Publications
The Water Institute produces a range of scientific publications. In this way, we contribute to the state of the science, communicating cutting edge ideas to a broad technical audience.
Particle tracking to examine sediment dynamics in a Mississippi River delta diversion
In this article, "Observational and numerical particle tracking to examine sediment dynamics in a Mississippi River delta diversion," the authors use ...
View PublicationEnhanced terrestrial carbon preservation promoted by reactive iron in deltaic sediments
Understanding the mechanisms responsible for enhancing the stability and long-term storage of organic carbon in sediments and soils is important for p...
View PublicationCompartment-based Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Modeling of a Northern Everglades Wetland, Florida
The last remaining large remnant of softwater wetlands in the US Florida Everglades lies within the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife R...
View PublicationMississippi River channel response to the Bonnet Carré Spillway opening in the 2011 flood
The large Mississippi River flood in 2011 was notable in south Louisiana for requiring operation of several flood control structures to reduce stress ...
View PublicationNumerical modeling of hydrodynamics and sediment transport in lower Mississippi at a proposed delta building diversion
The Mississippi river delta of south Louisiana is a highly engineered system with extensive levees, flood control and diversion structures that is als...
View PublicationEvaluation of Sediment Diversion Design Attributes and Their Impact on the Capture Efficiency
Many riverine systems have been disconnected from their receiving basins by flood-protection levees and other engineered systems. Reconnecting these a...
View PublicationHistorical Recontruction of Phytoplankton Composition in Estuaries of Fiordland, New Zealand
Phytoplankton pigments in sediment cores from four New Zealand fjords were quantified to investigate community composition and primary production in t...
View Publication2017 Coastal Master Plan
A suite of individual modeling tools was developed for use in the 2012 Coastal Master Plan. The models were used to estimate the individual and cumula...
View PublicationGlobal Risks and Research Priorities for Coastal Subsidence
Coastal lowlands are particularly vulnerable to the climate change effects forecasted for the 21st century including threats of inundation by accelera...
View PublicationProposed best modeling practices for assessing the effects of ecosystem restoration on fish
Large-scale aquatic ecosystem restoration is increasing and is often controversial because of the economic costs involved, with the focus of the contr...
View PublicationRelationships Between Salinity and Short-Term Soil Carbon Accumulation Rates from Marsh Types Across a Landscape in the Mississippi River Delta
This paper shows that although researchers found relatively little difference in the rates of this short-term accumulation across marsh types, as sali...
View PublicationRiverside morphological response to pulsed sediment diversions
This paper examines how researchers used numerical modeling of the lower Mississippi River informed by detailed field observations to produce informat...
View PublicationLinking the bottom to the top in aquatic ecosystems
Linkages between benthic and pelagic habitats occur in both freshwater and marine systems across multiple spatial and temporal scales, and are influen...
View PublicationHigh rates of organic carbon burial in fjord sediments globally
The deposition and long-term burial of organic carbon in marine sediments has played a key role in controlling atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide c...
View PublicationContrasting watershed-scale trends in runoff and sediment yield complicate rangeland water resources planning
Rangelands cover a large portion of the earth’s land surface and are undergoing dramatic landscape changes. At the same time, these ecosystems face in...
View PublicationDistribution of branched GDGTs in surface sediments from the Colville River, Alaska
Significant climate fluctuations in the Arctic over the recent past, and additional predicted future temperature changes, highlight the need for high-...
View PublicationModern deposition rates and patterns of organic carbon burial in Fiordland, New Zealand
This publication looks at patterns of organic carbon burial in Fiordland, New Zealand. Fjords are disproportionately important for global organic carb...
View PublicationSpatial and Temporal Patterns in Thalassia testudinum Leaf Tissue Nutrients at Chandeleur Islands
Seagrasses are submerged marine plants that are anchored to the substrate and are therefore limited to assimilating nutrients from the surrounding wat...
View PublicationPathways and Processes Associated with the Transport of Groundwater in Deltaic Systems
Allison, M.A., Kolker, A.S., Cable, J.E., Johannesson, K.H. and Inniss, L.V. (2013) “Pathways and processes associated with the transport of groundwat...
View PublicationSuspension of Bed Material over Sand Bars in the Lower Mississippi River & its Implications
Allison, M.A., and Ramirez, M.T. (2013) “Suspension of bed material over sand bars in the Lower Mississippi River and its implications for Mississippi...
View PublicationAn Examination of Froude-Supercritical Flows and Cyclic Steps On A Subaqueous Lacustrine Delta, Lake
Density-driven submarine flows, including turbidity currents, play an important role in the transfer of sediment into deep water. These bottom-hugging...
View PublicationSources of organic matter in sediments of the Colville River delta, Alaska: A multi-proxy approach
Thawing of permafrost and subsequent release of organic carbon in the warming Arctic has great potential to influence carbon cycling between the land ...
View PublicationCoastal Ecosystems: A Critical Element of Risk Reduction
Spalding, M.D., McIvor, A.L., Beck, M.W., Koch, E.W., Moller, I., Reed, D.J., Rubinoff, P., Spencer, T., Tolhurst, T.J., Wamsley, T.V., van Wesenbeeck...
View PublicationDiversion of Mississippi River Water Downstream of New Orleans, La to Maximize Sediment Capture
Allison, M.A., Ramirez, M.T., Meselhe, E.A. (2014) "Diversion of Mississippi River Water Downstream of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA to Maximize Sedimen...
View PublicationBed Forms Resistance Dependency on Numerical Model Grid Size Spatial Resolution
El Kheiashy, K., McCorquodale, J., Georgiou, I., Meselhe, E. (2014). "Bed Forms Resistance Dependency on Numerical Model Grid Size Spatial Resolution...
View PublicationForecasting Landscape Effects of Mississippi River Diversions on Elevation and Accretion
Wang, H., Steyer, G.D., Couvillion, B.R., Rybczyk, J.M., Beck, H.J., Sleavin, W.J., Meselhe, E.A., Allison, M.A., Boustany, R.G., Fischenich, C.J., Ri...
View PublicationInfluence of the Mississippi River on Pseudo-Nitzschia spp. Abundance and Toxicity in Louisiana
Melissa Baustian co-authored "Influence of the Mississippi River on Pseudo-nitzchia spp. Abundance and Toxicity in Louisiana Coastal Waters". The pres...
View PublicationEcohydrology Component of Louisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan: Mass-Balance Compartment Model
Meselhe, E., McCorquodale, J.A., Shelden, J., Dortch, M., Brown, T.S., Elkan, P., Rodrigue, M.D., Schindler, J.K., and Wang, Z. (2013) "Ecohydrology C...
View PublicationOceanography, Volume 30, Number 3
"Oceanography: Special Issue on Sedimentary Processes Building a Tropical Delta Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: The Mekong System" presents work from ...
View PublicationLandscape-Level Estimation of Nitrogen Removal in Coastal Louisiana Wetlands
Rivera-Monroy, V.H., Branoff, B., Meselhe, E., McCorquodale, A., Dortch, M., Steyer, G.D., Visser, J., and Wang, H. (2013) "Landscape-Level Estimation...
View PublicationLouisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan: Overview of a Science-Based & Publicly Informed Process
Peyronnin, N., Green, M., Richards, C.P., Owens, A., Reed, D., Chamberlain, J., Groves, D.G., Rhinehard, W.K., and Belhadjali, K. (2013) "Louisiana's ...
View PublicationHydrologic Modeling in a Marsh–Mangrove Ecotone: Predicting Wetland Surface Water and Salinity Response to Restoration in the Ten Thousand Islands Region of Florida, USA
At the fringe of Everglades National Park in southwest Florida, United States, the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (TTINWR) habitat has ...
View PublicationCommunity Resettlement Prospects in Southeast Louisiana
Christopher Dalbom, Program Manager of the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law & Policy; Scott A. Hemmerling, Associate Director of Human Dime...
View PublicationAn Overview of Cyberinfrastructure to Support the Coastal Modeling Community in the Gulf of Mexico
Twilley, R.R., S. Brandt, D. Breaux, J. Cartwright, J. Chen, G. Easson, P. Fitzpatrick, K. Fridley, S. Graves, S. Harper, C. Kaiser, A. Maestre, M. Ma...
View PublicationParametric Uncertainty Analysis of Predictive Models in Louisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan
Habib, E. and Reed, D. (2013) "Parametric Uncertainty Analysis of Predictive Models in Louisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan," Journal of Coastal Resea...
View PublicationMorphodynamic evolution of a lower Mississippi River channel bar after sand mining
This paper reports the results of an investigation on the relationship between sediment supply, borrow-pit flow hydrodynamics, and borrow-pit infillin...
View Publication2017 Coastal Master Plan: Strategy for Selecting Fish Modeling Approaches
Coastal restoration involves the alteration of environmental conditions that result in direct and indirect responses of individual fish and shellfish....
View PublicationGlobal Risks and Research Priorities for Coastal Subsidence
Subsidence plays a significant role in Louisiana’s continued coastal land loss and marsh deterioration, with some areas measuring in at a rate of 10 m...
View PublicationMorphodynamics of the Erosional Phase of Crevasse-Splay Evolution and Implications for Diversions
Researchers used the West Bay diversion in lower Plaquemines Parish as analogue for state-proposed sediment diversions in Lower Barataria and Lower Br...
View PublicationApplication of Species Distribution Models to Identify Estuarine Hot Spots for Juvenile Nekton
Modeling the distribution and habitat capacities of key estuarine species can be used to identify hot spots, areas where species density is significan...
View PublicationLouisiana Coastal Area Program - Mississippi River Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study
The Louisiana Coastal Area, Louisiana Ecosystem Restoration Study was recommended to Congress by a Chief of Engineers report dated January 31, 2005 th...
View PublicationUse of Marsh Edge and Submerged Aquatic Vegetation as Habitat by Fish and Crustaceans in Degrading Southern Louisiana Coastal Marshes
Marshes in coastal Louisiana are undergoing rapid rates of loss making it important to understand how fish and crustaceans use these changing landscap...
View PublicationPermafrost Organic Carbon Mobilization From the Watershed to the Colville River Delta: Evidence From 14C Ramped Pyrolysis and Lignin Biomarkers
The deposition of terrestrial-derived permafrost particulate organic carbon (POC) has been recorded in major Arctic river deltas. However, associated ...
View PublicationDischarge controls on the sediment and dissolved nutrient transport flux of the lowermost Mississippi River: Implications for export to the ocean and for delta restoration
Researchers at The Water Institute of the Gulf, Tulane University, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center us...
View PublicationDinoflagellate Cysts Track Eutrophication in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
We examined organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts from one 210Pb-dated sediment core and 39 surface sediment samples from the northern Gulf of Mexico to...
View PublicationTransfer Entropy as a Tool for Hydrodynamic Model Validation
The validation of numerical models is an important component of modeling to ensure reliability of model outputs under prescribed conditions. In river ...
View PublicationA multi-proxy investigation of late-Holocene temperature change and climate-driven fluctuations in sediment sourcing: Simpson Lagoon, Alaska
The significant and ongoing environmental changes in Arctic regions demonstrate the need for quantitative, high-resolution records of pre-industrial c...
View PublicationInvesting in Natural and Nature-Based Infrastructure: Building Better Along Our Coasts
Much of the United States’ critical infrastructure is either aging or requires significant repair, leaving U.S. communities and the economy vulnerable...
View PublicationDirect and indirect controls on organic matter decomposition in four coastal wetland communities along a landscape salinity gradient
As sea level rises, initial direct effects of salinity will stimulate decay of labile carbon, but over time as plant communities shift from fresh to p...
View PublicationModeling current and future freshwater inflow needs of a subtropical estuary to manage and maintain forested wetland ecological conditions
Freshwater bodies and estuaries worldwide are undergoing drastic change due to alteration of freshwater flow that impacts their ecology. Freshwater in...
View PublicationHistorical Associations of Molecular Measurements of Escherichia coli and Enterococci to Anthropogenic Activities and Climate Variables in Freshwater Sediment Cores
This study investigated the long-term associations of anthropogenic (sedimentary P, C, and N concentrations, and human population in the watershed), a...
View PublicationMelitasphaeridium choanophorum – a living fossil dinoflagellate cyst in the Gulf of Mexico
This study shows the first conclusive evidence that Melitasphaeridium choanophorum, a dinoflagellate cyst species until recently considered extinct, i...
View PublicationEnvironMentors: Mentoring At-Risk High School Students through University Partnerships
Informal place-based environmental education is a proven approach for increasing environmental awareness for students in urban cities. This article de...
View PublicationShifting career pathways of Ph.D. ecologists: Is it time to redefine the "alternative" career?"
Graduate programs in ecology tend to emphasize academiccareers for Ph.D. candidates, while viewing non-academiccareers (e.g., those in government, non...
View PublicationA one hundred year review of the socioeconomic and ecological systems of Lake St. Clair, North America
There is a growing concern about continued impairment of aquatic ecosystems resulting from increasing population size, land use, climate change, and t...
View PublicationCoupling Socioeconomic and Lake Systems for Sustainability: A Conceptual Analysis Using Lake St. Clair Region as a Case Study
Applying sustainability at an operational level requires understanding the linkages between socioeconomic and natural systems. We identified linkages ...
View PublicationMicrophytobenthos along the Louisiana continental shelf during mid-summer hypoxia
Microphytobenthos may influence benthic processes, such as the oxygen dynamics in the bottom-water of the hypoxic area of the northern Gulf of Mexico....
View PublicationSeasonal microphytobenthos on the hypoxic northern Gulf of Mexico continental shelf
The presence of photosynthetic organisms on the seafloor may indicate whether oxygen evolution contributes to the bottom water oxygen pool in the hypo...
View PublicationA Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach for analyzing observational data from marine ecological studies
This study introduces the Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach for analyzing observational data from marine ecological studies using a data set int...
View PublicationEffects of summer 2003 hypoxia on macrobenthos and Atlantic croaker foraging selectivity in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Bottom-water hypoxia (≤ 2 mg O2 L− 1) occurs on an annual basis on the northern Gulf of Mexico continental shelf from mid-May through mid-September ov...
View PublicationSeasonal Composition of Benthic Macroinfauna Exposed to Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Bottom-water hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico has increased in severity (duration, frequency, and intensity) since the 1970s and has impacted th...
View PublicationInnovative Assessment Tools for a Short, Fast-Paced, Summer Field Course
An experiential science program, such as a summer course at a field station, requires unique assessment tools. Traditional assessment via a pencil-and...
View PublicationResponse of Shrimp Populations to Land-Derived Nitrogen in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts
Land-derived nitrogen impacts are a major agent of change affecting estuarine populations. Some changes include macroalgae and phytoplankton blooms, w...
View PublicationTowards a framework to support coastal change governance in small islands
Small islands can guide visualization of the diverse information requirements of future context-relevant coastal governance. On small marine islands (...
View PublicationBuilding a More Resilient Housing System
In February 2017, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and CSH partnered to host ...
View PublicationTidal flat-wetland systems as flood defenses: Understanding biogeomorphic controls
Coastal managers worldwide increasingly recognize the importance of conservation and restoration of natural coastal ecosystems. This ensures coastal r...
View PublicationDevelopment of an Integrated Biophysical Model to represent morphological and ecological processes in a changing deltaic and coastal ecosystem
Deltaic and coastal ecosystems are changing in response to natural and anthropogenic forces that require ecosystem-level restoration efforts to avoid ...
View PublicationKeeping Nutrients Where You Need Them
A green lawn, gorgeous landscaping, or that backyard garden usually means the application of fertilizer in one form or another. However, that fertiliz...
View PublicationLinking management planning for coastal wetlands to potential future wave attenuation under a range of relative sea-level rise scenarios
Understanding changes in wave attenuation by emergent vegetation as wetlands degrade or accrete over time is crucial for incorporation of wetlands int...
View PublicationVoluntary Restoration: Mitigation's Silent Partner in the Quest to Reverse Coastal Wetland Loss in the USA
Coastal ecosystems are under pressure from a vast array of anthropogenic stressors, including development and climate change, resulting in significant...
View PublicationPaleo-environmental evidence of ecosystem change in Lake St. Clair region of Laurentian Great Lakes basin: contrasting responses to land-use change and invasive mussels
The Laurentian Great Lakes have been subject to substantial modification from diverse anthropogenic stressors, including nutrient enrichment, climate ...
View PublicationEngaging coastal community members about natural and nature-based solutions to assess their ecosystem function
Hazards in coastal ecosystems, such as flooding and land loss, demand natural and nature-based solutions from local communities due to the protective ...
View PublicationKnowledge-Based Predictive Tools to Assess Effectiveness of Natural and Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Restoration and Protection Planning
Predictive tools are widely used to study coastal and deltaic systems in support of basic research, planning efforts, engineering design, and the impl...
View PublicationElevating local knowledge through participatory modeling: active community engagement in restoration planning in coastal Louisiana
Numerical modeling efforts in support of restoration and protection activities in coastal Louisiana have traditionally been conducted externally to an...
View PublicationRethinking the River
A complex set of pressing management concerns is driving a shift in the ways that science and management are coupled in the Mississippi River Delta re...
View PublicationSocial Factors Key to Landscape-Scale Coastal Restoration: Lessons Learned from Three U.S. Case Studies
In the United States, extensive investments have been made to restore the ecological function and services of coastal marine habitats. Despite a grow...
View PublicationPrinciples for integrated island management in the tropical Pacific
We propose a new approach for island-wide planning and implementation of ecosystem management in the Pacific, recognizing a lack of replicability, sus...
View PublicationEroding Communities and Diverting Populations: Historical Population Dynamics in Coastal Louisiana
The traditional notion of inherent resilience as a continual functioning of community during “non-crisis” periods does not apply perfectly to coastal ...
View PublicationSocial Justice and Mobility in Coastal Louisiana, USA
Louisiana faces extensive coastal land loss which threatens the livelihoods of marginalized populations. These groups have endured extreme disruptive ...
View PublicationIncorporating Local Knowledge into Ecological Restoration Assessments – Case Studies in Louisiana
Ecological restoration and other activities that interact with environmental systems have typically relied on scientic analysis to predict the impacts...
View PublicationMonitoring plans for Louisiana’s system-wide assessment and monitoring program (SWAMP). Version IV
The System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) has been envisioned as a long-term monitoring program to ensure a comprehensive network of c...
View PublicationLouisiana Adaptive Management Status and Improvement Report: Vision and Recommendations
This report presents a consensus-based common vision for adaptive management of coastal restoration implementation in Louisiana. As Louisiana Coastal ...
View PublicationA short history of funding and accomplishments post-Deepwater Horizon
Provides a short review of history and accomplishments of the largest funding allocations for research and restoration made as a result of the Deepwat...
View PublicationGulf-wide data synthesis for restoration planning: Utility and limitations
Examines a process of synthesizing available data in order to maximize environmental, societal, and financial benefits of work planned to be done as a...
View PublicationDouble exposure and dynamic vulnerability: Assessing economic well-being, ecological change and the development of the oil and gas industry in coastal Louisiana
Examines the relationship between economic well-being, oil and gas infrastructure development, and healthy fish and shellfish habitat in Louisiana’s c...
View PublicationStrategies to implement adaptive management practices for restoration in coastal Louisiana
Due to the Deepwater Horizon settlement, the amount of coastal restoration work has greatly increased. This has in turn led to an increase in the gove...
View PublicationEvent and decadal-scale modeling of barrier island restoration designs for decision support
This paper outlines the development of a model framework to simulate the evolution of a barrier island given such challenges as sea level rise and sto...
View PublicationBlue Crab Abundance and Survival in a Fragmenting Coastal Marsh System
Louisiana’s coastal marshes are becoming increasingly fragmented due to sea level rise, subsidence, reduced sediment inflow from the Mississippi River...
View PublicationFlow Loss in Deltaic Distributaries: Impacts on Channel Hydraulics, Morphology, and Stability
The most comprehensive data sets documenting hydraulic and sediment transport regimes in the lower reaches of alluvial rivers come from systems that a...
View PublicationA review of transport of nanoparticles in porous media: From pore- to macroscale using computational methods
Transport and deposition of nanoparticles in saturated porous media is a topic of great importance in several fields of science and engineering. Collo...
View PublicationIntegrated assessment of storm surge barrier systems under present and future climates and comparison to alternatives: a case study of Boston, USA
Large-scale barriers are a management option for present and increasing coastal storm flooding. The barriers have gates that are open most times excep...
View PublicationSand settling through bedform-generated turbulence in rivers
Fluvial bedforms generate a turbulent wake that can impact suspended‐sediment settling in the passing flow. This impact has implications for ...
View PublicationThe Roles of Storminess and Sea Level Rise in Decadal Barrier Island Evolution
Barrier islands protect mainland coastal communities during storms. In the future, the effects of storms and sea level rise (SLR) threaten barrier isl...
View PublicationSensitivity of Storm Response to Antecedent Topography in the XBeach Model
Antecedent topography is an important aspect of coastal morphology when studying and forecasting coastal change hazards. The uncertainty in morphologi...
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