Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Publications
Explore WARC's science publications.
Global patterns of tree stem growth and stand aboveground wood production in mangrove forests
Mangrove forests provide important ecological and economic services including carbon sequestration and storage. The conservation and restoration of mangroves are expected to play an important role in mitigating climate change, and understanding the factors influencing mangrove stem growth and wood production are important in predicting and...
Xiong, Yanmei; Cakir, Roxelane; Phan, Sang Minh; Ola, Anne; Krauss, Ken; Lovelock, Catherine E. Jump-starting coastal wetland restoration: A comparison of marsh and mangrove foundation species
During coastal wetland restoration, foundation plant species play a critical role in creating habitat, modulating ecosystem functions, and supporting ecological communities. Following initial hydrologic restoration, foundation plant species can help stabilize sediments and jump-start ecosystem development. Different foundation species, however,...
Yando, Erik S.; Osland, Michael; Jones, Scott; Hester, Mark W. Success of lake restoration depends on spatial aspects of nutrient loading and hydrology
Many aquatic ecosystems have deteriorated due to human activities and their restoration is often troublesome. It is proposed here that the restoration success of deteriorated lakes critically depends on hitherto largely neglected spatial heterogeneity in nutrient loading and hydrology. A modelling approach is used to study this hypothesis by...
Janssen, Annette B.G.; van Wijk, Dianneke; van Gerven, Luuk P.A.; Bakker, Elisabeth S.; Brederveld, Robert J.; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Janse, Jan H.; Mooij, Wolf M. Factors affecting prey availability and habitat usage of nonbreeding piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) in coastal Louisiana
The Gulf of Mexico is home to a large proportion of the wintering population of the threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus), but little is known about the bird's ecology in this region. In Louisiana, the majority of nonbreeding piping plovers are found on the state's rapidly eroding barrier islands. Between August 2013 and May 2014, surveys...
Schulz, Jessica L.; Leberg, Paul Modeling barrier island habitats using landscape position information
Barrier islands are dynamic environments because of their position along the marine–estuarine interface. Geomorphology influences habitat distribution on barrier islands by regulating exposure to harsh abiotic conditions. Researchers have identified linkages between habitat and landscape position, such as elevation and distance from shore, yet...
Enwright, Nicholas; Lei Wang; Wang, Hongqing; Osland, Michael; Feher, Laura; Borchert, Sinéad M.; Day, Richard Drivers and impacts of water level fluctuations in the Mississippi River delta: Implications for delta restoration
This review synthesizes the knowledge regarding the environmental forces affecting water level variability in the coastal waters of the Mississippi River delta and relates these fluctuations to planned river diversions. Water level fluctuations vary significantly across temporal and spatial scales, and are subject to influences from river flow,...
Hiatt, Matthew R.; Snedden, Gregg; Day, John W.; Rohli, Robert V.; Nyman, John A.; Lane, Robert R.; Sharp, Leigh A. Efficacy of eDNA as an early detection indicator for Burmese pythons in the ARM Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem
Environmental DNA (eDNA) detection of invasive species can be used to delimited occupied ranges and estimate probabilities to inform management decisions. Environmental DNA is shed into the environment through skin cells and bodily fluids and can be detected in water samples collected from lakes, rivers, and swamps. In south Florida, invasive...
Hunter, Margaret; Meigs-Friend, Gaia; Ferrante, Jason; Smith, Brian (Contractor); Hart, Kristen Quantifying risk of whale–vessel collisions across space, time, and management policies
Transportation industries can negatively impact wildlife populations, including through increased risk of mortality. To mitigate this risk successfully, managers and conservationists must estimate risk across space, time, and alternative management policies. Evaluating this risk at fine spatial and temporal scales can be challenging, especially in...
Crum, Nathan J.; Gowan, Timothy A.; Krzystan, Andrea; Martin, Julien Examination of Bathymodiolus childressi nutritional sources, isotopic niches, and food-web linkages at two seeps in the US Atlantic margin using stable isotope analysis and mixing models
Chemosynthetic environments support distinct benthic communities capable of utilizing reduced chemical compounds for nutrition. Hundreds of methane seeps have been documented along the U.S. Atlantic margin (USAM), and detailed investigations at a few seeps have revealed distinct environments containing mussels, microbial mats, authigenic...
Demopoulos, Amanda; McClain Counts, Jennifer; Bourque, Jill; Prouty, Nancy; Smith, Brian (Contractor); Brooke, Sandra; Ross, Steve W.; Ruppel, Carolyn The effects of geography, habitat, and humans on the ecology and demography of the Gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) in the southern Lake Wales Ridge region of Florida
A 35-year (1967–2002) demographic study was conducted on the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) from two different habitats on Archbold Biological Station located on the southern end of the Lake Wales Ridge in south-central Florida. We found geographic, habitat, and human-mediated effects on several aspects of its biology. Our findings...
Meshaka, Walter E.; Layne, James N.; Rice, Kenneth G. Advancing barrier island habitat mapping using landscape position information
Barrier islands are dynamic ecosystems that change gradually from coastal processes, including currents and tides, and rapidly from episodic events, such as storms. These islands provide many important ecosystem services, including storm protection and erosion control to the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, and tourism. Habitat maps,...
Enwright, Nicholas; Wang, Lei; Borchert, Sinéad M.; Day, Richard; Feher, Laura; Osland, Michael Environmental DNA sampling reveals high occupancy rates of invasive Burmese pythons at wading bird breeding aggregations in the central Everglades
The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is now established as a breeding population throughout south Florida, USA. However, the extent of the invasion, and the ecological impacts of this novel apex predator on animal communities are incompletely known, in large part because Burmese pythons (hereafter “pythons”) are extremely cryptic and there has...
Orzechowski, Sophia C. M.; Frederick, Peter C.; Dorazio, Robert M.; Hunter, Margaret