Publications

Recent large-scale spatial products have been developed to assess wetland position in the tidal frame, but nationwide comparisons and validations are missing for these products. Wetland position within the tidal frame is a commonly used characteristic to compare wetlands across biogeomorphic gradients and factors heavily into wetland vulnerability models. We utilize a dataset of 365...

Aim The climate change-induced transition from grass-dominated marshes to woody-plant-dominated mangrove forests has the potential to impact the ecosystem goods and services provided by coastal wetlands. To better anticipate and prepare for these impacts, there is a need to advance understanding of future changes in mangrove distribution and coastal wetland vegetation structural...

Introduction National parks and preserves in the South Atlantic-Gulf Region contain valuable coastal habitats such as tidal wetlands and mangrove forests, as well as irreplaceable historic buildings and archeological sites located in low-lying areas. These natural and cultural resources are vulnerable to accelerated sea-level rise and escalating high tide flooding events. Through a...

The species-specific migratory patterns and strategies of many songbirds remain unknown or understudied, as research in animal ecology is biased toward the breeding period, with the fewest studies on the migratory period across taxa. Identifying large-scale spatiotemporal migratory patterns is challenging, as individuals within a species may vary in their migratory behavior and...

To predict the potential success of an invading non-native species, it is important to understand its dynamics and interactions with native species in the early stages of its invasion. In spatially implicit models, mathematical stability criteria are commonly used to predict whether an invading population grows in number in an early time period. But spatial context is important for real...

Feedbacks are the basic linkages of living systems. In organisms, they regulate the processes of growth and homeostasis, as well as their interactions with their world. Feedback, which Judson (1980) called ‘one of the chief themes of scientific understanding,' is equally important in ecological systems. The ecological literature is rich in papers dealing with the role of feedback in...

The term stability, as applied to ecological systems, whether populations, communities, or ecosystems, means the tendency either to stay either close to some initial state, or to stay within certain bounds, or to persist in the face of environmental disturbances or changes. Here, a historical overview of stability concepts in ecology is outlined and measures of stability are discussed...

Tidal freshwater forests are usually located at or above the level of mean high water. Some Louisiana coastal forests are below mean high water, especially bald cypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.) forests because flooding has increased due to the combined effects of global sea level rise and local subsidence. In addition, constructed channels from the coast inland act as conduits for...

Accelerated sea-level rise is an existential threat to coastal wetlands, but the timing and extent of wetland drowning are debated. Recent data syntheses have clarified future relative sea-level rise exposure and sensitivity thresholds for drowning. Here, we integrate these advances to estimate when and where rising sea levels could cross thresholds for initiating wetland drowning across...

Previous studies have demonstrated that vegetation-generated turbulence can enhance erosion rate and reduce the velocity threshold for erosion of non-cohesive sediment. This study considered whether vegetation-generated turbulence had a similar influence on natural cohesive sediment. Cores were collected from a black mangrove forest with aboveground biomass and exposed to stepwise...

This review aims to summarize information critical to the conservation of the federally listed endangered species of South Texas, which occur along the border of Texas and Mexico. This paper describes the characteristics, habitat, population status, distribution, life history, threats, and restoration of endangered plant species of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, which includes...

Mangroves’ ability to store carbon (C) has long been recognized, but little is known about whether planted mangroves can store C as efficiently as naturally established (i.e., intact) stands and in which time frame. Through Bayesian logistic models compiled from 40 years of data and built from 684 planted mangrove stands worldwide, we found that biomass C stock culminated at 71 to 73% to...