Multi-scale Integration of Landscape Features with Plant and Water Quality Indicators

This website details an implementation program for monitoring Texas seagrasses following protocols that evaluate seagrass condition based on landscape-scale dynamics, including a hierarchical strategy for seagrass monitoring in order to establish the quantitative relationships between physical and biotic parameters that ultimately control seagrass condition, distribution, and persistence.

Acquisition of data at all stations from July to September 2011 and 2012 will provide an important temporal component to this unique data set, the first of its kind for the Texas coast. Summer 2012 sampling commences July and extends to September.

This project is conducted by scientists and graduate students at The University of Texas Marine Science Institute (data collection and synthesis) and The University of Texas at Austin Center for Research in Water Resources (data management) under the direction of Dr. Ken Dunton. All data were collected, processed and synthesized with funding provided by several sponsors (listed below). Please contact Ken with questions or comments at ken.dunton@utexas.edu.

Monitoring Plan

  • Tier 1: A remote sensing component (typically at 1:24,000 resolution) for status and trends mapping that is regularly updated at about five-year intervals.
  • Tier 2: High resolution photoimagery analysis for deep edge delineation; a regional rapid assessment program using fixed stations sampled annually from a shallow-draft vessel
  • Tier 3: An integrated landscape approach that includes permanent stations and transects that are aligned with high resolution photoimagery to examine the presumptive factors associated with changes in seagrass maximum depth limits and patchiness

Sponsors

Funding for this research has been generously provided by:

noaa
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 		manerr
Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve 		nps
National Park Service
cbbep
Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program 		tglo
Texas General Land Office 		cmp
Texas Coastal Management Program