Wetlands

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...

Mottled ducks rely on the coastal marshes of the Texas Chenier Plain, which are considered among the most critically endangered habitats in the United States. USGS scientists are evaluating what might be contributing to the degradation of high-quality mottled duck habitat to better understand the causes of habitat loss and subsequently mitigate those losses.

CRMS uses a multiple reference approach to biological monitoring and uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling that address the limited effectiveness of the traditional paired-reference monitoring approach in Louisiana. This approach includes a suite of sites that encompass the range of ecological conditions for each stratum, with projects placed on a...

This project assesses the physical controls of sediment and material exchange between wetlands and estuarine environments along the northern Gulf of America (Grand Bay Alabama/Mississippi and Vermilion Bay, Louisiana) and the Atlantic coast (Chincoteague Bay, Virginia/Maryland).

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...

Coastal wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services such as wave attenuation, surge reduction, carbon sequestration, wastewater treatment, and critical habitats for endangered fish and wildlife species. However, wetland loss threatens the capacity of coastal wetlands to provide these ecosystem services.