Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
The coastal Louisiana landscape is continually undergoing geomorphologic changes (in particular, land loss); however, after the 2005 hurricane season, the changes were intensified because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The purpose of this study is to provide information on potential changes to coastal Louisiana by using a revised Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) study methodology.
During the summer of 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey, Louisiana State University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Coastal and Nongame Resources Division jointly completed an aerial survey to collect data on 2013 vegetation types in coastal Louisiana. Plant species were listed and their abundance classified.
This report includes three posters with analyses of net land area changes in coastal Louisiana after the 2005 hurricanes (Katrina and Rita).
Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the eastern coastline of Louisiana on August 29, 2005; Hurricane Rita made landfall on the western coastline of Louisiana on September 24, 2005. Comparing Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite imagery acquired before & after the landfalls of Katrina and Rita demonstrated that water area increased by 217 square miles in coastal Louisiana due to the storms.
Coastal Louisiana wetlands make up the seventh largest delta on Earth, contain about 37% of the estuarine herbaceous marshes in the conterminous United States, and support the largest commercial fishery in the lower United States. These wetlands are in peril because Louisiana currently undergoes about 90% of the total coastal wetland loss in the continental U.S.
Extinct Taxa in Ecoregions of North America (2012)
Extinct Taxa in States/Provinces of North America (2012)
Numbered Ecoregions of North America (2008)