Publications

The impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 on wetland vegetation were investigated in Louisiana coastal marshes. Vegetation cover, pore-water salinity, and nutrients data from 100 marsh sites covering the entire Louisiana coast were sampled for two consecutive growing seasons after the storms. A mixed-model nested ANOVA with Tukey's HSD test for post-ANOVA multiple comparisons was used to

Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) is a self-describing, machine-independent file format for storing array-oriented scientific data. It was created to provide a common interface between applications and real-time meteorological and other scientific data. Over the past few years, there has been a growing movement within the community of natural resource managers in The Everglades, Fla., to use NetCD

Like predation and competition, mutualism is now recognized as a consumer resource (C-R) interaction, including, in particular, bi-directional (e.g., coral, plant- mycorrhizae) and uni-directional (e.g., ant-plant defense, plant-pollinator) C-R mutualisms. Here, we develop general theory for the density-dependent population dynamics of mutualism based on the C-R mechanism of interspecific interact

Mechanistic explanations of herbivore spatial distribution have focused largely on either resource‐related (bottom‐up) or predation‐related (top‐down) factors. We studied direct and indirect influences on the spatial distributions of Serengeti herbivore hotspots, defined as temporally stable areas inhabited by mixed herds of resident grazers. Remote sensing and variation in landscape features were

In 1990, the U.S. Congress enacted the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in response to growing awareness of a land loss crisis in Louisiana. Projects funded by CWPPRA require monitoring and evaluation of project effectiveness, and there is also a need to assess the cumulative effects of all projects to achieve a sustainable coastal environment. In 2003, the Lo

We evaluated home-range size and site tenacity of Le Conte's Sparrows (Ammodramus lecontii) during winter 2002–2003 at Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. Twenty-six wintering Le Conte's Sparrows were radiomarked in 1- and 2-year post-burn units, and monitored for ∼10 days. Additionally, 1-ha plots on each 1-, 2- and 3-year (n  =  15) post-burn units were flush-netted once monthly. Telemetry

No abstract available.

BackgroundCattail (Typha domingensis) has been spreading in phosphorus (P) enriched areas of the oligotrophic Florida Everglades at the expense of sawgrass (Cladium mariscus spp. jamaicense). Abundant evidence in the literature explains how the opportunistic features of Typha might lead to a complete dominance in P-enriched areas. Less clear is how Typha can grow and acquire P at extremely low P l

Mangroves are an ecological assemblage of trees and shrubs adapted to grow in intertidal environments along tropical coasts. Despite repeated demonstration of their economic and societal value, more than 50% of the world's mangroves have been destroyed, 35% in the past two decades to aquaculture and coastal development, altered hydrology, sea-level rise, and nutrient overenrichment. Variations in

  Mechanistic models for predicting species’ distribution patterns present particular advantages and challenges relative to models developed from statistical correlations between distribution and climate. They can be especially useful for predicting the range of invasive species whose distribution has not yet reached equilibrium. Here, we illustrate how a physiological model of development for th

Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), a subtropical species, has historically occurred in saline marsh habitat along the Louisiana coast, but their distribution has always been sparse and they seldom achieved heights of greater than 1 m. The distribution of black mangrove in Louisiana has been largely limited by freezing temperatures. Weather records show a decrease in freeze frequency and duratio

The slope environment of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) supports dense communities of seep megafaunal invertebrates that rely on endosymbiotic bacteria for nutrition. Seep sediments also contain smaller macrofaunal invertebrates whose nutritional pathways are not well understood. Using stable-isotope analysis, we investigate the utilization of chemosynthetically fixed and methane-derived organic matter