Publications

Concerns about the effect of pumping contaminated flood waters into Lake Pontchartrain following the hurricanes of 2005 prompted the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to sample street mud, canal-suspended sediment, and bottom sediment in Lake Pontchartain. The samples were analyzed for a wide variety of potential inorganic and organic contaminants. Results indicate that contamination of lake...

Cumberland Island National Seashore, a barrier-island coastal park in Georgia, is vulnerable to the powerful, sand-moving forces of hurricanes. Waves and storm surge associated with these strong tropical storms are part of the natural process of barrier-island evolution and can cause extensive morphologic changes in coastal parks, leading to reduced visitor accessibility and enjoyment...

Cape Lookout National Seashore, a barrier-island coastal park in North Carolina, is vulnerable to the powerful, sand-moving forces of hurricanes. Waves and storm surge associated with these strong tropical storms are part of a natural process in barrier-island evolution and can cause extensive morphologic changes in coastal parks, leading to road closures and reduced visitor...

No abstract available.

Although the ecological dynamics of the alpine treeline ecotone are influenced by climate, it is an imperfect indicator of climate change. Mechanistic processes that shape the ecotone—seed rain, seed germination, seedling establishment and subsequent tree growth form, or, conversely tree dieback—depend on microsite patterns. Growth forms affect wind and snow, and so develop positive and...

It was the midst of songbird migration season when Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana coast in 2005. Typically these birds fatten up in Gulf Coast river bottomland forest for the long flight to Central and South America. After Katrina stripped plants of leaves, fruits, and insects in the fertile bottomlands of the Pearl River, weather radar indicated that migrant birds increased their...

Three new species of Percina are described from upland drainages of the Mobile Basin. Two of the three species are narrowly distributed: P. kusha, the Bridled Darter, is currently known only from the Conasauga River drainage in Georgia and Tennessee and Etowah River drainage in Georgia, both tributaries of the Coosa River, and P. sipsi, the Bankhead Darter, which is restricted to...

Marine protected areas are an important tool for management of marine ecosystems. Despite their utility, ecological design criteria are often not considered or feasible to implement when establishing protected areas. In 2001, the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM) in St John, US Virgin Islands was established by Executive Order. The VICRNM prohibits almost all...

Background. Social scientists have suggested that cultural diversity in a nation leads to societal instability. However, societal instability may be affected not only by within-nation on ?? diversity, but also diversity between a nation and its neighbours or ?? diversity. It is also necessary to distinguish different domains of diversity, namely linguistic, ethnic and religious, and to...

Nearly 4 weeks after Hurricane Katrina passed through St. Bernard Parish, the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Mid-Continent Geographic Science Center and the University of Missouri-Rolla's (UMR) Natural Hazard Mitigation Institute deployed a team of scientists to the region to collect perishable environmental and engineering data. The team collected 149 samples throughout the affected...

Amphibian declines and extinctions have been documented around the world, often in protected natural areas. Concern for this alarming trend has prompted the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service to document all species of amphibians that occur within U.S. National Parks and to search for any signs that amphibians may be declining. This study, an inventory of amphibian...

This article presents the post-Hurricane Katrina conditions of the flood-protection system of levees and floodwalls that failed in the environs of the Mississippi River Delta and New Orleans, La. Damage conditions and suggested mechanisms of failure are presented from the geotechnical point of view.