Abundance, reproductive seasonality and habitat preferences of amphipod crustaceans in seagrass meadows of Apalachee Bay, Florida.

A fifteen-month survey of amphipod fauna in Apalachee Bay, Florida, produced 31 species. The majority of the amphipod species was associated with vegetation (primarily seagrasses) and only Ampelisca species were most abundant in unvegetated habitats. An analysis of patterns in abundance and reproductive activity for the 14 numerically dominant species showed that seasonality of abundance was not associated with physical-chemical aspects of the environment or with seasonal patterns in macrophyte biomass. Rather, abundances were most closely related to reproductive processes in individual species and, in certain cases, to abundance of fish predators.