Northern 

 bluff line 



Approximate Scale 

 Kilometers 



Lite 



^incon Bayou 



^ central Rincon Bayou Site 



(treatment) 



Figure 5-1: Locations of bentliic sampling stations. The three sites included one reference site (Stations A and B) and 

 two treatment sites, upper Rincon Bayou (Stations C and D) and central Rincon Bayou (Stations E and F). 



only one station, then it could not logically be 

 concluded that differences between stations were due 



to site differences, as the same magnitude of change 

 could have occurred in two different stations within 

 the same site. Therefore, two replicate stations were 

 assigned to each site (or treatment level) within the 

 project. 



The reference site (Stations A and B) was located 

 upstream from the overflow channels, reflecting 

 natural variability but not effects from project 

 diversion (Figure 5-1). Two experimental (treatment) 

 sites were also established: 1) the upper Rincon Bayou 

 site, which was nearest the overflow channel and was 



most influenced by the Nueces River, and 2) the 

 central Rincon Bayou site, which was located farther 

 downstream and was less influenced by the river, but 

 more by the tide. Two stations were located in the 

 upper Rincon Bayou site (Stations C and D), and two 

 stations were located in the central Rincon Bayou site 

 (Stations E and F). 



The study was a two-way factorial design where the 

 main sources of variation were temporal and spatial 

 treatments. The response variables measured were 

 benthic macrofaunal biomass, abundance and diversity 

 and meiofaunal abundance and major taxa diversity. 

 Three replicate samples were taken at each station 

 during each sampling date. 



Chapter Five ♦ 5-3 



