stalking fish around the sea grass beds. 12:04.524 --> 12:08.027 Sea grasses are a primary food source for manatees, 12:08.027 --> 12:11.331 but as opportunistic feeders, they will consume 12:11.331 --> 12:13.866 low hanging mangrove leaves. 12:16.536 --> 12:21.074 Sea grasses in tropical and subtropical bays and estuaries 12:21.074 --> 12:24.844 around the world have a relationship with mangroves, 12:24.844 --> 12:28.715 like prairies do to forests on land. 12:28.715 --> 12:32.118 >>A good example of this is along the mangrove fringe 12:32.118 --> 12:33.953 down in the southern part of the aquatic preserve 12:33.953 --> 12:35.755 near Chicken Key and the Deering Estate. 12:35.755 --> 12:39.859 You've got an expansive mangrove forest right adjacent 12:39.859 --> 12:43.596 to the shoreline and then out from that for a few miles 12:43.596 --> 12:47.600 you've got dense sea grass beds. 12:53.106 --> 12:55.575 >>NARRATOR: The prop roots of mangrove trees suppl 12:55.575 --> 12:59.345 food and shelter to some of the same marine organisms 12:59.345 --> 13:03.049 and fish that are found in sea grass beds. 13:03.049 --> 13:08.521 Because many near-shore and offshore species rel 13:08.521 --> 13:12.392 on mangroves as a nursery, when mangrove habitat is lost, 13:12.392 --> 13:15.395 fisheries soon decline. 13:18.998 --> 13:23.336 Human impacts on these ecosystems are a clear challenge 13:23.336 --> 13:25.071 for resource managers. 13:30.343 --> 13:34.080 In the 1960s, developers acquired a section of shoreline 13:34.080 --> 13:37.050 in the northern tributary of the ba 13:37.050 --> 13:42.588 and cleared the mangrove forest to dredge and build a marina. 13:42.588 --> 13:45.591 Years later, the site was acquired to form a part 13:45.591 --> 13:48.528 of the Oleta River State Park. 13:48.528 --> 13:51.564 Today, it's being restored to its natural condition 13:51.564 --> 13:54.567 as a mangrove wetland. 13:54.567 --> 13:57.003 >>This is a red mangrove propagule that has just started 13:57.003 --> 13:59.572 to put out some roots and some leaves. 13:59.572 --> 14:03.643 As you can see, they are about six to sometimes nine inches 14:03.643 --> 14:09.082 in length and they come off the tree as a very cigar shaped-- 14:09.082 --> 14:10.817 some people say it's pencil shaped-- 14:10.817 --> 14:14.921 very long sort of propagule seed, 14:14.921 --> 14:19.192 and they float in the system until they find 14:19.192 --> 14:24.063 some substrate, and the one end is a little bit heavier 14:24.063 --> 14:26.332 than the other end and it tends to take root 14:26.332 --> 14:29.068 and get in an upright position. 14:29.068 --> 14:31.304 And again, you have to remember, the water is going up and down 14:31.304 --> 14:33.139 as this is all happening. 14:33.139 --> 14:37.610 Then once it starts to establish some root into the substrate, 14:37.610 --> 14:40.580 it will start to grow and the mangroves grow 14:40.580 --> 14:42.382 about two feet a year. 14:42.382 --> 14:44.584 They differ from one location to another, 14:44.584 --> 14:46.853 but that's a pretty good average. 14:46.853 --> 14:49.322 The red mangroves will grow up to 150 feet 14:49.322 --> 14:53.159 if they didn't have impacts as far as storm impacts. 14:53.159 --> 14:57.196 And in this area we see them from 80 to 100 feet tall. 14:57.196 --> 15:00.032 Unfortunately, we have our frequency of hurricanes here 15:00.032 --> 15:03.636 is great and as a result our mangroves are not as tall 15:03.636 --> 15:05.471 as some of the ones in southeast Asia, 15:05.471 --> 15:09.041 where they have a lower frequency of storm events. 15:09.041 --> 15:11.210 These channel ways feeding into the site were designed 15:11.210 --> 15:14.414 minus three feet. 15:14.414 --> 15:16.449 It's really been exciting in our restoration plans. 15:16.449 --> 15:18.684 We not only just have a plain of mangroves, 15:18.684 --> 15:21.120 but we also have these tidal creeks and channels 15:21.120 --> 15:22.922 and tidal pools. 15:22.922 --> 15:26.526 It's amazing to see the life, the abundance of life 15:26.526 --> 15:29.629 that comes in and succeeds through time. 15:29.629 --> 15:33.166 We've seen fisheries that have come into areas, 15:33.166 --> 15:36.736 and just the species' richness, or the number of different types 15:36.736 --> 15:39.238 of fish or crabs or shrimp, have just gone right off 15:39.238 --> 15:41.374 the graph as far as the number of individuals 15:41.374 --> 15:44.043 and the diversity-- the different types that come 15:44.043 --> 15:46.412 into an area once it gets established. 15:47.747 --> 15:50.450 My biggest thrill about all of this is pretty much 15:50.450 --> 15:53.586 at a stage that we're at now with this project here, 15:53.586 --> 15:56.289 where we're pretty much concluding the construction, 15:56.289 --> 16:00.493 we're starting to plant the site with volunteers, 16:00.493 --> 16:02.361 and that's another big part of this effort, 16:02.361 --> 16:07.033 is to get the community in to obtain a sense of ownership, 16:07.033 --> 16:08.968 stewardship with the project. 16:08.968 --> 16:11.637 And families come out and can plant these mangroves, 16:11.637 --> 16:14.907 and come back and see the abundance of life 16:14.907 --> 16:16.075 and what they've done, 16:16.075 --> 16:21.681 and feel a part of the overall restoration. 16:21.681 --> 16:23.916 >>NARRATOR: But balancing resource management 16:23.916 --> 16:26.786 and restoration with recreational use 16:26.786 --> 16:30.356 is a steady challenge, particularly for specialists 16:30.356 --> 16:34.260 in Biscayne National Park, located at the southern end 16:34.260 --> 16:37.797 of the bay. 16:37.797 --> 16:41.400 It's a shallow water environment with submerged resources 16:41.400 --> 16:44.103 like sea grasses and coral reefs-- 16:44.103 --> 16:49.509 a popular recreational area, but one that's frequently impacted 16:49.509 --> 16:53.279 by boat groundings and propeller scarring. 16:56.349 --> 16:58.985 >>We're trying to put the sediment back in the holes, 16:58.985 --> 17:00.753 or the scars themselves. 17:00.753 --> 17:04.624 Sea grasses cannot grow well in the water column itself, 17:04.624 --> 17:07.593 they need sediment to grow in, so until we replace that, 17:07.593 --> 17:10.229 those injuries take years and years and years to recover, 17:10.229 --> 17:13.900 if at all. 17:13.900 --> 17:16.369 We're putting in sediment that's very fine 17:16.369 --> 17:20.806 and it can cause a very large turbidity bloom in the water, 17:20.806 --> 17:22.875 which is not a good thing. 17:22.875 --> 17:27.013 We're actually required through state water quality standards 17:27.013 --> 17:29.715 to control that turbidity very carefully. 17:29.715 --> 17:32.718 So we will put up the yellow construction boom 17:32.718 --> 17:34.353 around the site that we're going 17:34.353 --> 17:35.855 to be working at and make sure 17:35.855 --> 17:39.458 that there is really very little option for leaking. 17:39.458 --> 17:41.961 Then we'll bring the sediment in on barges. 17:41.961 --> 17:44.997 Sometimes we use containerized sediment, 17:44.997 --> 17:47.233 for example, in a burlap bag. 17:47.233 --> 17:49.468 Sometimes we put the sediment that's loose. 17:49.468 --> 17:51.938 We use a crane-- some kind of crane-- 17:51.938 --> 17:54.040 to actually put it in the hole. 17:54.040 --> 17:58.077 We have divers in the water feeling out the surface 17:58.077 --> 17:59.879 with their feet to figure out where we need to put more, 17:59.879 --> 18:02.515 you know, so we can kind of place the sediment 18:02.515 --> 18:04.350 exactly where it needs to be. 18:04.350 --> 18:06.319 And the other thing the divers are doing is 18:06.319 --> 18:09.021 collecting water samples for turbidity water monitoring. 18:11.824 --> 18:14.160 >>NARRATOR: In the final phase of this restoration, 18:14.160 --> 18:18.831 healthy sea grasses will be transplanted to the site, 18:18.831 --> 18:20.399 a method having great success 18:20.399 --> 18:22.201 in the Channel Islands National Park 18:22.201 --> 18:24.971 off the coast of southern California. 18:24.971 --> 18:26.973 >>All right, I'm in. 18:33.646 --> 18:36.616 >>NARRATOR: The rich sea grass habitats of the Channel Islands 18:36.616 --> 18:40.052 sustain an abundance of marine life, 18:40.052 --> 18:44.323 offering food for some and shelter for others. 18:44.323 --> 18:50.262 Some of its species are found nowhere else in the world. 18:54.867 --> 18:59.038 Here, resource managers are harvesting healthy sea grasses 18:59.038 --> 19:02.041 to transplant in damaged areas. 19:09.181 --> 19:13.285 This five-year old restoration project has expanded 19:13.285 --> 19:16.455 the sea grass beds up to a mile away, 19:16.455 --> 19:19.458 adding new habitat for a diversity of species. 19:28.534 --> 19:32.371 But, it takes an informed public to share the responsibilit 19:32.371 --> 19:36.609 for sustaining these ecosystems, and resource managers 19:36.609 --> 19:39.979 want to engage people as well as local governments 19:39.979 --> 19:43.315 in promoting the best ways to enjoy the bays 19:43.315 --> 19:47.987 and estuaries while protecting the resources. 19:47.987 --> 19:50.656 >>On behalf of Miami-Dade county and this community, 19:50.656 --> 19:55.728 do hereby proclaim March 2010 as Sea Grass Awareness Month. 19:55.728 --> 19:56.996 >>Very good. 19:56.996 --> 20:02.068 (applause) 20:02.068 --> 20:06.305 >>NARRATOR: But will human intervention be enough? 20:06.305 --> 20:10.042 And in time to make a difference? 20:10.042 --> 20:11.677 >>One of the things that is at the forefront 20:11.677 --> 20:14.346 of everyone's mind is, we're managing these areas, 20:14.346 --> 20:16.182 but what does that mean in 25 years, or 50, 20:16.182 --> 20:17.249 or 100 years? 20:17.249 --> 20:20.052 We'll be... this will be underwater, 20:20.052 --> 20:21.721 this island that we're sitting on right now. 20:21.721 --> 20:26.726 So it's a quandary. 20:28.427 --> 20:31.197 >>NARRATOR: In southwest Florida's Ten Thousand Islands, 20:31.197 --> 20:34.333 bottlenose dolphins corral their pre 20:34.333 --> 20:38.938 in one of the most productive mangrove estuaries in the world. 20:38.938 --> 20:42.575 From the air, the islands look much the same as they have 20:42.575 --> 20:47.012 for thousands of years, but today they are ground zero 20:47.012 --> 20:48.948 for researchers trying to solve 20:48.948 --> 20:52.618 one of the great scientific problems of the future: 20:52.618 --> 20:56.388 predicting sea level rise. 20:56.388 --> 20:59.892 At Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, 20:59.892 --> 21:03.829 scientists are trying to determine how changing seas 21:03.829 --> 21:07.767 will affect the Ten Thousand Islands' mangrove forests 21:07.767 --> 21:10.669 and low lying coastline. 21:10.669 --> 21:14.206 >>We know without a doubt that sea level rise is increasing 21:14.206 --> 21:16.976 and it's actually an accelerated increase. 21:16.976 --> 21:20.012 That puts communities in southwest Florida at risk, 21:20.012 --> 21:21.614 not just here in southwest Florida, 21:21.614 --> 21:24.517 but I would say particularly so here because people live 21:24.517 --> 21:26.986 on Marco Island and Naples and the surrounding areas 21:26.986 --> 21:30.322 are living in communities in these built landscapes 21:30.322 --> 21:32.858 in a very low lying elevation. 21:32.858 --> 21:35.728 >>A lot of the mangroves we have around Rookery Ba 21:35.728 --> 21:38.197 are actually growing on living oyster reef, 21:38.197 --> 21:41.233 and if the water quality conditions are good, 21:41.233 --> 21:44.570 and in most cases in Rookery Bay that is the case, 21:44.570 --> 21:47.406 as the reef slowly expands, then we can also see 21:47.406 --> 21:51.310 an expansion of mangroves that occurs at the same time. 22:00.186 --> 22:03.889 Oysters have a tendency to grow up at a certain rate 22:03.889 --> 22:06.826 off of the sea floor, and if those oyster reefs 22:06.826 --> 22:10.029 are growing faster than sea level is going up, 22:10.029 --> 22:11.730 the oyster reefs become emergent. 22:11.730 --> 22:13.866 They come out of the water and then they become areas 22:13.866 --> 22:15.501 for recruitment for mangroves. 22:15.501 --> 22:17.236 So what was an oyster reef 22:17.236 --> 22:20.105 becomes a mangrove-forested island, 22:20.105 --> 22:22.274 and those mangrove-forested islands 22:22.274 --> 22:24.844 have snaking-like shapes, 22:24.844 --> 22:27.980 dendritic kinds of patterns, and it's those islands 22:27.980 --> 22:30.216 that give the Ten Thousand Islands their name. 22:30.216 --> 22:32.284 Now that sea level rise has accelerated, 22:32.284 --> 22:35.454 that rate of sea level rise is faster than oysters can grow, 22:35.454 --> 22:39.558 so that balance will shift and has already shifted 22:39.558 --> 22:42.862 and it's quite possible, I would venture to say likely, 22:42.862 --> 22:45.664 that the Ten Thousand Islands will disappear given 22:45.664 --> 22:47.433 the current rate of sea level rise, 22:47.433 --> 22:50.069 which will completely change the configuration of the coast 22:50.069 --> 22:53.439 and completely change the estuarine ecology of the coast, 22:53.439 --> 22:55.941 because those Ten Thousand Islands also serve 22:55.941 --> 22:58.711 as entrapments for fresh water that create 22:58.711 --> 23:00.913 the brackish water that serves as the nurseries, 23:00.913 --> 23:03.315 serves as the place for sea grass development, 23:03.315 --> 23:05.584 serves as a place for other oyster reef development. 23:05.584 --> 23:08.020 That's all likely to change. 23:08.020 --> 23:10.756 >>NARRATOR: Researchers are studying sediment samples 23:10.756 --> 23:14.627 from the Ten Thousand Islands to determine changes over time 23:14.627 --> 23:19.865 in the mangrove communities as a consequence of sea level rise. 23:19.865 --> 23:23.602 These sediments indicate a shoreward retreat 23:23.602 --> 23:28.107 of southwest Florida's mangrove coastline. 23:28.107 --> 23:31.844 They're also finding evidence of saltwater intrusion 23:31.844 --> 23:35.414 in the freshwater marshes of the Ten Thousand Islands 23:35.414 --> 23:37.816 National Wildlife Refuge. 23:37.816 --> 23:41.654 Arrays of circular sub-tidal ponds have been photographed 23:41.654 --> 23:43.188 from the air. 23:43.188 --> 23:45.858 Patches of mangroves are taking root 23:45.858 --> 23:49.094 where only freshwater plants once grew, 23:49.094 --> 23:52.865 another sign of sea level rise. 23:52.865 --> 23:56.435 >>Since humans have become industrialized, 23:56.435 --> 23:59.905 since humans have been recording history in history books, 23:59.905 --> 24:03.375 we've been around during times of modest sea level rise rates. 24:03.375 --> 24:07.179 And we have barrier islands and bays, and Ten Thousand Islands, 24:07.179 --> 24:10.282 and Biscayne Bays and Florida Bays. 24:10.282 --> 24:14.186 Those are all there because a modest rate of sea level rise 24:14.186 --> 24:17.323 has allowed those features to develop. 24:17.323 --> 24:19.925 Now, again we see that in the sediments 24:19.925 --> 24:21.860 over the last 5,000 years. 24:21.860 --> 24:25.698 Now flash forward to industrialized world 24:25.698 --> 24:29.134 and climate change and enrichment of CO2 24:29.134 --> 24:30.803 in the atmosphere, there's clearly a record 24:30.803 --> 24:33.839 in those sediments that sea level is accelerating. 24:39.178 --> 24:40.746 >>NARRATOR: Scientists project the retreat 24:40.746 --> 24:45.084 of southwest Florida's coastline if sea level should rise 24:45.084 --> 24:48.520 from its current level one meter at a time 24:48.520 --> 24:52.157 up to an additional nine meters. 24:52.157 --> 24:54.460 >>Projections for much faster rises in sea level 24:54.460 --> 24:57.696 over the next 100 or 200 years would suggest to us 24:57.696 --> 25:01.533 that the area we're standing in now will soon be under water. 25:01.533 --> 25:03.736 So one may ask the question, why bother protecting 25:03.736 --> 25:07.139 the sea grasses here if the coast is going 25:07.139 --> 25:08.540 to migrate away from here? 25:08.540 --> 25:11.810 One reason is because there will always be a coast 25:11.810 --> 25:15.581 and sea grasses will continue to respond and move shoreward 25:15.581 --> 25:19.318 as sea level goes up, as long as humans don't armor the coast 25:19.318 --> 25:22.921 to such a point that a wall is built around human cities 25:22.921 --> 25:25.090 and they continue to go up as sea level comes up. 25:27.259 --> 25:30.329 >>NARRATOR: But how fast will these changes occur? 25:30.329 --> 25:33.766 And will sea grasses and mangroves continue to yield 25:33.766 --> 25:36.969 their many ecological and economic values 25:36.969 --> 25:40.272 with the changing seas? 25:40.272 --> 25:43.942 For today's researchers, these questions are part 25:43.942 --> 25:47.513 of an experiment in progress, 25:47.513 --> 25:51.383 with the answers waiting somewhere in the future. 26:24.850 --> 26:27.286 >>Major funding for this program was provided 26:27.286 --> 26:29.354 by the Batchelor Foundation. 26:29.354 --> 26:32.057 Encouraging people to preserve and protect 26:32.057 --> 26:36.057 America's underwater resources.