The Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve is a 20-acre (16 hectare)

University of California Natural Reserve System The University of California Natural Reserve System (UCNRS) is a system of protected areas throughout California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Co ...

reserve on the northern shore of Mission Bay in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Administered by UC San Diego, the site is owned by the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

and managed for teaching and research. The reserve protects some of the last remaining coastal

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

in Mission Bay. The city of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

’s adjacent Northern Wildlife Preserve expands this wetland habitat to approximately 40 acres (32 hectares).

History

In 1952, Lena Kendall and the A. H. Frost estate donated two parcels of the upper marsh to the University of California. In 1965, the site became one of the first seven reserves in the newly established Natural Lands and Water Reserve System, now known as the University of California Natural Reserve System.

Ecology

The reserve ranges from high marsh to submerged shoreline and include coastal salt marsh,

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

s, tidal channels, and salt flats. Subtidal habitats feature eelgrass beds that shelter juvenile fish and invertebrates.

Algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

and

bacterial mat A biofilm comprises any Syntrophy, syntrophic Microbial consortium, consortium of microorganisms in which cell (biology), cells cell adhesion, stick to each other and often also to a surface. These adherent cells become embedded within a sl ...

s coating mudflats exposed by high tide feed shorebirds and other species. The salt marsh supports California cordgrass ('' Spartina foliosa'') and perennial

pickleweed Pickleweed is a common name used for two unrelated genera of flowering plants: *'' Batis'', family Bataceae *''Salicornia ''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that gro ...

(''

Salicornia pacifica ''Salicornia pacifica'', also known as pickleweed, sea asparagus, Pacific swampfire, or glasswort, is a species of low-growing perennial succulent halophyte in the genus ''Salicornia'' found in the Pacific coast of North America and California. ...

''). Slightly higher in elevation is the midmarsh zone, with salt-tolerant plants such as sea lavender (''

Limonium californicum ''Limonium californicum'' is a species of sea lavender in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is known by the common names western marsh rosemary and California sea lavender. Description This is a tough perennial herb growing from a woody rhizome. Th ...

'') and saltmarsh daisy (''

Jaumea carnosa ''Jaumea carnosa'', known by the common names marsh jaumea, fleshy jaumea, or simply jaumea, is a halophytic salt marsh plant native to the wetlands, coastal sea cliffs and salt marshes of the western coast of North America. Description It is a ...

''). The drier high marsh is dominated by plants such as rambling sea-blite (''

Suaeda californica ''Suaeda californica'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the amaranth family known by the common name California seablite. It is now endemic to San Luis Obispo County, California, where it is known from a few occurrences in the marshes aro ...

'') and saltgrass ('' Distichlis spicata''). As one of few wetlands in the San Diego area, the reserve attracts many bird species. These include many shorebirds such as long-billed curlew ('' Numenius americanus'') and one of California's rarest birds, the light-footed clapper rail (''

Rallus longirostris levipes ''Rallus'' is a genus of wetland birds of the rail family. Sometimes, the genera '' Lewinia'' and ''Gallirallus'' are included in it. Six of the species are found in the Americas, and the three species found in Eurasia, Africa and Madagascar a ...

''). Artificial nesting platforms at the reserve were established for the rail in 1987; these keep eggs and chicks dry during high tides yet safe from land predators such as feral cats and raccoons. The tidal channels of the marsh shelter native fishes such as the California killifish (''

Fundulus parvipinnis The California killifish (''Fundulus parvipinnis'') is a type of killifish (Fundulidae) found along the coast of southern California and Baja California. Like the other members of the family, California killifish are small, no more than about 11 ...

''), which live in hypersaline pools, and longjaw mudsuckers (''

Gillichthys mirabilis The longjaw mudsucker ''Gillichthys mirabilis'' is a goby (Gobiidae) of the Pacific Ocean coast of California and Baja California, noted for its extremely large mouth and ability to survive out of water for short periods. As the common name sugg ...

''), while arrow gobies (''

Clevelandia ios The arrow goby (''Clevelandia ios'') is a species of goby native to marine and brackish waters of the Pacific coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California. This species grows to a length of SL, though most do not exceed TL ...

'') live in burrows often occupied by ghost shrimp (''

Neotrypaea californiensis ''Neotrypaea californiensis'' (formerly ''Callianassa californiensis''), the Bay ghost shrimp, is a species of ghost shrimp that lives on the Pacific coast of North America. It is a pale animal which grows to a length of . One claw is bigger ...

'').

Use

The marsh is used by students and scientists to study salt marsh ecology and practice field research techniques. Restoration efforts, such as a project to rid the marsh of invasive mangrove, have helped to improve the functioning of the habitat and improve conditions for native species.

References

External links

UC San Diego Natural Reserve System: Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve

{{University of California, San Diego, state=collapsed Protected areas of San Diego County, California University of California Natural Reserve System Wetlands of California Geography of San Diego University of California, San Diego