Nearshore Gulf ecosystem : diagram and documentation

This report has been prepared to accompany and to provide supporting documentation for the ecological system diagram of the Nearshore Gulf. The ecosystem diagram concept and its application to the assessment of activities in the coastal zone has been documented in technical papers of the Texas Coastal Management Program. In particular, Technical Paper #12 describes the theory, methods of construction and examples of diagrams for other coastal ecosystems.Prepared for the General Land Office of Texas, Bob Armstrong, commissionerAugust 31, 1979Marine Scienc

Water quality of Texas bays (nutrients, trace elements and toxic compounds)

This manuscript is designed to compare the nutrient balances and trace element significance in Texas Bays and Estuaries. The task of assigning water quality criteria in all estuarine waters rests with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. However, the Texas Bays and Estuaries represent a unique range of environments of the U.S. Coast that stand alone and therefore must be assigned standards appropriate to the environment. Therefore we have compared several Texas Bays relative to nutrients and trace elements through an analysis of data from our files, a life history data bank from literature survey, a study of the Corpus Christi area, personal communication with a wide range of individuals and information from the Texas Water Quality Board, Texas Water Development Board, the U.S. Geological Survey and the State Health Department.May 30, 1974Taken in part from a report on Development of Biological Criteria, Establishment of Guidelines for Texas Coast Management IAC-(74-75)-0685 NSF RANN-61-34870xMarine Scienc

Sportfishing creel census pilot study

The sportfishing creel census project was originated to obtain information relating to the use of the Corpus Christi Bay area for sportfishing, the amount of fish caught and other environmental information relating to the total productivity cycles of the bay system. The Census is to be conducted during the summer months of June, July and August 1974 and the pilot study was made during August 1973. The total catch will be used in a current project to assess carbon, nitrogen, phosporous input and output to the bay system.March 15, 1974To The Lower Nueces River Water Supply DistrictMarine Scienc

Learning faces: Similar comparator faces do not improve performance

Recent evidence indicates that comparison of two similar faces can aid subsequent discrimination between them. However, the fact that discrimination between two faces is facilitated by comparing them directly does not demonstrate that comparison produces a general improvement in the processing of faces. It remains an open question whether the opportunity to compare a "target" face to similar faces can facilitate the discrimination of the exposed target face from other nonexposed faces. In Experiment 1, selection of a target face from an array of novel foils was not facilitated by intermixed exposure to the target and comparators of the same sex. Experiment 2 also found no advantage for similar comparators (morphed towards the target) over unmorphed same sex comparators, or over repeated target exposure alone. But all repeated exposure conditions produced better performance than a single brief presentation of the target. Experiment 3 again demonstrated that repeated exposure produced equivalent learning in same sex and different sex comparator conditions, and also showed that increasing the number of same sex or different sex comparators failed to improve identification. In all three experiments, exposure to a target alongside similar comparators failed to support selection of the target from novel test stimuli to a greater degree than exposure alongside dissimilar comparators or repeated target exposure alone. The current results suggest that the facilitatory effects of comparison during exposure may be limited to improving discrimination between exposed stimuli, and thus our results do not support the idea that providing the opportunity for comparison is a practical means for improving face identification

Toxicity studies of Galveston Bay project

As a part of a composite study of Galveston Bay, a bay-estuarine environment, an interdisciplinary research program was conducted by several principal investigators of the University of Texas School of Engineering and the Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas. The purpose of this effort was to determine the water quality of relatively stable salinity/temperature areas representing five general locations in the Galveston Bay system. This endpoint was to be determined by analysis of the water during an annual series of samples by bioassay with several species of indigenous living organisms, through the analysis of BOD toxicity indicated during the previous Galveston Bay Study, an evaluation of the nursery ground, nutrient, nitrogen and primary productivity values, a study of bottom fauna and comparison with other data parameters of the total bay study that may be pertinent to the evaluation of water quality to the biological regime.December 1, 1972Marine Scienc

The ecological significance and fate of carbon tetrachloride and FREON 113 in the estuarine environment : a report to E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.

June 30, 1978This report describes research on the fate and effects of carbon tetrachloride and FREON 113 (1,1,2-Trichloro, 1,2,2-Trifluorethane) released into the estuarine environment. Both compounds are rapidly released from the water to the air at rates controlled by turbulent diffusion in the surface water layers. Degradation processes are very slow compared to loss into the atmosphere. As the halocarbons were rapidly released to the air, average values were used for the experiments based on the high of addition and the loss between additions.E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.Marine Scienc

Development of the methodology and analysis, Creel census of Corpus Christi Bay area, 1974 summer

A sportfishing creel census of Corpus Christi Bay area was conducted during the summer months of 1974. During the three months June, July, and August, 7,575 interviews of fishing parties with 22,313 persons were made. The data extrapolated to the total area and a full year indicate a catch from the bay of 2.87 million pounds of fish caught per year and a Gulf catch of 0.88 million pounds, Fishing yield per unit effort was greatest for the Gulf because of the summer runs of kingfish. The bay was divided into biotopes and related to fish catch. The poorest area was the fish pass. The most fish per hours fishing were caught in the bay oil platform or bulkhead biotopes, however, the size was small. Speckled trout and redfish were the major fish caught by weight in the Grassflats and shallow bay which is reflected in a large fishing effort. The open bay yielded higher numbers of fish per hour fishing (4.9 fish) than either the grassflat (3.0) or the shallow bay (2.0). If the fishing intensity was equal for the above biotopes the bay should have the best yield. The average boat fishing party lasted four hours. Boat fishing was generally better per party than shore fishing. The weight catch per person in boat fishing was approximately one pound per person per hour, and only 0.4 pounds per person per hour on the same basis for shore fishing. Fish yields in the Corpus area were related to Galveston Bay. The efficiency of various lures was discussed.April 22, 1976Marine Scienc