WARC SSP Goal 3

Using historic maps and contemporary imagery, we will quantify and synthesize existing data on the distribution and abundance of shorebirds in North Carolina and changes in habitats related to storms, such as Hurricane Sandy; coastal development, such as the Intracoastal Waterway; inlet modifications; and shoreline erosion to give us a better understanding of historic trends for shorebirds and...

While the historic focus of vegetation condition is the bulk live and dead compositions, these variables provide no information on the structure of vegetation (density and orientation). Canopy structure information is critical for monitoring status and trends, and essential in climate, weather, and ecological studies.

The interior marshes of the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (TTINWR) are currently negatively impacted by sea level rise through saltwater intrusion from the south which furthers mangrove encroachment into the freshwater marsh.

Field observations over recent decades have confirmed mangrove expansion landward in tropical zones and poleward in temperate saltmarsh settings around the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Storm surge waves and tides of hurricanes have the propensity to wash up marsh detritus of dead reeds and leaf debris along with plastic trash and lumber, commonly referred to as wrack, from overwashed beaches, marshes, forests, streets, and lawns.

Support tasks performed by the WARC Advanced Applications Team for Hurricane Sandy-related projects include aerial imagery capture and processing, standards-compliant data formatting and transformation, metadata creation, and visualization of data in a spatial context.

Mississippi River Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study (MRHDMS)is the first large-scale, long-term restoration assessment initiated under the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Program.

As custodians of ecological goods and services valued by society, coastal National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) have an especially important role to play in helping socio-ecological systems adapt to global-change processes.

The Joint Ecosystem Modeling team is developing and applying ecological models and other decision support tools for Greater Everglades restoration project planning.

The establishment and proliferation of exotic plants and animals can interfere with native ecological processes and can cause severe stress to sensitive ecosystems.

Deep-sea canyons are complex environments encompassing a range of benthic habitats, including soft sediments along the axis of the canyon, and hard substrates along the canyon walls.

Prescriptions in the forest habitat management plan for Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge are designed to produce a forest once represented in the Tensas Basin. There are several problems with reconstructing original forests. In most areas, conditions have changed since these forests were cut; particularly, hydrology, soils, and climatic conditions.