Assessment of seagrass habitat and stability in Texas coastal waters

Project Description

The University of Texas at Austin (UT) will implement coast-wide rapid assessment monitoring at ~700 stations over 600 km of coastline from Port Isabel to Galveston. This monitoring will include investigations of the abundance (percent cover), canopy height, above ground biomass, species composition, condition (C:N:P ratios), below ground biomass, sediment carbon composition of seagrass meadows, and water quality data. This monitoring (presence/absence data) will allow for ground-truthing of the state-led (TPWD) aerial mapping effort for statewide distribution which currently lacks funding for intensive field research (last survey was 2004/2006). The project will also include newly developed (experimental) acoustic technology for remote monitoring of seagrass productivity and biomass. This site-based targeted research effort will be conducted at two sites over four observation periods throughout the year to capture sub-diurnal fluctuations at an annual scale. Acoustic data coupled with in-situ environmental sensor deployments will be used to quantify the complex interaction of environmental stressors on seagrasses.