Coastal Wetlunds of the Noytherrn Gua of Califurnia
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AQUATIC CONSERVATION:MARINE AND FRESHWATERECOSYSTEMS Aquatic Conseru:Mar. Freshv. Ecosyst. l6: 5 28 (2006) Publishedonline in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).DOI: 10.1002/aqc.68l Coastal wetlundsof the noytherrnGuA of Califurnia: inventory flnd conservutionstatus EDWARD P. GLENNO'*, PAMELA L. NAGLERU, RICHARD C. BRUSCAb and OSVEL HINOJOSA-HUERTA' " EnvironntentalResearch Laborator!-,2601 East Airport Drive, Tucson,AZ 85706, USA bAritora Sonora Desert Museum,2021 North Kinney RoacJ,Tucson, AZ 85743,USA 'Pronatura lVoroeste,Ave. Jalisco 903, Colonia Sonora, San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora 83440. Meric'o ABSTRACT 1. Above 28"N, the coastlineof the northern Gulf of California is indented at frequent intervals by negative or inverseestuaries that are saltier at their backs than at their mouths due to the lack of freshwater inflow. These 'esteros'total over l32,ogo ha in area and encompassmangrove marshes below 29"N and saltgrass(Drsrichlis palmeri) marshes north of 29"N. An additional 6000 ha of freshwaterand brackish wetlandsare found in the Colorado River delta where fresh water entersthe intertidal zone. 2. The mangrove marshesin the Gulf of California have been afforded some degreeof protected statusin Mexico, but the northern saltgrassesteros do not have priority conservationstatus and are increasinglybecoming developmenttargets for resorts,vacation homes and aquaculture sites. 3. We conducted an inventory of the marshesusing aerial photography and satelliteimages, and evaluatedthe extent and type of developmenton eachmarsh. We reviewedthe availableliterature on the marshesto document their vegetationtypes and ecologicalfunctions in the adjacentmarine and terrestrial ecosystems. 4. Over 95"h of the mangrove marshes have been developed for shrimp farming. However, the larms are built adjacent to, rather than in, the marshes, and the mangrove stands are still mostly intact. 5. The majority of saltgrassmarshes above the mangrove line are still relatively unspoiled. However, resort and vacation home developmentis taking place on land surrounding them. 6. We recommend a systemof protected reservesincorporating the pristine wetlands, along with water quality managementand buffer zonesfor the more developedesteros. The saltgrassmarshes should be consideredfor conservation protection" similar to the protection given to the southern mangrove marsheswhose value has already been recognized. Copyright O 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEYwoRDS: estero: estuarv: wetland: Distichlis palmeri'. saltsrass: mansrove *Correspondenceto: E. P. Glenn, Environmental ResearchLaboratory,260l East Airport Drive, Tucson, A285706, USA. E-mail: eglenn','ag.arizona.edu Copyright (e 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received7 June 2004 Accepted l8 November 2004 E.P. GLENN ET AL INTRODUCTION The northern Gulf of California is a unique marine biome in the heart of the Sonoran Desert,with over 1200km of desertcoastline in the statesof Sonora and Baja California in Mexico (Figure l) (Alvarez- Borrego,1983; Alvarez-Borrego and Lara-Lara,l99l Felgerand Broyles,1997; Brusca, 2004. Brusca et crl.. in press).The northern Gulf of California supportsimportant commercialfisheries (e.g. Morales-Bojo rquez and Lopez-Martinez,1999; Sala er al., 2004:),as well as endemicand endangeredspecies such as the vaquita porpoise (Phocoenasinus; Nava and Findley, 1994.Barlow et al., lggl), the corvina-like totoaba fish (Totoaba ntac:clonaldi;Cisneros-Mata et al., 1995; D'Agrosa et al., 2000), sea turtles (Alvarado and Figueroa, 1992,Seminoff et a\.,2003a,b;Felger et a\.,2004), sealions (Le Boeuf et ctl., 1983;Garcia- Rodriquez and Aurioles-Bambosa,2004), whales (Breeseand Tershy, 1993),and numerous speciesof waterbirds(Anderson, 1983; Evertt and Anderson,l99l;Palaciosand Mellink, 1996,2000;Mellink,200l; Hinojosa-Huerta et al., 2004).It is a key migration route for birds on the Pacific Flyway, providing a corridor of aquatic habitat across nearly 600km of desert for speciesmoving from South American *'ffi,I**- ' Colorado River Detra"WHlft 32N L ?#,l:0.-+TnqkBahlaAdalr -San .il SanJorge w"- %""-ilffi 30 1{ 28N ,BajaCalilornia Figure I Locator ' map for the major esterosand other coastalwetl:rnds in the northern Gulf of California. The background imase rs a 1990Thematic Mapper satelliteirnage. Copyright .r) 2006John Wiley & Sons,Ltd. Arlutttic Consert':Mttr. Fre,slnr.Et.o.st,st.l6: 5 2B (2006) WETLANDS OF THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA wintering grounds to North American nesting areas(Anderson, 1983;Garcia-Hernandez et ttl,, 2001a, Hinojosa-Huerta et al., 2004). Brusca et al. (2004) report 2802 marine speciesfrom the northern Gulf of California, including2258invertebrates, 367 fish, 146sea birds, 24 martnemammals (cetaceans, pinnipeds, fishing bats),and sevenreptiles (sea turtles, sea snakes). Up to the 1940s the region was still nearly pristine (Steinbeck and Ricketts, I94l). Since then, however, the coastal zone has undergone increasingly rapid development and population growth (Almada-Bay, 2000), which in Sonora increasedfrom 550000 in 1950 to 2.3 million in 2000. Most of the coastalsettlements are now linked to the major inland citiesby paved roads and receiveelectricity from the national grid. Shrimp farms, salt ponds, electricity generatingplants and resorts have also beenbuilt along the coast,and villageshave expanded into smallcities (Moreno, 1992;Almada-Bay,2000). Guaymas, San Felipe, Puerto Pefrascoand El Golfo now each support fleets of commercial trawlers and/or small-boat, artisanal fisheries,as well as extensiveand growing resort developments.Much of the beach-frontresort and residentialdevelopment caters to US citizenswho holiday or retire in Mexico. Some 10 million peoplenow live within a few hundred kilometresof the head of the gulf in the USA and Mexico. In the face of this rapid development,the health of the marine ecosystemis in question,the degradation of coastalhabitats is alreadysevere, and the esterosof the northern Gulf of California are undergoingrapid development(Brusca et al., rn press).Efforts are under way to protect the most important parts of the marine ecosystemand to regulate the fisheriesso that they are sustainableover time. The value of the coastal rocky 'reef habitat for marine life has been recognized,and a string of marine sanctuarieshas been proposed(Sala et a|.,2002). The delta of the Colorado River, although much alteredby upstreamwater diversions,is now protectedin the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta BiosphereReserve (Morales-Abril, 1994). but lishing restrictionsare only weakly applied in the core and buffer zones (Cudney-Buenoand Turk-Boyer,1998). Although much of the shoreline is rocky or sandy, at frequent intervals the coast is indented with 'negative estuaries'(esteros) that tend to be saltier at their heads than at their mouths due to lack of freshwaterinflow (Lavin et al., 1998;Lavin and S6nchez,1999; Brusca et al., rn press).These esteros are extensive in area due to the extreme tidal range of the northern Gulf of California (5-10m amplitude) (Alvarez-Borrego, 1983). Most of the esteros are above the mangrove line (28 29'N) and are dominatedby a low-growing saltgrassand herbaceousand shrubby halophytes(Felger, 2001;Brusca et u\.,2004,in press).Other coastalwetlands form wheregroundwater surfaces in springsnear the coast or where agricultural drainagewater is dischargedinto the intertidal zone (Glenn et al., 1996, 200l ). Except for the Colorado River estuary (Glenn et al.. 2001), the wetlands of the northern Gulf of California have been little studied and have not becomeconservation targets. To the contrary, they have becomeprimary sitesfor human developmentas resorts,marinas, salt works and shrimp farms. Although much of the estero land is federally owned (Steenblik, 1997). the government can grant concessionsfor developmentactivities, such as aquaculture,in the esteros.Furthermore, some of the intertidal land was deededin the past to individual ejidos(communal rural enterprises)for developmentof small-scaleaquaculture. With passageof the 1992landreforms in Mexico (Jonesand Ward, 1998),the ejido lands have been privatrzed and can now be sold for private development of the land as resorts, vacation homes and marinas.Thus, the northern Gulf of California wetlandsare under considerabledevelopment pressure. This paper inventories this unique string of wetlands for the flrst time, documents the types of land conversion they are undergoing, and discussestheir ecologicalroles in the adjacent marine and terrestrial ecosystems.It also makes recommendationsfor their conservationand management.The goal is to synthesizethe availableknowledge about thesewetlands so that their potential conservationvalue can be recognized. Copyright i' 2006John Wiley & Sons,Ltd. AcluuticCon.serv: Mur. Fre,slnt'.Et'o.st'.tt. 16: 5 28 (2006) --l P. GLENN ET AL. MATERIALS AND METHODS Overview of methods The study area includesthe esterosand other coastal wetlandsof the Gulf of california from Sonora (28"N)' to the head of the gulf Guaymas, on th. so,ora coast (32'N), and to Bahia california (29"N) on de Los Angeles,Baja the Baja caliiornia coast (Figure t,). riris mangrove encompassesthe northern rimits of the zone on both coasts (Turner et ctl', toos; and the saltgrass-dominatedesteros mangrovezone (Brusca et al., in press). above the Aerial surveyswere usedto document around the wetlands' human developmentin and together with recent and archival Thematic determine Mapper (TM) satelliie images aerial coverageand changeswithin ro each wetland