Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

1994

Abstract

Four artificial reefs were placed off Broward County in 20 ft of water on 29 March 1993. The reefs were constructed of concrete aggregate tetrahedrons. Each reef contains 25 small ( 3ft/side) and 25 large (4 ft/side) tetrahedrons in a random configuration. Two types of concrete aggregate were used . One is a tire-concrete aggregate which uses tire shreds mixed into the concrete; the other is a standard gravel-concrete aggregate. Two reefs are composed of each type of aggregate . The purpose of the study is to evaluate the tire aggregate, in comparison to standard concrete, as a suitable reef building material . Specifically we are looking at the response of biological communities to the two types of reefs. The reefs are being monitored periodically ( intervals of one mounth or less) and the status of the biological communities assayed through various methodologies, i . e. visual census (fishes), uw- video taping and collection (invertebrates) . The reefs have acquired a diverse community of fishes and invertebrates. We have noted 90 species of fishes and 116 taxa of invertebrates to date; these numbers compare favorable with a similar study in Southern Florida . To this point, we have been unable to see significant differences among the biological communities between the two types of reefs that we can ascribe to difference in construction material . However, because we have only monitored the reefs for 17 months, the data are insufficient to draw valid conclusions concerning the suitability of the tire-concrete aggregate as an artificial reef construction material .

Comments

Submitted to Broward County Department of Natural Resource Protection

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