Sea level rise caused by climate change is an ongoing phenomenon and a concern both locally and worldwide. Low-lying coastal areas are particularly at risk to flooding and inundation, affecting a large proportion of the human population concentrated in these areas as well as natural communities-particularly animal species that depend on these habitats as a key component of their life cycle. While more local, state, and federal governments have become concerned with the potential effects that predicted sea levels will have on their communities and coastal landscapes, more information is needed on the potential effects that changes in sea level will have on coastal habitats and species.ehensive Habitat Type Dataset was developed by merging NOAA Benthic Habitat Atlas (BHA), Ecological Mapping Systems of Texas (aka Texas Ecological Systems Database, TESD), and National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) data within the study area for the ICF 2012 project (CGP LCC 2012-002 Employing the Conservation Design Approach on Sea-Level Rise Impacts on Coastal Avian Habitats along the Central Texas Coast). BHA data was used to depict mangroves, oysters, and patchy, continuous, and discontinuous seagrass beds where BHA existed within the study area. NWI data was used for all wetland/intertidal environments where NWI data existed within the study area. TESD data was used for all upland environments, and weltand/intertidal and/or benthic environments where NWI or BHA data did not exist. Land cover types were given easy to understand names, and arranged hierarchically into three levels– Micro-, Meso-, and MacroHabitat Types. Using qualititative avian habitat use information from literature as well as spatially explicit habitat use data when available, MicroHabitat Types were then indexed for potential use by each avian species considered. An index of 3 represents potential high use habitat types, an index of 2 represents potential low use habitat types, and an index of 1 represents habitat types that would be used only incidentally. Habitat types with an index of 0 or no index preprent habitat types that would not be used at all for that particular species.
