Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
More than half of the contiguous U.S. coastal wetlands can be found along the Gulf of Mexico coast. These highly-productive wetlands support a multitude of ecosystem goods and services and fish and wildlife habitat. Whether tracking animals to understand their distribution and habitat use, documenting and understanding wetland loss along its coastlines, analyzing how climate change affects coastal wetland communities, or exploring never-before-seen deep-sea coral reefs, our scientists conduct relevant and comprehensive science in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Gulf Sturgeon Ecological Investigations
The Gulf sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi, has been listed as Threatened since 1991. Beginning in 1986, USGS has been investigating sturgeon population abundance and ecology throughout its range, but mostly in the Suwannee River.
Status and Trends of Emergent Wetlands in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010
Throughout the past century, emergent wetlands have been declining across the Gulf of Mexico. Emergent wetland ecosystems provide a plethora of resources including plant and wildlife habitat, commercial and recreational economic activity, water quality, and natural barriers against storms.
Preserving Gulf Sturgeon—A Fish Tale of Gargantuan Proportions
It's hard to imagine a better job than doing fieldwork with the USGS Coastal Ecology crew as they work to keep tabs on the Gulf sturgeon population.
Flow Cytometry Applied to the Animal Kingdom in Studies of Natural Resource Science
Flow cytometry is a technique for rapidly analyzing large numbers of animal cells using light-scattering, fluorescence, and absorbance measurements.
Mapping Marsh Structure with Polarimetric Radar: Highlighting Change in Oil Spill Impacted Marshes
While the historic focus of vegetation condition is the bulk live and dead compositions, these variables provide no information on the structure of vegetation (density and orientation). Canopy structure information is critical for monitoring status and trends, and essential in climate, weather, and ecological studies.
Rate and Process of Mangrove Forest Expansion on Carbon Relations in Coastal Louisiana
Field observations over recent decades have confirmed mangrove expansion landward in tropical zones and poleward in temperate saltmarsh settings around the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Structured Decision-Making to Facilitate Multi-Stakeholder Coastal Conservation and Restoration under Climate Change Uncertainties: Case Study on Barrier Island of the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Barrier island resource managers within the northern Gulf of Mexico have the opportunity to more directly incorporate scientific uncertainties and technological challenges inherent with large-scale barrier island restoration projects, and as such, commit to developing robust long-term monitoring programs and applying adaptive management.
Gulf of Mexico Land Loss Change Assessment: A Cooperative Study with the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management
Eighty-five percent of the coastal wetland loss in the contiguous United States occurs in the Gulf of Mexico. Documenting and understanding the occurrence of this wetland loss will provide for effective planning, mitigation, and restoration activities.
Long-term Trends in Swamp Tree Growth across Drought and Salinity Gradients along the Northern Gulf Coast
This study will examine the potential effects of climate-change-induced sea level rise, drought and water extraction by examining tree growth patterns across the Gulf Coast, specifically targeting long-term research plots available in the North American Baldcypress Swamp Network (NABCSN) and the Suwannee River.
Mangroves vs. Salt Marshes: Mangrove Forest Range Expansion at the Expense of Salt Marshes
Winter climate change has the potential to have a large impact on coastal wetlands in the southeastern United States.
Mangrove Migration Network
At the poleward marsh-mangrove ecotone, mangrove abundance and coverage is winter temperature-sensitive in that it oscillates in response to the frequency, duration, and/or intensity of extreme winter temperatures. Future winter climate change is expected to facilitate poleward mangrove range expansion at the expense of salt marshes in Texas, Louisiana, and parts of Florida.
Incorporating Future Change into Current Conservation Planning: Evaluating Wetland Migration along the Gulf of Mexico under Alternative Sea-Level Rise and Urbanization Scenarios
More than half of contiguous U.S. coastal wetlands are located along the Gulf of Mexico coast. These highly-productive wetlands support many ecosystem goods and services and fish and wildlife habitat. Historically, coastal wetlands have adapted to sea-level changes via lateral and vertical movement on the landscape. As sea levels rise in the future, coastal wetlands will adapt and migrate landward...