Publications
Explore WARC's science publications.
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A global biophysical typology of mangroves and its relevance for ecosystem structure and deforestation
Mangrove forests provide many ecosystem services but are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Mangroves vary substantially according to their geomorphic and sedimentary setting; while several conceptual frameworks describe these settings, their spatial distribution has not been quantified. Here, we present a new global mangrove biophysical typology and show that, based on their 2016 exten
Authors
Thomas A. Worthington, Philine S.E. zu Ermgassen, Daniel A. Friess, Ken Krauss, Catherine E. Lovelock, Rick Tingey, Colin D. Woodroffe, Pete Bunting, N. Cormier, David Lagomasino, Richard Lucas, Nicholas J. Murray, William J. Sutherland, Mark Spalding
Resolving species boundaries in the critically imperiled freshwater mussel species, Fusconaia mitchelli (Bivalvia: Unionidae)
Species are a fundamental unit of biology, and defining accurate species boundaries is integral to effective conservation and management of imperiled taxa. Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) are among the most imperiled groups of organisms in North America, yet species boundaries remain uncertain for many taxa. The False Spike, Fusconaia mitchelli (Simpson in Dall, 1895), is a freshwater mus
Authors
Chase H. Smith, Nathan Johnson, Kaitlyn Havlik, Robert D. Doyle, Charles R. Randklev
Building adaptive capacity in a coastal region experiencing global change
Coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by human development, and climate change and other stressors are now further degrading the capacity of those ecological and social systems to remain resilient in the face of such disturbances. We sought to identify potential ways in which local conservation interests in the Lowcountry of South Carolina (USA) could participate in a s
Authors
Fred A. Johnson, Mitchell J. Eaton, Jessica Mikels-Carrasco, David J. Case
Genetic diversity targets and indicators in the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework must be improved
The 196 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will soon agree to a post-2020 global framework for conserving the three elements of biodiversity (genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity) while ensuring sustainable development and benefit sharing. As the most significant global conservation policy mechanism, the new CBD framework has far-reaching consequences- it will guide conse
Authors
Sean M. Hoban, Michael W. Bruford, Josephine D'Urban Jackson, Margarida Lopes-Fernandes, Myriam Heuertz, Paul A. Hohenlohe, Per Sjögren-Gulve, Gernot Segelbacher, Cristiano Vernesi, Sally Aitken, Laura D. Bertola, Paulette Bloomer, Martin Breed, Hernando Rodríguez-Correa, W. Chris Funk, Catherine E. Grueber, Margaret Hunter, Rodolfo Jaffe, Libby Liggins, Joachim Mergeay, Farideh Moharrek, David O'Brien, Rob Ogden, Clarisse Palma-Silva, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Jennifer Pierson, Uma Ramakrishnan, Murielle Simo-Droissart, Naoki Tani, Lisette Waits, Linda Laikre
Mangrove blue carbon in the face of deforestation, climate change, and restoration
Coastal wetlands have disproportionately high carbon densities, known as blue carbon, compared to most terrestrial ecosystems. Mangroves and their blue carbon stocks are at risk globally from land‐use and land‐cover change (LULCC) activities such as aquaculture, alongside biophysical disturbances such as sea‐level rise and cyclones. Global estimates of carbon emissions from mangrove loss have been
Authors
Daniel A. Friess, Ken Krauss, Pierre Taillardat, Maria Fernanda Adame, Erik S. Yando, Clint Cameron, Sigit D. Sasmito, Meriadec Sillanpaa
Trait‐based variation in host contribution to pathogen transmission across species and resource supplies
Two key knowledge gaps currently limit the development of more predictive and general models of pathogen transmission: (1) the physiological basis of heterogeneity in host contribution to pathogen transmission (reservoir potential) remains poorly understood, and (2) a general means of integrating the ecological dynamics of host communities has yet to emerge. If the traits responsible for differenc
Authors
Miranda E Welsh, James P. Cronin, Charles E. Mitchell
Moving from decision to action in conservation science
Biodiversity loss is a major threat to the integrity of ecosystems and is projected to worsen, yet the path to successful conservation remains elusive. Decision support frameworks (DSFs) are increasingly applied by resource managers to navigate the complexity, uncertainty, and differing socio-ecological objectives inherent to conservation problems. Most published conservation research that uses DS
Authors
Alexander Wright, Riley F Bernard, Brittany A. Mosher, Katherine O'Donnell, Taylor Braunagel, Graziella V. DiRenzo, Jillian Elizabeth Fleming, Charles Shafer, Adrianne B. Brand, Elise F. Zipkin, Evan H. Campbell Grant
Aboveground and belowground vegetation biomass and nutrients
Wetland biomass production, decomposition, and storage of organic matter govern
estuarine energy transfer, in addition to determining the physical sustainability of marshes
exposed to sea-level rise and subsidence. Peak standing biomass represents an indicator
of wetland production or productivity but does not account for turnover (production and
decomposition) of different pools of biomass with t
Authors
Todd M. Folse, Thomas E. McGinnis, Leigh A. Sharp, Jonathan L. West, Melissa K. Hymel, John P. Troutman, Dona Weifenbach, William M. Boshart, Laurie B. Rodrigue, Danielle C. Richardi, W. Bernard Wood, C. Mike Miller, Elizabeth M. Robinson, Angelina M. Freeman, Camille Stagg, Brady Couvillion, Holly Beck
Imagery
As part of CRMS, Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQs) for the coastal region of Louisiana are created for years when coastwide land-water classifications are required. A DOQQ is a raster image in which displacement in the image caused by sensor orientation and terrain relief has been corrected. These images combine the image characteristics of a photo with the geometric qualities of a ma
Authors
Todd M. Folse, Thomas E. McGinnis, Leigh A. Sharp, Jonathan L. West, Melissa K. Hymel, John P. Troutman, Dona Weifenbach, William M. Boshart, Laurie B. Rodrigue, Danielle C. Richardi, W. Bernard Wood, C. Mike Miller, Elizabeth M. Robinson, Angelina M. Freeman, Camille Stagg, Brady Couvillion, Holly Beck
Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) not detected in an intensive survey of wild North American amphibians
The salamander chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans [Bsal]) is causing massive mortality of salamanders in Europe. The potential for spread via international trade into North America and the high diversity of salamanders has catalyzed concern about Bsal in the U.S. Surveillance programs for invading pathogens must initially meet challenges that include low rates of occurrence on the l
Authors
Hardin Waddle, Daniel A. Grear, Brittany Mosher, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Michael J. Adams, Adam R. Backlin, William Barichivich, Adrianne B. Brand, Gary M. Bucciarelli, Daniel L. Calhoun, Tara Chestnut, Jon M. Davenport, Andrew E. Dietrich, Robert N. Fisher, Brad Glorioso, Brian J. Halstead, Marc P Hayes, R. Ken Honeycutt, Blake R. Hossack, Patrick M. Kleeman, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Robert W. Atkinson, Erin L. Muths, Christopher Pearl, Katherine Richgels, Charles W Robinson, Mark F. Roth, Jennifer Rowe, Walter Sadinski, Brent H. Sigafus, Iga Stasiak, Samuel Sweet, Susan C. Walls, Gregory J Watkins-Colwell, C. LeAnn White, Lori A Williams, Megan E. Winzeler
Novel molecular resources to facilitate future genetics research on freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae)
Molecular data have been an integral tool in the resolution of the evolutionary relationships and systematics of freshwater mussels, despite the limited number of nuclear markers available for Sanger sequencing. To facilitate future studies, we evaluated the phylogenetic informativeness of loci from the recently published anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) probe set Unioverse and developed novel San
Authors
Nathan A. Johnson, Chase H. Smith
Repurposing a hindcast simulation of the 1926 Great Miami Hurricane, south Florida
Hydrodynamic model hindcasts of the surface water and groundwater of the Everglades and the greater Miami, Florida, area were used to simulate hydrology using estimated storm surge height, wind field, and rainfall for the Great Miami Hurricane (GMH), which struck on September 18, 1926. Ranked estimates of losses from hurricanes in inflation-adjusted dollars indicate that the GMH was one of the mos
Authors
M. Dennis Krohn, Eric D. Swain, Catherine A. Langtimm, Jayantha Obeysekera