7.4 Habitat Monitoring
Wetlands
• Implement additional monitoring to better assess impacts where extensive areas of wetlands were drained.
• Given a limited time to monitor for restoration success, criteria should focus on identi- fying trajectories of functional development that include wetland soil development. • Conduct a study to quantify the cumulative impact of shoreline hardening on wetland vegetation and habitat-mediated predator–prey interactions in NC estuarine waters.
Soft bottom
• Gather more information to understand the consequences on the estuarine food web and to what extent anoxia is impacting the soft bottom community.
• Implement adequate monitoring of the efects of beach nourishment on the soft bottom community and associated surf fsh populations as the number of beach nourishment projects increase. Tis should be required for all large-scale or long-term nourishment projects.
• Conduct long-term monitoring in combination with management actions that reduce discharge concentrations to determine efectiveness and future management needs.
Hard bottom
• Monitor hard bottom communities to assess the level of impact from trawling activity, particularly shrimp trawls in the southern portion of the coast.
• Initiate monitoring of hard bottom communities and coordinate with UNC-Wilmington or other ocean water quality monitoring programs to determine the efects of estu- arine water quality, particularly nutrient and sediment loading, on hard bottom communities.
845
2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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