Final report : effect of freshwater inflow on macrobenthos productivity in minor bay and river-dominated estuaries, FY05

This final report is written to complete the fifth of a planned five-year study that has the goal to determine the importance of freshwater inflow in maintaining benthic productivity in minor bays and river dominated systems. Minor bays are defined as those small bays that do not have direct freshwater inflow via a major river, but do have inflow from runoff or other indirect sources. Only four rivers in Texas flow directly into the Gulf of Mexico, and three of these are also part of the subject study. The minor bays contrast with major bays in that major bays have direct river discharge into a secondary or tertiary bay of a large estuarine complex. The current project follows successful completion of a long-term study of large major bays in Texas. The focus of the current final report is on completing the long-term, five-year, monitoring of two river-dominated systems: the Rio Grande and Brazos River estuaries; and the 3-year monitoring of the Cedar Lakes and San Bernard River Estuary. Cedar Lakes is a minor bay because they are brackish and have no direct connection to a river. In the past, assessments have been completed for the Christmas Bay Coastal Preserve (Montagna 2004), South Bay Coastal Preserve (Montagna 2003), and East Matagorda Bay (Montagna 2002). The current report is primarily a data report on the activities that occurred during the project period: 1 September 2004 - 31 December 2005. A complete analysis of the findings of all five years sampling will be subject to a full assessment in the next fiscal year.From University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute ... to Texas Water Development BoardInteragency cooperative contract TWDB contract no. IA 2005-483-541December 2005Final version: July 2006Marine Scienc