Water You Wading For?

   
 
 
 
 

Attention Readers! 
 

In this issue: 
 

❏ How Have Humans Impacted Texas Coastal Areas?

❏ What are the Ways Humans are Working to Preserve Texas
Coastal Ecosystems?
❏ My Reflections on the Aquarium Field Trip
❏ Exploring an Ecosystem from the Texas Coastal Plains
❏ Texas Coast Word-Search

 
 

 
 
All images with a border were taken by me 
 
Visit this site for more information about the Texas coast: 
http://www.glo.texas.gov/coast/coastal-management/forms/files/shoring-up-our-future.pd
How Have Humans Impacted 
Texas Coastal Areas?
Frequently heard negative examples of human impact on coastal areas include, 
oil spills, overfishing, improper disposal of garbage, and destruction of habitat due to 
construction. In this article, we will look at some other forms of human effect on the 
Texas coastal areas. 

1. It is believed by scientists that a change of sea level is being caused by the carbon
emissions of humans.
a. The greenhouse gasses trap heat in the atmosphere and this causes a gradual
difference in sea level.

2. With change in temperature comes differed precipitation rates. The changes made in the
area are occurring too rapidly for many environments to adapt. Much vegetation can not
survive the addition or subtraction of their average rain.

3. The rise of sea level may also increase chances of storms and the flooding caused by it.
a. This of course can wipe out coastal wetlands and erode beaches.

Contrasting to what many news articles do, we can focus on some of the 
positive impacts humans have made and shall continue to make on the Texas coastal 
areas.  
 
4. Some of the first ideas given when brought with a below par beach are coastal clean-ups
and restoration projects.
a. These projects allow us to make up for our wrongdoings; as we would not need to
partake in these if we hadn't messed things up to begin with.

5. Introducing a new human society may seem to bring destruction, but can also provide
protection. Many laws are intact to prevent the negative things that have ruined our
beaches.
a. A lot of what is happening has been done either ignorantly or unlawfully. The
things we may unknowingly be doing are being ruled out.

To read about what humans are doing to protect our coastal ecosystems, read ‘What
Humans are Doing to Protect Texas Coastal Ecosystems’ on pg. 3.
 What Humans are doing to 
protect Texas Coastal Ecosystems 
In November of 2015, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, the non-Federal
Sponsor, and the Texas General Land Office started the Coastal Texas Protection
and Restoration Feasibility Study. This group generates and analyzes the
usefulness of ideas to sustain, restore, and enhance the Texas coastal environment,
economy, and culture.
In the shoreline of the Texas Gulf of Mexico, marsh shorelines provide
habitats for various birds including shore birds, wading birds, and the endangered
brown pelicans. These salt marshes also serve as nursery grounds for shrimp, crab,
and fish. While these marshes are intact, they can prevent other shorelines from
eroding, flooding, and gathering pollutants. Due to what these salt marshes provide
for the important coastal environment, much human effort has been put towards
marsh restoration projects.
A different kind of positive coastal construction that may not be as known is
the creation of artificial reefs. Humans build these reefs out of recycled materials to
provide a protected habitat for ocean plants and animals. As mentioned on pg 2’s
‘How Have Humans Impacted Texas Coastal Areas’, there are laws put in place to
protect the wildlife, their habitats, and overall ecosystems.
A salt marsh

Artificial reefs

The logo for the Texas General Land Office

 My Reflections on the Aquarium
Field Trip
The focus of this newsletter and the research done for it, revolves around our
program’s field trip to Corpus Christi, Texas. This opportunity provided new
experiences that I am glad to have shared with my class. The activities we partook
in were in association with the Texas State Aquarium. Some of my new
experiences included travel on a charter bus, engaging in the activities at the
aquarium, and a beach clean up.
After doing previous research on the habitats, ecosystems, and organisms of
the Texas coast, it opened my eyes to things I may have not noticed before. When
previously visiting Corpus, I would only find viewing the animals interesting, and
not notice the differences in the coastal lands. Now, with the knowledge I have, I
got excited when I could identify a species of organism. I interacted with some of
the animals and took in the different characteristics of the coastal habitats. Along
our visit of the aquarium, we pet stingrays, spotted our organisms from ‘Exploring
an Ecosystem from the Texas Coastal Plains’ (mine was a sea anemone), saw a 4D
documentary called ‘Planet Earth: Ice Worlds’, and walked through an immersive
zone in which organisms from the Caribbean Sea surround you in the theming of a
shipwreck. From all of this to choose from, my favorite part is when we were
walking through the jungle exhibit, and I caught a video of a ​parrot responding to
our speech. (click to view)​.
After our we enjoyed our lunch, it was time for the beach clean-up. In the
clean-up, we given gloves and trash bags. We found the occasional bottle cap or
piece of plastic, but we mainly found cigarettes. Along the beach, there was no
shortage of garbage bins and we did not find anything that could have mistakenly
flown away. This shows that this was done intentionally, harming the environment
along with it. As glorified as we might make it seem this small clean-up is nothing
compared to the doom of the Earth we are facing. Now, this doesn’t make matters
completely black and white. Such as how I felt about the clean-up, when we do
these harmful things, people have the mindset of “Oh, my little piece of trash won’t
make any difference”. But if everyone thinks these things, our affects accumulate,
and before we know it; the Earth is trashed and crumbled. So just as these “small”
inconsiderate actions can become disastrous, our simple measures can become
great.
Click here to view some of my
videos and images of the trip.
Exploring an Ecosystem from the
​

Texas Coastal Plains

 Exploring an Ecosystem from the
Texas Coastal Plains (Continued 1)
Most jetties are a man made coastal habitat. The jetties are large
triangular shaped areas bordered with 15 to 200 lb. rocks and boulders.
These areas can change the flow of the currents, and are built to clear the
channel of sand bars and cross-currents to keep shipping channels from
filling with sand and silt.

Jetties behind the Texas State

Aquarium
 Exploring an Ecosystem from the
Texas Coastal Plains (Continued 2)
Abiotic Factors: 
The terrain is very rocky. The rough currents thrash against the rocks in breakwaters.
Water temperatures range from high sixties to high eighties (०F) depending on the time
of year. The water is considered highly saline. Jetties can easily be polluted because
pollutants and trash can be held in the areas of the rock barriers.
 

Biotic Factors: 
Some organisms in the jetties include the lined periwinkle, fragile barnicle, false limpet,
sea anemone, red sea urchin, sheepshead, Atlantic spadefish, stone crab, American
oystercatcher, Eastern oyster, warsaw grouper, and blue-green algae.
 

Community Description: 
Of the organisms listed, community roles go as followed. Producer (Autotroph)-
blue-green algae. Prey- fragile barnacles, stone crabs, and Eastern oysters. Consumers
(heterotrophs)- lined periwinkles, false limpets, sea anemone, red sea urchins, and
sheepshead. Predators (heterotrophs)- Atlantic spadefish, warsaw groupers, and
American oystercatchers. The populations of these organisms work in a flow of energy to
sustain the community.
 

Niche Organism: 
Sea Anemone- Sea anemone provides a home and protection
for certain reef organisms. Sea anemone live among coral reefs
by attaching themselves to rocks or on coral. They are
secondary consumers on the food chain, and share symbiotic
relationships with clownfish and algae. Sea anemone eat small
invertebrates and are eaten by snails, sea slugs, sea stars,
butterfly fish, mosshead sculpins, and loggerhead turtles. Sea
anemone have tentacles with stingers that can shock predators
and provide extra protection for organisms that live inside of
it. If we lost sea anemone life, the symbiotic relationships
would break, the population of small invertebrate would rise
and be unbalanced, and the population of sea anemone’s
predators would diminish due to a lack of food.
 Sources
‘How Have Humans Impacted Texas Coastal Areas?’ & ‘What are the
Ways Humans are Working to Preserve Texas Coastal Ecosystems?’
Site Names: ​beg.utexas.edu​, ​swg.usace.army.mil​, ​glo.texas.gov​, ​tpwd.texas.gov​,
texasgateway.org

Authors: Multiple, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Texas General Land Office (GLO),
Texas Gateway by TEA

Links:
● h​ ttp://www.beg.utexas.edu/coastal/thscmp/support/SeaLevelRiseLesson.pdf
● https://www.swg.usace.army.mil/Portals/26/docs/Planning/Public%20Notices-Civil%20W
orks/Coastal-TX%20DIFR-EIS/Coastal%20Texas%20DIFR-EIS_Oct2018.pdf?ver=2018-
10-24-162409-300
● http://www.glo.texas.gov/coast/coastal-management/forms/files/shoring-up-our-future.pd
● https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishing/sea-center-texas/flora-fauna-guide
● https://www.texasgateway.org/resource/organisms-and-environments-humans-and-ocea
n-systems

‘Exploring an Ecosystem from the Texas Coastal Plains’

https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishing/sea-center-texas/flora-fauna-guide/jetties

http://www.beachapedia.org/Shoreline_Structures

http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Napatree-Jetty/seatemp

https://www.al.com/news/2016/07/flesh-eating_bacteria_easy_to.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/cleanest-and-dirtiest-beaches-America-180951869/

http://wp.auburn.edu/chadlab/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/AnemoneGuide-copy.pdf

https://animals.mom.me/kinds-animals-eat-sea-anemones-5794.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/anim
als/invertebrates/group/sea-anemones

https://audubonnatureinstitute.org/aquarium/sea-anemone