Topics vary from flooding and water quality to landscape and ecosystem impacts, from geotechnical reconnaissance to analyzing the collapse of bridges and estimating the volume of debris.
The purpose of this report is to inform the American people of the USGS science that is available and ongoing in regard to hurricanes. It is the hope that such science will help inform the decisions of those citizens and officials tasked with coastal restoration and planning for future hurricanes.
Central Southwest Gulf Coast Information Node
Welcome to the Central Southwest Gulf Coast Information Node (CSWGCIN), your gateway to biological information for Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and the Gulf of Mexico, including the coastal areas of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. This biologically diverse region is undergoing rapid population growth. CSWGCIN will address the biodiversity aspects of sustainable development within the region through research into the applications of new geospatial data analysis and visualization technologies. CSWGCIN will create the foundation of a standardized, accessible, and digital collection of useful biological information maintained by a variety of partners, including governmental agencies, non-governmental and private sector organizations, and academic institutions.
Rangeland Ecology page characterizes rangeland ecosystem health, and how it relates to the ecosystem services provided by rangelands. This page also discusses an invasive and endangered species living in this habitat, as well as exploring the role of prescribed fire in invasives management.
Edwards Aquifer
The Edwards Aquifer covers about 4530 square miles in parts of 11 counties in Texas. Water from the aquifer is used for municipal (54%), irrigation and recreational purposes. Edwards is the focus of this study due to its unique physical nature as a karst aquifer resulting in highly sensitive environmental areas that provide habitat to fourteen different threatened and endangered species.
The following pages discuss the variety of threatened and endangered species in the aquifer, and highlight changes in precipitation and surface water and groundwater quality and quantity in the Edwards Aquifer.
Texas Coastal Fisheries Mapping Application and Data Download
The Texas Gulf Coast is home to a diverse array of organisms. Fish and wildlife resources provide some of the Gulf Coast's greatest economic, recreational and aesthetic assets. Bays and estuaries of the Texas Gulf Coast maintain important recreational and commercial fisheries for species of oysters, shrimp, crab, and finfish.
Drought is a natural regular feature of any regional climate, including the Central Southwest Gulf Coast Region. Drought is defined as a deficiency in normal precipitation over a protracted time period, but can be exacerbated by unusually high temperatures and winds or unusually low levels of humidity.
Check out the CSWGCIN's Drought page to see information on drought in the region, with data information from September 2008-September 2009, and future drought indices.
Conferences of Interest
Partner Spotlight
In a non-partisan and collaborative manner, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) is a conduit from basic research to action that fosters the implementation of policies and technologies based on rigorous principles of social science, natural science, and engineering. HARC's research themes support sustainability solutions in ecosystems, water, air & climate, clean energy, the built environment, and environmental health.
The National Wetlands Research Centerof the USGS is a source and clearinghouse of science information about wetlands in the United States and the world for fellow agencies, private entities, academia, and the public at large. Staff members obtain and provide this information by performing original scientific research and developing research results into literature and technological tools. They then disseminate that information through a variety of means.
The NBII Program is administered by the Biological Informatics Office of the U.S. Geological Survey
