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Apalachicola Bay
Apalachicola Bay is located on Florida's northwest coast. The Apalachicola Bay system also includes St. Georges Sound, St. Vincent Sound and East Bay, covering an area of about 539 sq. km. Three islands (St. Vincent, St. George and Dog I.) separate the system from the Gulf of Mexico. Water exchange occurs through Indian Pass, West Pass, East Pass and the Duer Channel. The bay has been designated as a National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Apalachicola River is the largest source of freshwater to the estuary. Combined with the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, they drain a watershed of over 51,800 sq. km at a rate of 555 cubic m/sec (USGS, 2002). The region features 1,162 species of plants, and includes the largest natural stand of tupelo trees in the world. The area is also home to 308 species of birds, 186 species of fish, 57 species of mammals, and boasts the highest species density of amphibians and reptiles in all of North America, north of Mexico (Apalachicola Reserve, 2002). 
Coordinates: 29.72° N 84.98° W Selected Characteristics: (USEPA, 1999) Surface Area: 554 km2 Drainage Area: 53,100 km2 Average Daily FW Inflow: 824 m3/s Average Depth: 3.0 m Average Salinity: 22 ppt Coastal Wetlands: 2,396 km2 Submerged Aquatic Vegetation: 36 km2 References: Apalachicola Reserve. 2002. Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. Located on the web at: http://www.ocrm.nos.noaa.gov/nerr/reserves/nerrapalachicola.html USEPA. 1999. Ecological condition of estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico. EPA 620-R-98-004. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Breeze, Florida. 80 pp. USFW. 1982. Gulf Coast Ecological Inventory Map; Apalachicola, FL area. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1982. USGS. 2002. United States Geological Survey, NAWQA Apalachicola River Basin Study. Located on the web at: http://wwwga.usgs.gov/nawqa/index.html Additional Information: Florida Department of Environmental Protection - St. George Island State Park U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service - St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge Apalachicola Bay benthic mapping project (GIS) National Estuarine Research Reserve System - Apalachicola Reserve Florida Department of Environmental Protection - Apalachicola Bay Aquatic Preserve Keywords: Apalachicola, St. George, Island, Bay, Estuaries, Birds, Mammals, Amphibians, Reptiles, Fishes, Tupelo |
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Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
To give proper credit to the original authors, please cite information taken from GulfBase by the original source as displayed. 
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F. Moretzsohn, J.A. Sánchez Chávez,
and J.W. Tunnell, Jr., Editors. 2013.
GulfBase: Resource Database for Gulf of Mexico Research.
World Wide
Web electronic publication. http://www.gulfbase.org, 23 May 2013. |
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