physical, chemical, and biological responses to inflow events in the san antonio bay system
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Physical, Chemical, and Biological Responses to Inflow Events in the San Antonio Bay System. Stephen E. Davis, III co-PIs: Dan Roelke (TAMU) and Doug Slack (TAMU) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Physical, Chemical, and Biological Responses to Inflow Events in the
San Antonio Bay System
Stephen E. Davis, III
co-PIs: Dan Roelke (TAMU) and Doug Slack (TAMU)
Graduate students: Bryan Allison, Tim Assal, Rachel Butzler, George Gable, David Hoeinghaus, Hsiu-Ping Li, Carrie Miller, Jose-Vicente Montoya
Why study inflows to estuaries?
George Ward (UT)
Why study inflows to estuaries?
INFLOWS
inundation
salinity
FLORA
CO
NS
UM
ER
S
Conceptual framework for estuarine research…and TexEMP modelling (TWDB and TPWD)
How much inflow does a given estuary need? When? For how long? How often?
materials
Why study inflows to estuaries?
From 2002 State Water Plan
Why study multiple scales in estuaries?
Spatial Scales of Consideration
• Sites of interaction between Watershed-level processes and oceanographic processes
– Regional climate
– Tides
– Watershed development
• Estuarine zonation
– Tide/elevation
• sub-tidal to high inter-tidal
– Freshwater inflow/flushing
• oliogohaline to polyhaline
http://tx.usgs.gov/basins.html
Why study multiple scales in estuaries?
Temporal Scales of Consideration
• Inter-annual variability
– ENSO forcing
– Disturbance regime
– Watershed development
• Intra-annual variability
– Hydrodynamics
• Anthropogenic effects
• Diurnal and spring/neap
• Wind forcing, storm effects
– Freshwater inflow/flushing
• Seasonal climate
How to characterize?
• Number of pulses
• Magnitude of pulses
• Duration of pulses
• Period between pulses
Marsh Studies1. Water quality2. Hydrodynamics3. Vegetation & soils 4. Marsh inundation5. Food Web patterns
Guadalupe Estuary
Lower Guadalupe River1. Discharge and
stage (USGS gauge)
2. Nutrient and TSS Loadings
Open Water/Bays1. Dataflow mapping2. Water quality/
nutrients3. Lower food web
dynamics
Seadrift gauge(TCOON)
GBRA #1 gauge(TCOON)
Whooping cranes at ANWR
Photo by Kristin LaFever
ANWR Creek and Marsh sampling sites
Spatio-temporal varaibility in creek salinity
OCT/NOV 2003 JUL 2004FEB 2004
salin
ity (
‰)
JUN/JUL 2003
Boat Ramp
Pump Canal
Sundown Bay2-week salinity snapshots at three sites
ANWR tidal creek salinity June 2003–May 2005
“average” year
wet year
Boat Ramp
Pump Canal
Sundown Bay
Seasonal Salinity at Pump Canal June 2003–May 2005
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20000
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100000
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Guadalupe River discharge @ Victoria (cfs)
0
5
10
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25
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Salinity
Discharge Boat Ramp salinity
Do Guadalupe River inflows affect ANWR creek salinity?
Do Guadalupe River inflows affect ANWR creek salinity?
YES, but other factors are also at work.
including: upland runoff, direct precipitation, groundwater exchange, wind forcing, tides, barge traffic, etc.
Dataflow in Action
Measures: LAT/LONG, Temperature, Conductivity/Salinity, Transmittance, Chlorophyll a, CDOM, Depth, and PAR
At approximately 8 second intervals from a vessel running at 20 kts.
pumpbox
ram
de-bubbler
GPS/depth
datalogger
temp/cond
Tracking responses to Guadalupe River inflow events using Dataflow
Quantifying hydrologic connectivity across the marsh
tidal creek
ponds
Inferring connectivity using paired water level recorders
Predicting creek hydrodynamics AND marsh inundation
Understanding anthropogenic impacts
Seasonal dynamics of wolfberryN
um
be
r o
f b
err
ies
93% 98% Whooping cranes
2003 2004
BR Marsh Vegetation
0
4
8
12
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-35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5
delta_13C
delta_15N
Algae
Borrichia
Batis
WolfberryWhite Aster
Carax
Salicornia
C3 succulents
Spartina
Distictlis
C4 grasses
BR Channel
0
4
8
12
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-35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5
delta_13C
delta_15N
LadyfishSpot
Brown ShrimpBlue Crab
Ruppia
Southern Flounder
Inland Silverside
Hardhead
Black Drum
Gizzard ShadMullet
Pinfish
Red Drum
BR Connected Pond
0
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delta_13C
delta_15N Mullet
Ladyfish
Spot
Ruppia
Brown Shrimp
PinfishBlack Drum
Blue Crab
BR Isolated Pond
0
4
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-35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5
delta_13C
delta_15N
Algae
Floc
Brown Shrimp
Blue Crab
Inland Silverside
Ladyfish
Sailfin Molly
Plankton incubation chamber array
flow-through phytoplankton reaction chambers
peristaltic pump
media reservoir
temperature control bath
light box with 3 chambers
Zooplankton (bio-volume) and Phytoplankton (fluorescence) response to continuous vs. pulsed mode of
delivery under different hydrologic flushing rates
Fluorescence (Integrated)
0
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0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
Flushing (d-1)
Integrated Fluorescence
Continuous
Pulsed
Zooplankton (Integrated)
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0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
Flushing (d-1)
Integrated Zooplankton
Continuous
Pulsed
Mean annual flushing
What have we learned thus far?
1. Large pulses affect water levels/connectivity, BUT other
factors are more important during median flows.• Connectivity affects food web patterns
2. River inflows drive bay-wide water quality, BUT other
factors may be equally important in ANWR tidal creeks.• Entire lagoonal estuary can be fresh
3. Marsh vegetation is sensitive to intra-annual variations
in inundation and salinity.• Greenhouse studies
4. Water column mostly net autotrophic
5. Phytoplankton and zooplankton show positive response
to pulsed inflows.
Funding for TX estuarine inflow research
On-line Access To Data (http://wfsc.tamu.edu/davislab)
On-line Access To Data (http://wfsc.tamu.edu/davislab)
On-line Access To Data (http://wfsc.tamu.edu/davislab)
On-line Access To Data (http://wfsc.tamu.edu/davislab)