The Ecology of Tijuana Estuary, California: An Estuarine Profile

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The California Sea Grant College Program, through the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and with support from the California State
Resource Agency, has provided the backbone funding for a variety of research
projects at Tijuana Estuary from 1976 to the present. Sea Grant-sponsored research
has in turn led to additional projects that have had specific application to a variety of
management agencies. The Sanctuary Programs Division of NOAA's Office of Coastal
Resources Management has helped to develop monitoring programs and support
graduate research on several sanctuary management issues. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and the U.S. Navy both funded work on habitat characteristics for the
endangered light-footed clapper rail. The California Water Resources Control Board,
through funding from the Environmental Protection Agency's Water Quality Program,
supported studies of the estuary's hydrological qualities and potential impacts of
wastewater discharge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supported a community
profile on regional salt marshes that provided background information for the current
project.
Paul Jorgensen, Estuar~ne Sanctuary Manager, and Gary Kramer, Refuge Manager.
have facilitated the preparat~on of this profile and called our attention to many of the
management problems at the estuary But to students and colleagues, who have done
so much of the field work and prov~ded so many of the Ideas that contr~bute to our
understanding of Tljuana Estuary, we owe the greatest debt in order of thes~s
compiet~on date, we acknowledge the s~gn~flcant contr~but~ons of Ted Wlnf~eld, Phrl
Wlll~ams, John Boland, Jordan Covrn, Pam Beare, Reg~na Rudn~ck~, and Peggy Fong
The current thesis research of Abby White, John Beezley, L~sa Wood, Br~an F~nk, Ted
Griswold, and M~ke Marsh has helped us understand the recent changes In estuar~ne
structure and function, along w~th data gathered by Dennis Turner, Karoly Felfoldy. Pat
Dunn, and members of the Estuar~ne Ecology class of 1984 We thank Dra Silvia
lbarra and students from CICESE in Ensenada, Baja Callforn~a, for showlng us less
d~sturbed wetlands In Baja California and providing comparat~ve data on Mex~can salt
marshes. Two postdoctoral research associates, B~ll Magdych and Mary Kentula, and
several colleagues at San Diego State University (SDSU), Philip Williams, George Cox,
Charles Cooper, Jack Conway, Deborah Dexter, Stuart Hurlbert, Phil Kern. Phil Pryde,
and Doug Stowe, all contributed the~r spectal expertise to the information reported
here
Our revrewers were an enormous resource We thank Wayne Ferren. Paul
Jorgensen. Mary Kenlula. Gary Kramer. Sharon Lockhart, Chrls Onuf, Ed Pendleton,
and M~llicent Quammen for helplng to Improve the content of the profile Special
thanks to Pam Beare for asststance with graph~cs, to Pr~scilla Morton for helplng to
produce the rnanuscr~pt, to Bonn~e Boynton for ed~ting, and to Rosemary Amtde~,
Marlene Ebert, and Sue Lauritzen for helping prepare the camera-ready copy
Thls profile is a team effort that drew both praise and crit~c~srn from the family
onlookers, Em~ly, Sarah. and Paul Zedler The drawings by Donovan Mclntire lend
unlque quallty to thls publ~cat~on, we acknowledge with deep gratitude hls technical
and artistlc contrrbutions to the project
Thts work IS a result of research sponsored in part by NOAA, Nat~onal Sea Grant
College Program, Department of Commerce, under grant number NA80AA-500120.
project numbers R/CZ-73 and R/NP-1-138, through the Cal~forn~a Sea Grant College
Program, and in part by the Californ~a State Resources Agency