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Brett A Patton

Brett is an Ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Wetland and Aquatic Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

My research interests are in the vegetation and hydrological effects on bird use, particularly in estuarine wetland and barrier island habitats. I currently lead the USGS field data collection efforts for the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS). I also lend support on numerous research projects including studies focused on wetland plant productivity, organic matter decomposition, carbon storage, ecohydrology, and restoration and climate change impacts on waterbird and shorebird species.

EDUCATION

M.S., Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, 2016—Thesis: Living on the edge: An assessment of the Habitat Use of Waterbirds in Estuarine Wetlands of Barataria Basin, LA

B.S., Biology, William Carey University, 2007

 

Science and Products

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2016-05-01 Dalyander Conceptual Diagram

Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP)

In 2009, the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District in conjunction with other Federal and State agencies, to help reduce future storm damage along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Comprehensive Plan for MsCIP includes restoring the Mississippi barrier islands and over 3,000 acres of wetland and coastal forest...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Gulf of Mexico
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Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP)

In 2009, the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District in conjunction with other Federal and State agencies, to help reduce future storm damage along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Comprehensive Plan for MsCIP includes restoring the Mississippi barrier islands and over 3,000 acres of wetland and coastal forest...
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Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) - Adaptive Management and Monitoring Planning and Implementation

Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) - Adaptive Management and Monitoring Planning and Implementation

The Mississippi barrier islands are dynamic coastal landforms that are the first line of defense between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi mainland coast. These islands are experiencing changes in structure (land area and habitat) and geomorphic processes (erosion and accretion) due to frequent intense storms, relative rise in sea level, and changes in sediment supply. A long-term monitoring...
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Land Management Research Program, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Hurricanes
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Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) - Adaptive Management and Monitoring Planning and Implementation

The Mississippi barrier islands are dynamic coastal landforms that are the first line of defense between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi mainland coast. These islands are experiencing changes in structure (land area and habitat) and geomorphic processes (erosion and accretion) due to frequent intense storms, relative rise in sea level, and changes in sediment supply. A long-term monitoring...
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Wetland vegetation and elevation survey within the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Jacksonville, Florida, 2021–2022

Vegetation and elevation data were collected using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS) in coastal wetlands at the National Park Service’s Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in summer 2021 and winter 2022 (n = 362). For each 0.5-by-0.5 m plot, the following data were collected: 1) percent cover by vegetation species; 2) percent cover by vegetation classes based on heigh
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Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Wetland elevation and soil characteristics across Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge (2020-2021)

The recent completion of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) for New Orleans has effectively blocked surface water exchange between Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge (BSNWR) and the surrounding Lake(s) Pontchartrain and Borgne and the Gulf of Mexico to which it was once connected. Monitoring changes in hydrology, water quality, bird
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Developing bare-earth digital elevation models from structure-from-motion data on barrier islands, Dauphin Island, AL, 2018-2019

This U.S. Geological Survey data release includes bare-earth digital elevation models (DEMs) that were produced by removing elevation bias in vegetated areas from structure-from-motion (SfM) data products for two sites on Dauphin Island, Alabama. These data were collected in the late fall of 2018 and spring of 2019. In addition to the bare-earth DEMs, this data release also includes vegetation mas
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Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Barrier island vegetation and elevation survey, Dauphin Island, AL, 2018-19

Vegetation and elevation survey data were collected in 4-square-meter quadrats via Real-Time Kinematic GPS from September 9, 2018 to April 17, 2019 on Dauphin Island, AL. Vegetation data included total percent herbaceous cover, percent cover by plant species, and mean height of vegetation within the quadrat. The percent cover by species was used to determine the dominant species for the plot.
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Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Developing bare-earth digital elevation models from structure-from-motion data on barrier islands

Unoccupied aerial systems can collect aerial imagery that can be used to develop structure-from-motion products with a temporal resolution well-suited to monitoring dynamic barrier island environments. However, topographic data created using photogrammetric techniques such as structure-from-motion represent the surface elevation including the vegetation canopy. Additional processing is required fo
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Christine J. Kranenburg, Brett Patton, P. Soupy Dalyander, Jenna A. Brown, Sarai Piazza, Wyatt C Cheney
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Gulf of Mexico

Living on the edge: Multi-scale analyses of bird habitat use in coastal marshes of Barataria Basin, Louisiana, USA

Coastal marsh loss, combined with expected sea-level rise, will cause inundation and extensive shifts to vegetation and salinity regimes that may affect the bird species dependent on coastal ecosystems worldwide. Within coastal marsh habitats, birds provide key targets for coastal management goals. However, limited information on bird-habitat relationships within coastal marshes inhibits the devel
Authors
Brett Patton, J. A. Nyman, Megan K. La Peyre
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Impacts of saltwater intrusion on wetland prey production and composition in a historically freshwater marsh

Sea level rise is a fundamental driver of ecosystem change and has the potential to shift the spatial distributions of habitats more rapidly than species can adapt. Rapid sea level rise and associated saltwater intrusion have negative impacts on coastal environments, including loss of habitat for species such as sea turtles and shorebirds. In Florida’s largest wetland, the Everglades, the availabi
Authors
Stephanie Romanach, James M. Beerens, Brett Patton, Julia P. Chapman, Matt Hanson
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Inundation and salinity impacts to above- and belowground productivity in Spartina patens and Spartina alterniflora in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain: implications for using river diversions as restoration tools

Inundation and salinity directly affect plant productivity and processes that regulate vertical accretion in coastal wetlands, and are expected to increase as sea level continues to rise. In the Mississippi River deltaic plain, river diversions, which are being implemented as ecosystem restoration tools, can also strongly increase inundation in coastal wetlands. We used an in situ mesocosm approac
Authors
Gregg A. Snedden, Kari Foster Cretini, Brett Patton
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Patton, Brett Ashley, "Living on the Edge: An Assessment of the Habitat Use of Waterbirds in Estuarine Wetlands of Barataria Basin, LA" (2016). LSU Master's Theses. 1670. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/1670

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science and Products