Coastal Studies Laboratory

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 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.

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:

• the 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 
• the 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 
• the chemical interaction between seagrasses and coastal sediments 
• the Rio Grande Coastal Impact Monitoring Program (RGCIMP) which seeks to document pollutant discharges from the Rio Grande and associated drains into the south Texas coastal waters, and to document the impacts of these pollutants