BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The Brevard Zoo recently launched an experimental pilot program to help with seagrass restoration efforts in the Indian River Lagoon.
The zoo’s Resort Our Shores conservation program is working to learn more about where in the lagoon restoration efforts will thrive. Zoo officials said the pilot program is being funded by community members.
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They’ve planted 24 seagrass beds in 17 locations in the lagoon and said they plan to monitor them over the next year.
“This is going to tell us more about where to or where not to do seagrass restoration in the lagoon’s current water quality conditions– and what methodologies we should explore,” said Olivia Escandell, ROS conservation manager.
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Zoo officials said the Indian River Lagoon is a seagrass-based ecosystem, and that seagrass meadows used to be prolific in the lagoon, offering a habitat and food source to several inhabitants.
The zoo said algae superblooms brought on by nutrient pollutants in wastewater and stormwater blocked the sunlight to these meadows, which killed off acres of seagrass, some nearly completely.
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“We’re not going to plant ourselves out of this problem, but we hope to accelerate restoration,” Escandell said. “There’s a lot of other work that needs to happen to reduce nutrients making their way into the lagoon.”
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