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Weeki Wachee River System Recommended Minimum Flows and ...

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Table 5-11<br />

Rank Order of Mollusc Abundance in the Mud <strong>and</strong> <strong>Weeki</strong> <strong>Wachee</strong> <strong>River</strong><br />

(Estevez 2005)<br />

Species Number Percent Cumulative<br />

Percent<br />

Tagelus plebeius 82 40.0 40.0<br />

Polymesoda caroliniana 47 22.9 62.9<br />

Crassostrea virginica 31 15.1 78.0<br />

Littoraria irrorata 13 6.3 84.4<br />

Macoma constricta 10 4.9 89.3<br />

Ischadium recurvum 9 4.4 93.7<br />

Melampus sp. 4 2.0 95.6<br />

Tellina sp. 2 1.0 96.6<br />

Anomalocardium auberiana 1 0.5 97.1<br />

Corbicula fluminea 1 0.5 97.6<br />

Melongena corona 1 0.5 98.0<br />

Nassarius vibex 1 0.5 98.5<br />

Pisidium sp. 1 0.5 99.0<br />

Polinices duplicatus 1 0.5 99.5<br />

Veneridae 1 0.5 100.0<br />

Total 205 100.0<br />

5.4.2 Relation to Inflow<br />

To date, the mollusc surveys done along the west coast of Florida have been one, or<br />

two day events per river. Thus, there has been no attempt to sample across a range of<br />

stream flows. Montagna (2006), using data from the Peace, Myakka, Alafia, <strong>Weeki</strong><br />

<strong>Wachee</strong> / Mud rivers, Shell Creek <strong>and</strong> Dona/Robert's Bay identified several species<br />

that characterize a particular salinity zone. He went on to conclude :<br />

" In this limited analysis of southwest Florida mollusk communities, it is<br />

concluded that mollusk species are controlled more by water quality rather than<br />

the sediment they live in or on. The most important variable correlated with<br />

mollusk communities is salinity, which is a proxy for freshwater inflow. It is<br />

impossible to directly link community changes in response to inflow changes,<br />

because no(t) replicates over time were carried out in the rivers sampled.<br />

Although total mollusk abundance was not a good indicator of inflow effects,<br />

certain indicator species have been identified however, that characterize salinity<br />

ranges in southwest Florida rivers."<br />

____________________________________________________________________________________________<br />

Proposed <strong>Minimum</strong> <strong>Flows</strong> <strong>and</strong> Levels for <strong>Weeki</strong> <strong>Wachee</strong> <strong>River</strong> Page 89 of 164<br />

Biological Characteristics

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