An Evaluation of Macrobenthic Community Structure in Galveston Bay from 1997-2001

Benthic macroinvertebrates and water/sediment chemistry were sampled at sixty-six random stations and five benchmark stations in the Galveston Bay system in the summer 1997 to 2000. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the benthic communities throughout Galveston Bay for spatial variations using a randomized station approach. Relationships between the biological data and the environmental and chemical data were also evaluated to determine potential correlations. Traditional metrics were calculated, including Shannon-Wiener diversity, abundance, species richness, percent dominance, major taxon metrics, and the EPA E-MAP benthic index.