River monitoring project will protect endangered species

Nov 5 2009 - 12:12am | Hollie O'Connor

All eyes are on the San Marcos Observing System as the proposed project becomes a reality.

The Observing System is essentially a continuous monitoring project of the San Marcos River. Various aspects will be under constant surveillance because of this new project, said Thomas Hardy, research professor at the River Systems Institute.

The project began as a paragraph proposal outlining basic concepts to learn more about the relationship between flow, water quality and ecology, which would in turn further understanding of the needs of the river system, Hardy said. The proposal led State Rep. Patrick Rose (D-45) to get a $1 million grant in funding over spring’s legislative session.

Hardy said a better understanding of the river is needed because of pressures from water development, existing and future growth of San Marcos and the endangered species in the river. The Observation System will help create this understanding, Hardy said.

One constantly changing aspect that will be monitored is the river’s physical structure, or how it aggrades or degrades, Hardy said.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever looked below Saltgrass, but there is kind of an island with vegetation growing up,” Hardy said. “That is from sediment coming down Sessom’s creek from the university construction. It deposited that and then the plants grew up. When I first mapped the river in 1991 that little island wasn’t there.”

Hardy said the chemical and biological aspects of the river will also be monitored.

There is already equipment in place to measure the river’s temperature, pH level and levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, but a new crew of students has undertaken the task of making a three dimensional map of the chemical topography of the river, Hardy said.

“Plants need (nitrogen and phosphorus) to create biomass, and if you have too much of it, it turns into green-pea soup,” Hardy said. “Now we’re going to monitor all the chemistry all through the system continuously.”

Another crew consisting of Casey Williams, aquatic resources graduate student, and Joe Angermeier, alumnus with a master’s degree in biology, is mapping the river’s vegetation.

There have already been maps of where the endangered Texas Wild Rice plants are, but Angermeier’s and William’s project will mark every kind of vegetation in the river system, Hardy said.

“We will finally be able to show how complex and important it is,” Angermeier said.

Williams said their project will help them understand how to best preserve the habitat of the endangered Fountain Dart, which lays its eggs in the river’s plants. They will be able to tell which kinds of plants the Fountain Dart prefers, and make informed decisions about managing the river based on that data, Williams said.

They will collect information about how invasive plant species affect native plant species, Williams said.

Williams and Angermeier said they have documented approximately 70 plant species in the river system so far.

They are both passionate about preserving the river and are excited about their research.

“I get pissed off when people are swimming in the river and they say ‘I wish they’d clean out these plants,’” Williams said. “It isn’t just for them. It’s a habitat for multiple species.”

Permalink