1. Distribution of Seagrass Beds Along the Texas Coast Chris Wilson Marine Science Institute

2. Introduction Who – UTMSI and TXCEQ Goal – Determine the factors controlling seagrass distributions along the TX coast How- Use of GIS and Time Series Data

3. Study Location

4. Data Aquisition

5. Light Decreasing with Depth

6. Light and Seagrass Cover

7. Depth and Total Seagrass Cover

8. Seagrass Cover and Location Red = 0% Cover Orange < 50% Cover Green > 50% Cover

9. 2003-2004 Decline in Thalassia

10. 2003-2004 Decline in Seagrass Cover

11. Yearly Average Rainfall For Texas

12. Summer Rainfall- Corpus Christi

13. Monthly Rainfall – Corpus Christi

14. Decline >20% Quadrat Cover

15. Conclusions Light and depth affect the distribution of seagrass beds More work needs to be focused on seagrass beds between 1 and 1.5m in depth Decline in seagrass cover may have been attributed to rainfall, but more data is needed

16. References http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/FieldCours es00/MarineEcologyArticles/SeagrassEcosy stems.htmlhttp://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/FieldCours es00/MarineEcologyArticles/SeagrassEcosy stems.html http://www.srh.noaa.gov/crp/climate/crpf- 6.html