Aransas Bay
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Home of the Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve and just off the shoreline of UTMSI, Aransas Bay is a classic example of a southern Gulf estuary. The bay contains all of the habitat types characteristic of the region including spartina marsh (Spartina alterniflora) and black mangroves (Avicennia germinans), expansive oyster reefs, and representative beds of all of the seagrass species found in the area: Thallasia testudinum, Halodule wrightii, Halophila engelmannii, and Syringodium filiforme. Green sea turtles, bottle-nose dolphins, and whooping cranes are just some of charismatic megafauna that use this system, and sampling trips often include dolphin escorts for portions of the drive.
MarineGEO Texas uses a section of the bay near the bay side of San Jose Island for annual biodiversity sampling. This site includes all of the major habitat types (seagrass, oyster reef, mud flat, mangroves, spartina marsh) and has the highest biodiversity of all the MarineGEO Texas sampling locations. |
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