Laguna Madre is a coastal

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

in Northeastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It extends along the coast of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

for over 200 km, from the

Río Bravo The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

Delta on the north to the mouth of the Soto la Marina River near

La Pesca La Pesca is a small town in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Río Soto La Marina, between the Laguna Madre to the north and the Laguna Morales to the south. It stands due east of state capi ...

in the south. Laguna Madre is separated from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

on the east by a number of

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from ...

s, including Barra Los Americanos, Barra Jesús María, and Barra Soto la Marina, and is bounded on the west by the Tamaulipan mainland. It is located in the municipalities of Matamoros,

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

, and

Soto la Marina Soto la Marina is a town in Soto la Marina Municipality located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It was directly hit by Hurricane Alex in 2010. It is located on the banks of the Soto la Marina river, just up river from the small ocean port of L ...

. There is another

Laguna Madre The Laguna Madre is a long, shallow, hypersaline lagoon along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Nueces, Kenedy, Kleberg, Willacy and Cameron Counties in Texas, United States. It is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast ...

in the United States, which extends north from the Río Bravo Delta to

Corpus Christi Bay Corpus Christi Bay is a scenic semi-tropical bay on the Texas coast found in San Patricio County, Texas, San Patricio and Nueces County, Texas, Nueces counties, next to the major city of Corpus Christi, Texas, Corpus Christi. It is separated from ...

and the city of Corpus Christi in southern Texas. Together the two lagoons and delta form a single ecological unit approximately in total.Tunnell, Jr. John W. and Frank W. Judd. editors. (2002). ''The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas''. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. xxi, 346 pp.

Characteristics

The Laguna Madre is very shallow, with an average depth of only .Gross, Grant M. ''Oceanography: A View of the Earth.'' Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972. pp. 312-314. The lagoon is connected to the ocean by only two narrow inlets, so the

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

range – which is already minor in this part of the Gulf of Mexico – is negligible. Atmospheric effects are much more important than tides in its circulation; its weak currents generally follow the prevailing winds, and these winds can influence the water level by as much as a meter. Oceanographically, the Laguna Madre is considered a ''hypersaline lagoon''; this indicates that it is usually much

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

ier than the

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

, due to being nearly landlocked in a

semiarid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

environment. This is because its salinity can vary wildly depending on rainfall and freshwater inflow, from as high as 120 ppt (12%) – over three times saltier than the ocean – to as low as 2 ppt (0.2%) after a heavy rain.

Flora and fauna

According to the National Biodiversity Information System of

Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad The Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO; en, National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity) is a permanent inter-ministerial commission of the Federal Mexican government, created in 1992. It ...

(CONABIO) in Laguna Madre and Delta del Río Bravo Flora and Fauna Protection Area there are over 1,515 plant and animal species from which 72 are in at risk category and 51 are exotics. Aquatic habitats include

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

s and large areas of

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the or ...

beds with '' Halodule wrightii'' and other species. Laguna Madre is one of the most important bird wintering habitats in Mexico.The Nature Conservancy in Mexico – Laguna Madre
It is home to 26 species of

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

, including

grey plover The grey plover or black-bellied plover (''Pluvialis squatarola'') is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. Taxonomy The grey plover was forma ...

(''Pluvialis squatarola''),

sanderling The sanderling (''Calidris alba'') is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English ''sand-yrðling'', "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-colou ...

(''Calidris alba''),

least sandpiper The least sandpiper (''Calidris minutilla'') is the smallest shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-colored waterside birds. The specific ''minutilla'' is Medieval Lat ...

(''Calidris minutilla''), and piping plover (''Charadrius melodus''). Populations of

redhead Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...

(''Aythya americana'') and

northern pintail The pintail or northern pintail (''Anas acuta'') is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding ...

(''Anas acuta'') number over 100,000 individuals. There are 144 resident bird species, including both waterbirds and terrestrial birds. It is on the Gulf migratory route, an important migration route for water birds, songbirds, and birds of prey. Upland areas are part of the Tamaulipan pastizal, a mosaic of grassland and semi-arid shrubland. Characteristic shrubs include mesquite (''

Prosopis glandulosa ''Prosopis glandulosa'', commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family (Fabaceae). Distribution The plant is primarily native to the Southwestern United States and Northern M ...

''), blackbrush ('' Acacia rigidula''), and ''

Castela tortuosa ''Castela'' is a genus of thorny shrubs and small trees in the family Simaroubaceae. Members of the genus are native to the Americas, especially the tropical regions. The generic name honours the French naturalist René Richard Louis Castel. '' ...

''. It includes some of the best-preserved areas in the Mexican portion of the pastizal, and serves as a wildlife corridor for large mammals like jaguar, ocelot, oncillo, puma, and lynx.

Conservation

Thanks to lobbying and studies done by organizations such as

Pronatura Noreste Pronatura Noreste is a Mexican nongovernmental, nonprofit organization recognized by the National Council of Science and Technology as a scientific and educational organization. Pronatura Noreste is one of six regional offices of the Pronatura M� ...

, universities, local governments, and other organizations, with the aid of local communities, in April 2005 the Mexican government declared Laguna Madre and the

Delta a flora and fauna protection area. The 1.4 million acres (5,700 km²) under legal protection are in the municipalities of Matamoros,

and

, in the state of Tamaulipas. In 2006

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

declared the area an

international biosphere reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...

."Laguna Madre y Delta Río Bravo Biosphere Reserve, Mexico". UNESCO, December 2018. Accessed 4 October 2021

/ref>

References

Sources

* {{Handbook of Texas, id=rrl02, name=Laguna Madre
“Laguna Madre – A New Day… Un Nuevo Día” (PDF) (Accessed 12/09/19)
– United States Fish and Wildlife Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service
The Nature Conservatory – “Laguna Madre” (Accessed 2/25/08)
Madre Gulf Coast of Mexico Landforms of Tamaulipas Biosphere reserves of Mexico Protected areas of Tamaulipas Ramsar sites in Mexico Flora and fauna protection areas of Mexico Important Bird Areas of Mexico