Gulf-Wide

Using an iterative qualitative coding process, WARC researchers are identifying objectives, stressors, and management priorities to support the implementation of adaptive management in restoration programs across the Gulf.

USGS scientists are collaborating with multiple agencies to provide the esssential foundation for understanding these deep-sea environments.

USGS is collaborating with Mississippi State University to investigate the effects of fire on Gulf marshes. The project will include mapping high marsh and monitoring black rail, yellow rail, and mottled duck responses to prescribed fire application.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and USGS will jointly lead the development of foundational components for region-wide monitoring.

Land and seafloor slopes are generally low along the coasts in the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast states, making wetlands and estuaries vulnerable to sea level change, subsidence, and extreme events (e.g., hurricanes and tropical storms). Land-use change and land loss have been mapped extensively and with increasing frequency, but the link between land loss and the processes responsible for landscape...

This project uses amplicon sequencing, and functional microarrays to examine the microbiomes of several deep-sea coral species, with priority given to species that are also of interest to the population genetics group: Desmophyllum dianthus, Lophelia pertusa, Enallopsammia sp., and Acanthogorgia sp. The project also uses metagenomics to survey benthic habitats including coral mounds, cold seeps...

USGS is undertaking a 5-year study to assess groundwater availability for the aquifers proximal to the Gulf of America from the Texas-Mexico border through the panhandle of Florida, known as the Coastal Lowlands Aquifer System (CLAS). This study is one of several within the Regional Groundwater Availability Studies of the USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program.

The USGS Southeast Regional Office has funded a cross-center collaboration between the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and the Texas Water Science Center for the development of the Gulf Water Dashboard. The objective of this effort is to expand the Texas Water Dashboard platform to include the coastal regions of the five Gulf states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Now...

Human alteration of waterways has impacted the minimum and maximum streamflows in more than 86% of monitored streams nationally and may be the primary cause for ecological impairment in river and stream ecosystems. Restoration of freshwater inflows can positively affect shellfish, fisheries, habitat, and water quality in streams, rivers, and estuaries. Increasingly, state and local decision-makers...

Eighty-five percent of the coastal wetland loss in the contiguous United States occurs in the Gulf. Documenting and understanding the occurrence of this wetland loss will provide for effective planning, mitigation, and restoration activities.

More than half of contiguous U.S. coastal wetlands are located along the Gulf 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 into...

To effectively manage an ecosystem, resource managers need a way to evaluate its health and ability to function. Metrics that indicate ecosystem condition - or indicators - can be used to help determine how well management strategies work.