Chapter 1. Introduction - History of Inflow Studies in Texas -- Chapter 2. Historical Perspective and Context of Freshwater Inflow Policy and Law in Texas -- Chapter 3. Climate Effects on Inflows -- Chapter 4. Hydrology, Circulation, and Salinity -- Chapter 5. Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions in the Coastal Zone -- Chapter 6. Influence of Inflows on Estuary Sediments -- Chapter 7. Nutrient-Phytoplankton Dynamics in Texas Estuaries -- Chapter 8. Physical and Biogeochemical Conditions and Trends in Texas Estuaries -- Chapter 9. Coastal Wetland Habitats in Texas -- Chapter 10. Submerged Aquatic Vegetation, Marshes, and Mangroves -- Chapter 11. Effect of Freshwater Inflow on Benthic Infauna -- Chapter 12. Effects of Climate-Driven Salinity Regimes on Oyster Disease Dynamics at Local and Regional Scales -- Chapter 13. Plankton Dynamics in Texas Estuaries -- Chapter 14. Nekton and Mobile Epibenthos -- Chapter 15. Nitrogen and Phosphorous Budgets for Texas Estuaries -- Chapter 16. Social and Economic Values of Environmental Flows to the Coast -- Chapter 17. Summary of Recommendations for the Future.

Open Access

Estuaries are defined by mixing of river and sea water, thus freshwater inflow is a key driver of estuary ecosystem structure and function. While there is much concern about water quality, there is much less about water quantity. As water is diverted for human use, less is flowing to the coast, which threatens estuary ecosystems. Some jurisdictions are now setting inflow standards, but there is no consensus on how to identify how much freshwater an estuary needs. There is a climatic gradient along the northwestern Gulf of Mexico coast and estuaries vary from hydrologically positive to neutral to negative, and this makes the Texas coast the ideal place to study how ecological processes vary with freshwater inflow. An estuary comparison approach is used in this open access work to examine hydrology, circulation, salinity, nutrients, carbonate, dissolved oxygen, plankton, nekton, benthos, and habitat dynamics and responses across varying hydrological regimes.