Download Environmental characterization and monitoring in the

Environmental characterization and monitoring in the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research
Reserve
Dr. Edward J. Buskey1, Dr. Kiersten Madden, Dr. Ken Dunton, Sally Palmer
1
Professor, The University of Texas at Austin, and Research Coordinator, Mission-Aransas National
Estuarine Research Reserve. 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, Texas 78373. Phone: 361-749-3102,
Email: [email protected]
The Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve is part of a national network of 28 reserves
that studies and monitors estuaries throughout the United States. The backbone of this research
program is the System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP), which measures water quality, weather
conditions, nutrients, aquatic and emergent vegetation, and mapping of Reserve habitats and
watersheds using standard protocols throughout the system.
The Reserve maintains five water quality monitoring stations. These stations are located in the Port
Aransas Ship Channel, Aransas Bay, Copano Bay East, Copano Bay West, and Mesquite Bay. Each station
measures temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, depth, pH, turbidity, and chlorophyll/algal biomass.
Nutrients, such as nitrates and phosphates, are monitored at the bay stations on a monthly basis and
diel monthly samples are collected at the Port Aransas Ship Channel. The Copano Bay East station also
collects weather information, such as air temperature, wind direction, wind speed, barometric pressure,
and relative humidity. Changes in biological communities are also measured in seagrass beds and
emergent marsh habitats. These stations are measured for abundance, percent cover, shoot/stem
densities, and maximum leaf length, and groundwater salinity (for emergent marsh). Finally, Reserve
habitats and watersheds are mapped using protocols and a classification scheme that have been
standardized across the Reserve System.
Through the collection of standardized, long-term data sets, the Mission-Aransas Estuary also serves as a
sentinel for detecting impacts from climate change, specifically sea level rise. The system-wide
monitoring program currently provides important information on the water, weather, and biological
communities of the Reserve. Additional data from long-term tide stations, Continuous Operating
Reference Stations, and surface elevation tables will improve our understanding of how Reserve
habitats respond to sea level rise. Ultimately, the information provided by the sentinel site program will
help determine the Reserve’s vulnerability to climate change and provide valuable information for
coastal communities and resource managers.
In addition, the Mission-Aransas reserve is involved with monitoring of plankton populations, with a
special interest in detecting toxic algae that cause harmful algal blooms and larval forms of estuarine
species of critical ecological and/or economic importance, such as the blue crab Callinectes sapidus.
These monitoring data provide the baseline for more in depth studies of the roles of freshwater inflow
in maintaining the biological diversity and productivity of our estuaries, and the impacts of excess
nutrients on water quality. These data are used to help inform decision makers that establish policies for
the management of these important coastal resources.
Brief (100 word) biography of the presenter.
Dr. Buskey is a Professor in the Department of Marine Science at the University of Texas at Austin. He
also serves as the Research Coordinator at the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve. He
leads the System-Wide Monitoring Program at the Reserve, whose monitoring efforts are aimed at
understanding man-made and natural impacts on estuarine ecology. He is also director of the DROPPS
Consortium, a group of six institutions funded by BP through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to
study of the impact of physical processes and chemical dispersants on break up of oil spills and their
impact on marine life.