Critical Habitat: Threatened and Endangered Species of the Edwards Aquifer in the Central Southwest and Gulf Coast

The Edwards Aquifer is a hydrogeologically sensitive Karst aquifer in central Texas that is home to a variety of threatened and endangered species. Degradation of water quality can detrimentally impact species that rely on the aquifer for habitat. For example, the San Marcos Gambusia (Gambusia georgei) is documented to be extremely sensitive to habitat alteration, particularly changes in water turbidity or temperature. Managing changes in surface water and groundwater quantity and quality is critical to the stewardship of these threatened and endangered species. To facilitate management, aquifer managers and the public need information that shows changes through time and is spatially explicit. The newly developed Edwards Aquifer portal gives users information describing surface water quality, groundwater quality, groundwater quantity, surface water quantity, precipitation trends, species information, and critical habitat areas of the threatened and endangered species of the Edwards Aquifer. The portal also allows users to download spatial data for the region.



Image: The Major Aquifers in Texas; map created by the Houston Advanced Research Center.