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2015-11-01T00:00:00 |
Benthic habitats were mapped using available digital data for Barnegat Bay, the Hudson
River estuary, and the South Shore of Long Island. Benthic habitats mapped in this
atlas consist of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and bivalve reefs. Benthic habitat
was given the mapping qualifier of .High Ecological Value. as it provides spawning,
nursery, and foraging habitat for fish and shellfish, habitat for macroinvertebrates,
and food for waterfowl, fish, and mammals. The Hudson River estuary and Barnegat Bay
have data sets for SAV inventories conducted in multiple years. In these cases, SAV
in the most recent year for each area was mapped with a concentration value of .Present.
while SAV from prior years was given the concentration value of .Potential.. SAV may
eventually recover or be restored in areas where it has been lost, and it was recommended
by the data providers that these areas be included in the atlas. Hudson River SAV
was mapped using the combined Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR)/New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) vector digital data from
1997, 2002, and 2007. The most recently mapped year (2007) was used to differentiate
SAV classified as .Present. from the past or .Potential. distribution. The dominant
species in the Hudson River estuary SAV community is water celery (Vallisneria americana).
The dominant seagrass in Barnegat Bay and the South Shore estuary is eelgrass (Zostera
marina), with widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima) occurring in shallower areas with lower
salinity. Barnegat Bay SAV was mapped with 1979, 2003, and 2009 data, with 2009 SAV
mapped as .Present.. Long Island.s South Shore estuary benthic habitats were mapped
using the 2002 New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) benthic habitat data set
and supplemented with Fire Island SAV data. Fire Island SAV data was included only
in areas where it did not overlap with the NYSDOS data. The only bivalve reefs mapped
in this AOI were in South Oyster Bay. In addition to seagrass and reefs, areas with
macroalgae (seaweed) are shown in the South Shore estuary. The above digital sources
were compiled by the project biologist to create the BENTHIC data layer. Depending
on the type of source data, two general approaches are used for compiling the data
layer: 1) digital data layers are evaluated and used "as is" or integrated with the
ESI base map features (ESIP, HYDROP, ESIL) 2) information gathered during initial
interviews and from hardcopy sources are compiled and digitized using ESI base map
features. See the Lineage section for additional information on the type of source
data for this data layer. The ESI, biology, and human-use data are compiled into the
standard ESI digital data format. A second set of interviews with participating resource
experts are conducted to review the compiled data. If necessary, edits to the BENTHIC
data layer are made based on the recommendations of the resource experts and digital
data are created.
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