Funding Cycle
- Overview
- Research Groups 5
- Datasets 13
- People 14
- Publications 1
- Information Products 9
Healthy Ecosystems 3
National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program
Integration of Monitoring and Evaluation into Environmental Restoration Projects to Improve Outcomes in the Gulf of Mexico
Developing an Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Framework for Evaluating Ecosystem Service Outcomes from Seagrass Restoration in the Gulf of Mexico
Long-term degradation of seagrass habitat by human impacts and a growing understanding of the ecosystem services benefits that healthy seagrass beds provide have made seagrass restoration a major priority for the Gulf of Mexico. However, ecosystem services benefits are rarely tracked by restoration monitoring efforts due to a lack of standardized approaches for measuring them. This project intends to address this gap by using existing datasets on seagrass along the Florida Gulf Coast to develop models and metrics that can be used to link and quantify the relationship between seagrass restoration and ecosystem services. The project outputs will assist practitioners with seagrass management and restoration planning and prioritization both in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program
Standard Logical Models and Metrics for Gulf Restoration: Linking Project Outcomes to Economic, Health, and Well-Being Benefits for People
Billions of dollars will be devoted to the restoration of Gulf ecosystems over the coming decades. However, a common framework does not currently exist for assessing and reporting on restoration progress and effectiveness across different projects and locations in order to coordinate progress toward shared, overarching environmental, social, and economic goals. This project is focused on advancing standardized measures of restoration work through a collaborative approach with practitioners, community members, technical experts, and decision makers to develop ecosystem service logic models. These models can then be used to produce a transferable and scalable approach for measuring success and comparing outcomes across different Gulf restoration projects.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program
The Efficacy of Marsh Terraces in Enhancing and Restoring Gulf Coastal Wetlands
Some of the greatest rates of coastal wetland loss in North America occur along the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico. One coastal restoration technique commonly used to mitigate wetland loss in Louisiana and Texas is marsh terracing, whereby ridges of sediment are constructed and planted with vegetation to help protect surrounding areas against erosion from wind and waves. Despite widespread use, past monitoring and research efforts have yielded only limited understanding about the efficacy and persistence of marsh terraces. Through close collaboration with practitioners, this project aims to address this gap and will examine past marsh terracing projects to evaluate their effectiveness as a coastal restoration technique and provide guidance on their use in future restoration efforts.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program
Transport Thresholds for Fine Sediment in Vegetation
Sea-level rise poses a serious challenge to natural resource managers as they work to retain and restore coastal marshes. Sediment transported to a marsh by a river or tides can play an important role in mitigating the effects of sea-level rise by increasing land surface elevation. At present there are no standardized data collection techniques that can be used to monitor sediment transport into and within vegetated regions, limiting the ability to measure and predict the influence of restoration efforts. This project, developed in close collaboration with coastal restoration practitioners, aims to establish a standardized data collection methodology for monitoring sediment transport within coastal wetland vegetation. Restoration practitioners will be able to use this methodology to improve predictions of marsh sustainability and better assess the effectiveness of restoration efforts.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program
Using Past Seagrass Restoration Projects to Inform Research and Improve the Monitoring of Future Restoration Efforts
Seagrass restoration is becoming an increasingly common management component for enhancing ecosystem health within the Gulf of Mexico. However, the various efforts undertaken by different entities have not yet been adequately assessed to learn about their success over time and inform future restoration efforts. This project aims to synthesize unpublished data from past seagrass restoration projects at more than 250 sites along the Florida coast into a single database, conduct on-site visits of selected projects, and convene a workshop involving researchers and restoration practitioners in order to determine best practices for seagrass restoration design and monitoring. The products will be used to improve both the implementation and the assessment of future seagrass restoration efforts.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program
Biodiversity enhancement value of seagrass beds and potential recovery areas under contemporary environmental conditions (1997 - 2017) and two sea-level rise scenarios within the Florida Gulf Coast
Published On: May 09 2024 21:40 UTC
File Format: ovr, tif, xml
UDI: H3.x875.000:0001
File Size: 85.99 MB
Model predictions of the total canopy cover and species composition of seagrass beds (including potential recovery areas) within the Florida Gulf Coast under contemporary environmental conditions (1997-2017) and two sea-level rise (SLR) scenarios (+50cm and +100cm above current)
Identified On: Mar 16 2023 14:27 UTC
UDI: H3.x875.000:0002
File Size: 115.77 MB
The ecosystem service enhancment value of seagrass beds within the Florida Gulf Coast under contemporary environmental conditions (1997-2017).
Identified On: Mar 16 2023 14:29 UTC
UDI: H3.x875.000:0003
Model predictions of the sedimentary organic carbon stocks associated with seagrass beds on the Florida Gulf Coast
Identified On: Mar 16 2023 14:32 UTC
UDI: H3.x875.000:0004
Wave and Current Measurements
Identified On: Feb 08 2022 14:01 UTC
UDI: H3.x876.000:0001
File Size: 307.54 GB
Wave model (SWAN) simulation outputs
Identified On: Feb 22 2022 20:17 UTC
UDI: H3.x876.000:0002
File Size: 986.37 MB
Survey dataset of wintering waterfowl use of marsh terraces and non-terraced sites in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2018-10-11 to 2020-03-05
Published On: Mar 15 2023 14:32 UTC
File Format: xlsx
UDI: H3.x876.000:0003
File Size: 111.45 KB
Survey data of breeding secretive marsh bird use of marsh terraces and non-terraced sites in Louisiana, 2019-04-16 to 2019-06-29 and 2021-04-09 to 2021-06-25
Published On: Mar 30 2023 15:18 UTC
File Format: xlsx
UDI: H3.x876.000:0004
File Size: 476.71 KB
Data on emergent marsh vegetation on marsh terraces and non-terraced sites (survey datasets) obtained from 2019-06-11 to 2021-06-25
Published On: Nov 05 2023 03:28 UTC
File Format: xlsx
UDI: H3.x876.000:0005
File Size: 1.94 MB
Ecosystem service logic models and metrics for planning and monitoring Gulf of Mexico coastal restoration projects
Published On: Jan 03 2023 20:43 UTC
File Format: pdf, txt, png, csv
UDI: H3.x877.000:0001
Vegetation thresholds for sediment transport at Cubit's Gap from 2018-03-07 to 2019-08-21
Published On: Mar 14 2022 20:05 UTC
File Format: csv, mat, jpg, txt, docx
UDI: H3.x878.000:0001
File Size: 1.41 GB
Vegetation thresholds for sediment transport at Port Fourchon from 2019-09-03 to 2020-01-31
Published On: May 02 2022 00:57 UTC
File Format: csv, docx, txt, png, xlsx
UDI: H3.x878.000:0002
File Size: 58.51 MB
Kara Coffey
Research Associate
Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi / Harte Research Institute
kara.coffey@tamucc.edu
Diana Di Leonardo
Research Scientist
The Water Institute of The Gulf
ddileonardo@thewaterinstitute.org
Christopher Esposito
Research Scientist
The Water Institute of The Gulf
cesposito@thewaterinstitute.org
Long-term performance of seagrass restoration projects in Florida, USA
Publisher: Scientific Reports
Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Logic Models & Socio-Economic Indicators (GEMS)
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Logic Models and Socio-Economic Indicators (GEMS) Project Summary
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Logic Models and Socio-Economic Indicators GEMS Project: Linking project impacts to economic, health, and wellbeing benefits for people
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Focal Estuary Factsheets
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Ecosystem Service Logic Model (ESLM) for Oyster Reef Restoration General Model
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Evidence Library for Oyster Reef Restoration in the Gulf of Mexico
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Logic Models & Socio-Economic Indicators (GEMS): Socioeconomic Metrics for Oyster Reef Restoration
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Ecosystem Service Logic Model (ESLM) for Oyster Reef Restoration General Model
Publisher: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University