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Coastal uplands are home to a variety of flora and fauna, including bats. Bats play a crucial role within ecosystems, but global declines in some bat populations have reduced many of the ecological and economic services bats provide. The greatest threats bats face within the United States are habitat loss, disturbances causing loss of cave hibernac...

Even after the range of sea-level rise (SLR) projections have been narrowed down to a planning scenario, it still requires translating the scenario into information that can be used to understand future conditions. For example, if a project for a new bridge design has a planning range of 3 ft of sea-level rise over the next 40 years, this still doe...

Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) management has been a topic of much scientific debate and intensive public scrutiny. In response to political, public, and management desires for more robust data on Red Snapper populations, a Gulf-wide initiative commonly referred to as the “Great Red Snapper Count” (GRSC) was funded to estimat...

Several species of sea turtles native to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The capture of sea turtles as bycatch during shrimp trawling has been cited as a significant contributor to sea turtle population declines. However, the impact of shrimp trawling on sea turtle populations has...

Urban areas in coastal communities have adopted “green infrastructure” plans and strategies to increase community resiliency, and conserve and protect their natural resources such as greenways, wetlands, and open spaces. This community-based research identified: 1) nine (9) cities that utilized green infrastructure planning in the Mississippi-A...

Microplastics are classified as any plastic particle less than 5 millimeters in diameter. They are ubiquitous throughout the environment and, subsequently, in the food and water we consume. The impacts of microplastics on organisms is an emerging research topic, however, most research suggests that the impacts of microplastic ingestion are likely n...

Two major problematic waterborne pathogens in coastal Gulf of Mexico include Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. We surveyed 44 locations in 7 major basins for the abundances of these species during a cool winter month, where water temperatures ranged 12.3 – 22.2oC. Viable Vibrio species were enumerated in water column (n=44), sediment...

Since the 1970s, excessive erosion and sedimentation have plagued D’Olive Watershed. This “system in peril” has some of the highest sediment rates ever measured by GSA. Compounding the problem, D’Olive Watershed lies within Baldwin County, the fastest-growing county in Alabama. Therefore, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) led ...

Both natural and man-made disasters can lead to large amounts of debris along shorelines and in coastal waters. Unlike response to debris on land, determining jurisdiction and authority for marine debris removal can be complicated, funds may not be available, and debris may be left in place. Through a highly collaborative process, NOAA's Marine Deb...

Forested floodplains are a mosaic of periodically flooded aquatic habitats with variable levels of connectivity. While there is a clear link between riparian forests and freshwater organisms, floodplain forests are seldom investigated due to difficulties in sampling structurally complex and periodically inundated habitat. This lack of research has ...

Background: Mangroves are woody trees and shrubs that live along tropical and subtropical shorelines in both marine and brackish environments. There are 80 species found worldwide, with three species historically found in south Florida. However, coupled with environmental factors and warming in the northern Gulf of Mexico, there has been an increas...

This study aims at evaluating the effects of wetlands on downstream flow, nitrate, organic nitrogen, and phosphate loading in the Fish River watershed (FRW), located in Baldwin County, coastal Alabama. The FRW drains to the Weeks Bay and represents approximately 75% of the freshwater inputs of this sub-estuary of the Mobile Bay. The Weeks Bay is on...

Project Oyster Pensacola is a partnership between the Bream Fishermen Association (BFA), a volunteer monitoring and citizen engagement organization, and the Pensacola Bay Oyster Company. Project goals were to engage citizens to learn about water quality and how oysters improve water quality, as well as encourage citizens to consider ways they can i...

Mobile Baykeeper has worked for years alongside numerous partners to combat litter in the Mobile Bay Watershed. Because of the diffuse source of the threat, the role that so many people play, and the magnitude of the issue it is extremely difficult to address the issue with cleanups, and structural controls. Because of the difficulty in seeing succ...

Deer Island provides a buffer from storm and flood damage as well as shore-line stabilization to the mainland of Biloxi, MS. A third of the land has been lost since 1850, largely driven by tropical storm and hurricane impacts as well as sea level rise. The United States Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi Department of Marine Resources have con...

Oyster reefs play a vital role in the ecosystem aiding in the removal of algae from the water column, providing habitat for more than 300 different species, and helping to protect the coast from erosion. The Mississippi Oyster Gardening Program is a volunteer-based project that focuses on educating citizens on the role oysters play in the environme...

In 2013, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) embarked upon a holistic, watershed-based approach to guide coastal ecosystem restoration and protection measures recommended through watershed management planning. The MBNEP’s five-year Ecosystem Restoration and Protection strategy initiated this novel approach which prescribes the develop...

A common perception is that bottled water offers the cleanest option for potable water, leading many consumers to prefer bottled water over tap or well-water supplied directly to their residence. Within bottled waters, there is also a price gradient that carries a perception of a positive relationship between price and purity. However, microplastic...

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, large-scale breakwater projects have been constructed to restore and conserve marshes across the northern Gulf of Mexico. These breakwater projects are often termed living shorelines due to the perceived increase in secondary productivity around the breakwaters and within the fringing marsh shoreward ...

Sea level rise poses a great threat to coastal areas and our way of life. As flooding increases in frequency and intensity across the country, vulnerable populations become a target to its impacts. Hawaii, the Carolinas, and the Northern Gulf coasts are among the regions experiencing significant consequences from coastal flooding derived from chron...

The Underwater Magnetic Release (UMR) System is a device developed by Jackson State University research team that can be programmed to release a float at a future point in time, which can be from a minute to many months. Although this device can work in all environments, it was designed primarily for underwater use. The idea is that if an arbitrary...

Microplastics are an increasing environmental hazard with potential negative implications for global health. Defined as plastic 5 mm or less in size, microplastics commonly result from fragmentation of larger anthropogenic items. The presence of microplastics in residential water supplies intended for human consumption is of great concern and there...

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Trash-Free Waters program (TFW) develops tools and strategies to reduce sources of land-based litter (primarily single-use disposables) ending up in our waterways. To create more uniform data collection methods, TFW developed the Escaped Trash Assessment Protocol (ETAP). In 2017, after receiving an awar...

Vessel strikes are one of the leading causes of human-related mortality for large whales. In the Gulf of Mexico, there is a high volume of vessel traffic from commercial shipping, fishing, recreation, oil and gas, and military vessels. This puts the sperm whale and the Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whale, both of which are listed as endangered under the U...

The D’Olive watershed plan, completed in 2010, is a strategic work plan for achieving goals that provided watershed assessment and management information for D’Olive Creek. I will discuss how the City of Daphne embraced the plan and interwove it into its regulations and used it as a guide for City development. For Daphne, it was not become just...

Nearly 40% of all U.S. citizens now live within 100 miles of our nation’s coastlines. Human encroachment into coastal environments, and the reliance on the food, water, and services they provide, have triggered dramatic changes in the structure and productivity of many estuarine ecosystems signaling the fact that water policy is closely coupled w...