Effect of Hurricane Eloise on the benthic fauna of Panama City Beach, Florida, USA

✍ Scribed by C. H. Saloman; S. P. Naughton

• Book ID: 104758578
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1977
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 597 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00402198

✦ Synopsis

The effect of H u r r i c a n e E l o i s e in September, 1975 on the benthic fauna inhabiting the swash zone on Panama City Beach, Florida, USA is described. Damage by the storm to the beach and p r o p e r t y was considerable. The effect of the storm on the benthic invertebrates was not adverse, as the number of individuals occurring in the swash zone was about the same after the storm as before. The number of species increased after the storm, but later d e c r e a s e d to a p p r o x i m a t e numbers before the storm. The increase in the number of species was m a i n l y due to the influx of species that normally occur farther o f f s h o r e of the swash zone. The lack of heavy rainfall that u s u a l l y accompanies a h u r r i c a n e was probably a factor enabling benthic organisms that n o r m a l l y llve in high salinities to survive.