Laguna Madre Field Station

About LMFS

The Laguna Madre Field Station (LMFS) provides a site and facilities for field training, education and research in coastal environmental and ecological studies. The mission of the LMFS is 1) to increase understanding of the Laguna Madre, adjacent bays, estuaries and Gulf of Mexico ecosystems, and 2) to foster ecosystem stewardship.

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In addition to campus facilities, the Center for Coastal Studies is responsible for the operation of the Laguna Madre Field Station, which belongs to the TAMU-CC College of Science and Engineering. The Laguna Madre Field Station was reconstructed through volunteer labor from faculty, students, and friends under the direction of Dr. Roy Lehman and Mr. Jerry Barnes. The facility is built on a dredge material island in the Laguna Madre near Intracoastal Waterway Marker 83 (about five miles south of the JFK Causeway), making it only accessible by boat. It has been leased since the mid-1970s from the Texas General Land Office under a unique Educational Facility Lease.

Faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students have used the site for research and educational endeavors. Graduate students have used the island and structure as headquarters while completing their research.

LMFS Rates

Day Use: No charge.
*Beginning Sept. 1, 2022 there will be a day use fee of $10/person/day, with no minimum number of people required*

Overnight Lodging Fee: $15/night/person, with a minimum of 12 people required ($180/night). Fee includes bottled drinking water and consumable kitchen supplies, but food is supplied by individual users or through class field trip fees.
*Beginning Sept. 1, 2022 the rate will increase to $20/night/person (minimum of 12 people charge of $240/night)*

Laboratory Use Fee (added to the Lodging Fee): $0-$26.75/person/day, which includes all laboratory supplies/consumables and lab supervisor/instructor. Cost is dependent on planned field and laboratory procedures.
*Beginning Sept. 1, 2022 the rate will increase to $0-$30/day/person*

Boat Use Fee: Transport to/from LMFS or for field trip use while at LMFS is $160/day.

Truck Use Fee: $0.585/mile
*Beginning Sept. 1, 2022 the prevailing mileage cost will apply*

LMFS Application

For permission to conduct research at the LMFS or for more information contact

Dr. Loretta Battaglia at loretta.battaglia@tamucc.edu.

Research at LMFS

Corpus Christi Natural and Anthropogenic Methane Flux to the Atmosphere

Principal Investigator: Hao Yu, Coastal and Marine System Science, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences TAMUCC

Project Description: Seagrass meadows are crucial blue carbon reservoirs. However, methane, the second most abundant greenhouse gas after CO2, released from sediment to the atmosphere, can offset the carbon deposited in seagrass ecosystems. To thoroughly understand the mechanisms that control methane cycling in subtropic seagrass ecosystems, we observed the spatial and temporal variations in methane emissions from seagrass meadows at Upper Laguna Madre since summer 2018 centering the Field Station. In addition, based on the ground-truth data acquired from traditional sampling and measurements, we applied the aircraft observation over this region in August 2021. Data compared to locations around the LMFS include industrial anthropogenic methane contributions to the atmosphere to assess spatial variation in the sources.

Hao research pic 1

Tracking Bird Movements in the Coastal Bend

Principal Investigator: David Newstead, Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program

Collaborators: Bird Studies Canada; Center for Coastal Studies TAMUCC

Project Description: In spring 2014, biologists with CBBEP’s Coastal Bird Program mounted the first receiver antenna station on the Texas coast associated with the Motus network. This network was established by Bird Studies Canada and consists of a wide and growing array of researchers studying issues associated with migratory wildlife that are too small to track by other means. The main focus for this project is migratory shorebirds. Individual birds are equipped with radio transmitters that are detected by receiving antennas. These data help researchers track migratory movements of coastal bird species throughout the year. CBBEP is responsible for maintaining the four stations installed on the south Texas coast. So far, birds tagged here have been detected later at sites in Saskatchewan, Hudson Bay, and Delaware Bay.