Abstract
In collaboration with Stantec Consulting Services Inc. this observational study was conducted to understand the abundance and distribution of queen conch near the Venetian Causeway bridges in Biscayne Bay, Florida. Queen conch are a native species to the Southern Florida region, recently listed in February 2024 as “threatened” on the Endangered Species Act due to anthropogenic impacts such as overharvesting (Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants, 2024). Stantec in cooperation with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Miami Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) on the planning for new Venetian Causeway bridges to replace the original ones. To monitor this species during construction activities, belt transects were conducted via snorkeling and free-diving from November 2024 to April 2025. This involved collecting GPS based data on this species so that the conch could be located and minimize the risk of harm from the construction activities. Through a set protocol, if no queen conch were observed within a defined buffer zone construction could proceed for a set period of time. The goal of this work was to gain an understanding of any potential spatial patterns and abundance of this species within this small region of Biscayne Bay.
Through ArcGIS mapping software, maps and graphs were created to identify conch-abundant bridges compared to those that were less populated, with the main findings derived from statistical analysis. Here, it was discovered from the data that there are no discernable spatial patterns for this species in the study area. From the statistical analysis, there was no consistent statistical significance in the data, indicating that there are no patterns present of queen conch within the Venetian Causeway site. In conclusion, this study did not support the original hypothesis that queen conch exhibits non-random, spatially structured patterns within the survey site. As there were different limitations prevalent throughout this study, it is encouraged to have future research, and more surveys on this population of queen conch in Biscayne Bay.