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Seasonal Hypoxia in Mississippi Bight Recent studies have found severe hypoxia in the bottom waters off the Mississippi Sound and in the Mississippi Bight. This finding shows that dead-zones are not restricted to the Mississippi River plume in Louisiana.
Shading of marsh plants by Docks and Piers A one year study to do an engineering analysis of shading effects by docks and piers of different construction (height x width x decking type). Responses by Spartina and Juncus to a range of shade stress were also tested and presented in images on this site.
Giant Salvinia and Invasive Aquatic plants Salvinia molesta, a floating invasive aquatic plant, is one of the top ten worst invasive aquatic weeds in the world. It was discovered in the lower Pascagoula River in 2005 and evidence suggests that this species is spreading along the northern Gulf of Mexico .
Chandeleur Islands Seagrasses - Monitoring and Assessment A post-Katrina project to determine the status and trends of the large seagrass meadows along the lee of the Chandeleur Islands, LA. Ties in with data collected by previous researchers at GCRL in 1998 & 1999, looking at impacts of Hurricane Georges.
Jinx Campbell, Patrick Biber The main objective of the proposed work is to investigate the presence and ecological role of natural mycorrhizal fungi in estuarine plant habitats found along the Mississippi coastline, and to determine the effect of the presence of mycorrhizal fungi on seagrass and salt marsh restoration, survival, and function.
Beneficial Use of Dredge Materials - preconstruction analysis of structure and function Mark Peterson, Jinx Campbell, Bruce Comyns, Chet Rakocinski We have developed functional metrics of ecosystem function for restoration projects using beneficial-use materials.
Maintaining responsible coastal and estuarine waterfront development in Mississippi: mapping and quantifying shoreline habitat types. Bruce H. Comyns, Mark S. Peterson This project focuses on quantifying altered and natural marsh edge habitats in coastal Mississippi.
Spatial and temporal nekton assemblage structure in coastal saltmarsh habitats. Mark S. Peterson, Chet F. Rakocinski Collaborators: Grand Bay NERR (Gretchen Waggy, Mark Woodrey, Dave Ruple) University of California-Davis (Christa Woodley) This project examines spatial and temporal nekton density and use in salt marsh edge habitat vs mud flat habitat types within the Grand Bay NERR site. Its focus is on delineating EFH for nekton.
Identifying critical habitat across multiple scales for estuarine-dependent fishes with a landscape: quantitative tools, model development, and validation Mark S. Peterson, Richard Fulford Collaborators: Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Houston, TX (Marisa Weber) University of North Carolina-Wilmington (Melissa L. Partyka) University of New Mexico (Stephen T. Ross) We are attempting to quantify and model critical or nursery habitat for young stages of estuary-dependent fishes at multiple scales along a dynamic river mouth estuary coupling both stationary (ecological) and dynamic (physiological) components of the environment. This requires real-time water quality data coupled with fish abundance along a changing landscape in space and time.
Salt Panne Ecology Collaborators: Grand Bay NERR (Gretchen L. Waggy, Mark S. Woodrey, Chris A. May) MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center (Mark S. Woodrey, David W. Held) Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (Jeffery Clark) The University of Georgia (Robert J. Cooper) The goal of this project is to develop a quantitative assessment and understanding of the role and use of these salt panne habitat in salt marsh ecosystems. Collections are made within the Grand Bay NERR and on Deer Island. We are sampling for vegetation, terrestrial arthropods, benthic invertebrates, decapod crustaceans, fish, birds, and mammals.
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Coastal Ecosystems Group |
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Gulf Coast Research Laboratory |
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PROJECTS |
