Figure 1.
Population Growth and Shoreline Armoring in Mobile Bay, Alabama.
Adapted with permission from Douglass and Pickel 1999, this figure depicts the rate and extent of shoreline armoring in Mobile Bay. The vertical bars in the main graph show the proportion of armoring while the line depicts the increasing population levels for Mobile and Baldwin Counties.
Figure 2.
Map of Study Sites in Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound, Alabama.
White triangles represent breakwater reef complexes and white circles represent control treatments at the two restoration sites of (A) Point aux Pins and (B) Alabama Port. The locations of the (1) Cedar Point and (2) Dauphin Island hydrographic monitoring stations are denoted by the numbered arrows.
Figure 3.
Bathymetry Plots from the Western Experimental Breakwater Reef and Control Treatments at Point aux Pins.
The top row of 2006 plots was approximately one year prior to construction. The 2008 and 2009 plots are from one and two years post construction. Depth gradients are shown in inset (A). A schematic of the initial reef shape is depicted in (B). The crest width of each reef was approximately 1-m at MLLW.
Figure 4.
Salinity Ranges Recorded by Hydrographic Monitoring Stations in Coastal Alabama.
Box and whisker plots of salinity data recorded by the hydrographic monitoring stations at (A) Cedar Point and (B) Dauphin Island. The Cedar Point Station has been active since 2008 and the Dauphin Island Station since 2003.
Figure 5.
Mean retreat (± SE) of living vegetation shoreward of each treatment at (A) Point aux Pins and (B) Alabama Port.
Figure 6.
Oyster Recruitment and Survival.
Mean oyster densities (+SE) of live juvenile, live adult and dead oysters at Point aux Pins (A–C) and Alabama Port (D–F). Different letters indicate statistical differences (p<0.05) from Tukey's HSD post-hoc tests.
Figure 7.
Relative Demersal Fish and Decapod Crustacean Abundance.
Mean ±1 SE CPUE of (A) demersal fishes separated by collection method and (B) decapod crustaceans collected by seines near breakwater reefs and controls. Significant differences at P≤0.05 from univariate PERMANOA tests are indicated by asterisks.
Figure 8.
Total Abundance and Demersal Fish Abundance Separated by Site.
Mean+1 SE catch per unit effort of (A) total fish and invertebrate abundance and (B) demersal fish abundance collected by 5 cm gillnets. CPUE is presented as the total individuals captured for each hour of soak time.
Figure 9.
Relative Abundance of Dominant Demersal Fish and Decapod Taxa.
Mean+1 SE CPUE of dominant demersal and decapod species or grouped taxa between treatments. Significant differences at P≤0.05 from Wilcoxon signed rank tests comparing paired breakwater reef and control treatments.