The University of Texas-Pan American Coastal Studies Laboratory is located on South Padre Island, Texas, adjacent to the historic town of Port Isabel. The laboratory was established as a marine biology laboratory in 1973 and reorganized in 1985 as the Coastal Studies Laboratory with concentration on university education, coastal research, and public education and service. The laboratory is situated at the southern tip of South Padre Island in Isla Blanca County Park and is within easy reach of a variety of marine, estuarine and terrestrial habitats. Programs at the laboratory focus on understanding the interrelationships that govern the structure and functioning of inshore coastal ecosystems and the impact of human activities on coastal resources.A public display area contains representative species of fauna and flora of the Laguna Madre, Gulf of Mexico, and South Padre Island. The laboratory is open for public visitation 1:30 to 4:30 P.M. Sunday through Friday. Admission is free. Organized school groups, civic and other groups should arrange to visit Monday through Friday 8:00 A.M. noon. These groups should call at least one week in advance to arrange a time and date.

The laboratory includes 7,700 sq. ft. of enclosed space and 3,300 sq. ft. of semi-enclosed research space. The enclosed space contains a classroom, two teaching laboratories, five research labs, a shop, two offices, a garage, and a public display area. The semi-enclosed space houses storage tanks for a seawater system and rearing tanks for marine organisms.Library holdings at the laboratory are in excess of 300 volumes and 30 journal subscriptions. Faculty and students also have access to the library at the main campus at Edinburg, Texas, and at The University of Texas at Brownsville.Support facilities and equipment include a walk-in environmental chamber, four-wheel drive pickup, two Honda 250 "Fourtrax" ATVs, and various outboard motorboats.

Research at the Coastal Studies Laboratory focuses on the coastal ecosystems of southern Texas and northern Mexico. Current emphasis is on the Laguna Madre and South Padre Island. Faculty research interests include:

• role of disturbance in determining community structure and development of vegetation of barrier islands.
• community structure of the ichthyofauna of the Laguna Madre.
• habitat use by shorebirds.
• population studies of snowy and piping plovers.
• Texas brown tide alga physiology & systematics.
• structure and function of algal mat communities.
• use of remote sensing techniques to distinguish and monitor the distribution and abundance of coastal species and communities.
• the structure and functioning of black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) communities.
• chemical interaction between seagrasses and coastal sediments

The Coastal Studies Laboratory supports undergraduate studies for courses in marine botany, invertebrate zoology, plant taxonomy, marine zoology, ichthyology, ornithology, oceanography, ecology, and introductory biology.

It supports graduate studies for courses in advanced ornithology, marine plant science, advanced ichthyology, advanced marine zoology, and in thesis research.

The Coastal Studies Laboratory's public education mission includes a public display area. The average public visitation has been 21,721 visitors per year, of which 12,923 (59.5%) were of school age.

Allison, Terry C.	Ph.D.,	Texas A&M University	Professor	ecology of marine invertebrates
Brush, Timothy	Ph.D.	Rutgers	Associate Professor	ornithology
DeYoe, Hudson	Ph.D.	Bowling Green State	Associate Professor	phycology
Edwards, Robert J.	Ph.D.	The University of Texas at Austin	Professor	ichthyology and marine ecology
Judd, Frank W.	Ph.D.	Texas Tech University	Professor	population and physiological ecology
Lonard, Robert I.	Ph.D.	Texas A&M University	Professor	plant taxonomy and ecology
Whelan, Tom	Ph.D.	Texas A&M University	Assistant Professor	oceanography

The Coastal Studies Laboratory is located in Isla Blanca Park at the southern end of South Padre Island, Cameron County, Texas. It is 300 m from the Gulf of Mexico, 600 m from the Laguna Madre, and 13 km north of the Rio Grande. The Town of South Padre Island is a major tourist destination with over 5,000 rental units. The area is served by international airports in Harlingen and Brownsville.

The nearly flat plain is included in the Gulf Coastal Plain geomorphic region (Trowbridge, 1932). The area is considered to be in the Matamoran Biotic District (Blair, 1950) of the Tamaulipan Biotic Province (Dice, 1943). The narrow, eastern strip of the coast including Padre Island coastal barrier are in the Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes vegetation area (Schuster & Hatch, 1990).

There are no permanently flowing rivers between the Nueces to the Rio Grande, and in this area evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation. Consequently, the Lower Laguna Madre is a hypersaline lagoon. It is semi-tropical in character. Typically tropical species that reach their northern extents of their ranges in south Texas include black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), spotted sea hare (Aplysia braziliana), Caulerpa mexicana, and red land crab (Gecarcinus lateralis). South Padre Island and the lower Laguna Madre are important staging and wintering areas for the redhead duck (Aythya americana), arctic perigrine falcon(Falco peregrinus anatum), and piping plover (Charadrius melodus). The lower Laguna Madre supports five species of seagrasses.

The lower Laguna Madre supports the highest finfish production in the state. The fishing fleet of the area is ranked number four among U.S.A. ports in value of off-vessel product. The ports of the area support the largest offshore shrimping fleet in the world. Shrimp farms account for over half of farmed shrimp production in the United States.

Don Hockaday, Acting Director
The University of Texas-Pan American
Coastal Studies Laboratory
100 Marine Lab Drive
South Padre Island, TX 78597
(956) 761-2644
fax 761-2913