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Estuaries are naturally dynamic systems facing increasing variability of water quality conditions due to increased rainfall and snow melt caused by climate change, coastal land loss, and river management. Across the northern Gulf of Mexico, one ecologically and economically important species residin...

Sea-level rise (SLR) projections have a wide range, in some locations projecting anywhere from 2 to 11 feet of SLR. This range exists due to natural variability, uncertainty in carbon emissions, and continually improving ice sheet melt science. This range can make it difficult for planners and proje...

Few studies have quantified trophic relationships in seagrass environments at the regional scale, making it difficult to make comparisons of trophic structures across seagrass ecosystems. We conducted a large-scale study at six sites across the northern Gulf of Mexico (Lower Laguna Madre, TX; Redfis...

On-the-ground resilience to current and future flooding takes many different forms and can look like direct or indirect actions, specific or broad plans, and immediate or long-term planned activities. A recently completed series of short films demonstrates this diversity through five unique case stu...

The reduction of marine debris in the commercial fishery enhances economic opportunities in coastal fishing counties. This economic analysis assessed the perceived economic impacts of marine debris on commercial fishing among Mississippi commercial shrimpers. The perceived economic impacts of marine...

Oysters in Mississippi Sound are important to the ecosystem and to the local economy, or they used to be. In the early 1900s, over 2 million pounds of oysters from Mississippi Sound were processed each year. From the year 2000 to 2013, the oyster harvest decreased from 1.5 million pounds to 0.5 mill...

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program’s (GRP) Thriving Communities Initiative seeks to improve the quality, accessibility, and use of information about how to protect communities from the impacts of oil spills. During a 2017 workshop, the GRP identifie...

The primary objective of the study I will present on is to reconstruct multi-century streamflow records of the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, utilizing standard dendrochronological techniques to better understand past and present trends in hydrologic and hydroclimatic extremes within the system. Tree-ri...

The Bucktown community in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, has a rich history and culture, starting as a lakefront fishing village that now contains over 1,000 homes, schools, pumping stations, and an active U.S. Coast Guard station. Like most of Jefferson Parish, Bucktown’s land mass is below sea lev...

Organisms may adjust characteristics such as behavior or morphology to reduce predation risk, but in doing so suffer reductions in growth and fecundity. To balance conflicting needs of reducing risk with energy acquisition and growth, organisms often limit expression of predator avoidance or deterre...

Bays, estuaries, and rivers provide vital ecological, economical, and recreational services to coastal communities. These vital water bodies are under increasing pressures from urbanization, land-use changes, population growth, a changing climate, sea-level rise, and extreme weather events. Closures...

Natural infrastructure approaches are recognized by coastal communities as effective options to reduce coastal flooding, manage stormwater runoff, adapt to climate change, and protect the quality of coastal waters and ecosystems. During this presentation, participants will learn about the suite of n...

Marine microplastics (< 5 mm) pollution is a growing problem affecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, aquatic and marine life, and human health. It is hard to escape news of debris of all kinds, and more specifically plastic debris of all sizes, in our oceans. Despite the growing awareness,...

The purpose of this paper is to identify likely ranges of costs, market returns, and ecosystem benefits associated with three different oyster (Eastern oyster, Crassostreia virginica) production methods: extensive bottom harvest, intensive off-bottom aquaculture, and non-harvested reefs. As part of ...

Have you ever been asked to participate in an outreach event about resilience but were at a loss for an activity for the general public? Are the planners and floodplain managers in the municipalities you serve constantly under fire for the actions they put in place? Does the general public in your a...

Salt marshes exist in shallow-gradient landscapes where microtopographic changes on the order of centimeters to decimeters can drastically alter plant species composition. Thus, salt marshes are highly vulnerable to the effects of relative sea level rise and altered sediment supply. Of increasing im...

The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) was awarded an EPA Healthy Watershed Grant in 2018 to advance the strategic protection of healthy headwater habitats located within the Mobile Bay watershed. The Mobile Bay watershed contains 75% of the first and second order stream catchments that eve...

In addition to suitable substrate and physical conditions, successful oyster recruitment requires an adequate supply of planktonic larvae from local and remote source areas, followed by the subsequent survival and growth of early post-settlement stages. Recruitment limitation arises when the stock s...

Situated along the western shore of Mobile Bay, the Dauphin Island Causeway serves as a key transportation corridor and the sole roadway to the “Sunset Capital of Alabama,” Dauphin Island. This strategically significant barrier island has 1,300 residents and is an important tourist destination. ...

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill caused extensive damage to the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and resulted in multiple settlements with responsible parties, and the subsequent payments of fines and penalties related to statutes including the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and the Clean Water ...

Urban development contributes to alterations in the thermal regime of a watershed. Stormwater exiting urban heat islands results in thermal pollution, and may alter the ecological integrity of receiving waters. This poster reports on assessing Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater control measure ...

A reliable understanding of wave climate is the prerequisite for all marine users. Safe navigation, coastal infrastructure establishment and maintenance, and understanding coastal morpho-dynamics are examples for which wave data are needed. Nearshore wave characteristics are highly affected by bathy...

Despite the central role of wetland microbial communities in nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, little is known of how sediment bacteria differ by salinity, particularly between fresh, intermediate, brackish, and saltmarshes. In this study, the sediment bacterial community and extracellular ...

The Community Rating System (CRS) is a flood mitigation program of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Recent research shows that the program has led to a substantial increase in flood insurance purchases and decreased claims payments, but our understanding of participation rate under speci...

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, in partnership with the other Alabama Trustee Implementation Group (AL TIG) members, has been implementing Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) restoration projects since 2016 with fines paid under the Oil Pollution Act. The other AL...

Oyster reef habitat created by the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, has been declining at an alarmingly rapid rate along the United States Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Oyster reefs support an important commercial fishery as well as provide estuarine ecological services such as filtration, creatio...

The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program is currently implementing a Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater management project with the installation of low-cost rainwater harvest systems in the Toulmins Spring Branch Watershed (TSB), a sub-watershed in the greater Three Mile Creek Watershed (TMC). T...

Rice husks (RH) are the hard-protective coverings of grains of rice and are removed from rice seeds as a side stream during the milling process. The disposal of RH generates a huge problem for rice industry since RH represents about 23% of initial rice seed weight. The valorization of this side stre...

Since January 2019, the Saint Stanislaus (SSC) Marine Science program has worked with the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, University of Texas at Austin, in a global citizen scientist research project. The project focuses on the pollution epidemic regarding microplastics, specifi...

Coastal flooding and sea-level rise coupled with socioeconomic vulnerability is exacerbating hazards along our coast making it imperative for coastal residents to understand the risks and need for proactive solutions. Sea-Level Rise in the Classroom is a curriculum developed through the collaboratio...