The Results

During the end of November the benthic group worked on analyzing our data and finalizing the results. Our results supported our original hypothesis in that the restored site had higher diversity and abundance when compared to the non-restored site at Guana. The settlement trays behind the restored site had a count of 1,033 individuals and only 866 individuals in the non-restored site. But the species richness was the same in both sites, with a count of 17 unique species in each.   

    The core samples from the restored site had a higher species abundance in oligochates, polychates, 

amphipods, and gastropods when compared to the species abundance in the non-restored site. Total 

species abundance for the restored site was approximately 479 individuals while in the non-restored 

site the species abundance was only 66 individuals. The restored site had a species richness of 4 

unique species, while the non-restored site had a species richness of 5 unique species. 

     From the shells recovered for oyster spat settlement in the restored site the mean count in the

 restored site on the vertical shells was 2.75 and on the horizontal shells was 3.5. In the non-restored 

site there was no data for the vertical shells since all of the shells were lost sometime during their two

week deployment, and on the horizontal shells the mean count was 6.25. In both sites the 

horizontally placed shells had a higher mean settlement of  oyster spat than shells that were vertically 

attached.

     The data from the transects of fiddler crab burrows show that a higher mean concentration of 

burrows were found closer to the shoreline behind the restored site between 0 and 4 meters, while 

behind the non-restored site a higher mean concentration of burrows were found between 4 and 8 m.