Habitats and Biota of the Gulf of Mexico: Before the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Habitats and Biota of the Gulf of Mexico: Before the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Author: C. Herb Ward
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 917
Release: 2017-06-26
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1493934473

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. The Gulf of Mexico is an open and dynamic marine ecosystem rich in natural resources but heavily impacted by human activities, including agricultural, industrial, commercial and coastal development. The Gulf of Mexico has been continuously exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons for millions of years from natural oil and gas seeps on the sea floor, and more recently from oil drilling and production activities located in the water near and far from shore. Major accidental oil spills in the Gulf are infrequent; two of the most significant include the Ixtoc I blowout in the Bay of Campeche in 1979 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010. Unfortunately, baseline assessments of the status of habitats and biota in the Gulf of Mexico before these spills either were not available, or the data had not been systematically compiled in a way that would help scientists assess the potential short-term and long-term effects of such events. This 2-volume series compiles and summarizes thousands of data sets showing the status of habitats and biota in the Gulf of Mexico before the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Volume 1 covers: water and sediment quality and contaminants in the Gulf; natural oil and gas seeps in the Gulf of Mexico; coastal habitats, including flora and fauna and coastal geology; offshore benthos and plankton, with an analysis of current knowledge on energy capture and energy flows in the Gulf; and shellfish and finfish resources that provide the basis for commercial and recreational fisheries.

Earth Calling

Earth Calling
Author: Ellen Gunter
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2014-04-22
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1583947817

Our earliest mythologies tell us we all start as a little bit of dirt. These stories carry a profound message: each of us is born with a deep and abiding connection to the earth, one that many of us have lost touch with. The Silent Spring for today's environmental activists, this book offers an invitation to reestablish our relationship with nature to repair our damaged environment. Chapter 1 examines the threats to the planet's health through the lens of the human energy system known as the chakras, describing how the broken first chakra relates to our disconnection from our biosphere. Chapter 2 shows how our current environmental crises--global warming, climate change, dwindling water resources, natural disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes--represent severe manifestations of our disconnection from the earth. Chapter 3 describes how the preponderance of oil in our culture--especially agribusiness--compounds this disconnection, from our dependence on other countries for our energy, to current issues of oil depletion, peak oil, and fracking, to the dumbing down of our agricultural polyculture. Chapter 4 explains how the most basic building blocks of our nourishment--seeds--are being compromised with a loss of biodiversity and rise of GMOs, and how that adversely affects the farmers whose sacred connection to the land has in many cases been severed. Chapter 5 describes the ways in which we as individuals can begin to wake up to climate activism as a spiritual practice. This chapter includes specific activities that you can use to implement change and heal your own connection to the earth. By learning and practicing ritual and understanding the earth's rhythms and seasonal rites of passage, each of us can find unique ways to heal our own connections and help others heal theirs. Chapter 6 brings to life Goethe’s wisdom: “Knowing isn’t enough; neither is being willing. We must do,” by providing strategies and resources for exploring how each of us can find our own Earth Calling, then anchoring that calling with the only force that ignites change: Action.

Understanding the Long-Term Evolution of the Coupled Natural-Human Coastal System

Understanding the Long-Term Evolution of the Coupled Natural-Human Coastal System
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2018-11-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309475848

The U.S. Gulf Coast provides a valuable setting to study deeply connected natural and human interactions and feedbacks that have led to a complex, interconnected coastal system. The physical landscape in the region has changed significantly due to broad-scale, long-term processes such as coastal subsidence and river sediment deposition as well as short-term episodic events such as hurricanes. Modifications from human activities, including building levees and canals and constructing buildings and roads, have left their own imprint on the natural landscape. This coupled natural-human coastal system and the individual aspects within it (physical, ecological, and human) are under increased pressure from accelerating environmental stressors such as sea level rise, intensifying hurricanes, and continued population increase with its accompanying coastal development. Promoting the resilience and maintaining the habitability of the Gulf Coast into the future will need improved understanding of the coupled natural-human coastal system, as well as effective sharing of this understanding in support of decision-making and policies. Understanding the Long-term Evolution of the Coupled Natural-Human Coastal System presents a research agenda meant to enable a better understanding of the multiple and interconnected factors that influence long-term processes along the Gulf Coast. This report identifies scientific and technical gaps in understanding the interactions and feedbacks between human and natural processes, defines essential components of a research and development program in response to the identified gaps, and develops priorities for critical areas of research.

A Second Look

A Second Look
Author: Andie Peterson
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2007-10-19
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 1452087873

Four-hundred-twenty-five books are reviewed in this superb collection. A Second Look, Native Americans in Childrens Books gives a thorough examination of the books as a guide for parents, teachers, librarians, and administrators interested in books for children. Anyone involved in selecting books will find this guide useful in working through the maze of available materials. Andie Peterson, one of the few women to be awarded an Eagle Feather, has provided a meaningful criteria to help in judging books. She outlines ways for objectively studying books to draw conclusions as to the suitability for the reader. She writes candidly about books filled with stereotypes, hurtful images, and damaging text and illustrations. She writes eloquent, glowing reviews of the books that are real treasures. She writes: On a daily basis, children must face the hidden curriculum that lets them know where they fit in, whether they can achieve their goals, whether they even dare to dream. An overwhelming part of that hidden curriculum begins with books that are more narrative and illustrations; they are books that carry a message of politics and values. Andie advises that in selecting Native American books, the non-Native child must be considered, also. She counsels that hurtful books set in motion attitudes of prejudice that persist for years. She states that she has reviewed books with older copyrights because they are still on the shelves in libraries and available via the Internet. She says reading the older books helps to understand how adults have formed ideas about Native people. She says: After all, if its in a book in the library, people believe it to be true. Its time to disturb the peace and end the ritual of damage. A Second Look, Native Americans in Childrens Books By Andie Peterson

Birdlife of the Gulf of Mexico

Birdlife of the Gulf of Mexico
Author: Joanna Burger
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 778
Release: 2018-01-02
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1623495466

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most important ecological regions in the world for birds. The mosaic of diverse habitats in the region provides numerous niches for birds. There are productive salt marshes, barrier islands, and sandy beaches for foraging and nesting; a direct pathway between North and Central and South America for migrating; and warm, tropical waters for wintering. Many species are residents all year around, some migrate through, and still others spend the winter along the shores. The Gulf Coast is home to a significant portion of the world’s population of Reddish Egret and Snowy Plover and a significant portion of the US breeding populations of certain birds, including the Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, and Laughing Gull. In total, there are more than 400 bird species that rely on the Gulf at some time during the year. Drawing on decades of fieldwork and data research, renowned ornithologist and behavioral ecologist Joanna Burger provides detailed descriptions of birdlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Burger records trends in bird population, behavior, and major threats and stressors affecting birds in the region, including the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. While some of this data exists in journal articles, research papers, and government reports, this is the first volume to weave together a comprehensive overview of the birds and related natural resources found in the Gulf of Mexico. Illustrated with over 900 color photographs, charts, and maps, this landmark reference volume will be immensely important for researchers, conservationists, land managers, birders, and wildlife lovers.

Hydrodynamics and Water Quality

Hydrodynamics and Water Quality
Author: Zhen-Gang Ji
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1153
Release: 2017-05-17
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1119371929

The primary reference for the modeling of hydrodynamics and water quality in rivers, lake, estuaries, coastal waters, and wetlands This comprehensive text perfectly illustrates the principles, basic processes, mathematical descriptions, case studies, and practical applications associated with surface waters. It focuses on solving practical problems in rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters, and wetlands. Most of the theories and technical approaches presented within have been implemented in mathematical models and applied to solve practical problems. Throughout the book, case studies are presented to demonstrate how the basic theories and technical approaches are implemented into models, and how these models are applied to solve practical environmental/water resources problems. This new edition of Hydrodynamics and Water Quality: Modeling Rivers, Lakes, and Estuaries has been updated with more than 40% new information. It features several new chapters, including one devoted to shallow water processes in wetlands as well as another focused on extreme value theory and environmental risk analysis. It is also supplemented with a new website that provides files needed for sample applications, such as source codes, executable codes, input files, output files, model manuals, reports, technical notes, and utility programs. This new edition of the book: Includes more than 120 new/updated figures and 450 references Covers state-of-the-art hydrodynamics, sediment transport, toxics fate and transport, and water quality in surface waters Provides essential and updated information on mathematical models Focuses on how to solve practical problems in surface waters—presenting basic theories and technical approaches so that mathematical models can be understood and applied to simulate processes in surface waters Hailed as “a great addition to any university library” by the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (July 2009), Hydrodynamics and Water Quality, Second Edition is an essential reference for practicing engineers, scientists, and water resource managers worldwide.

An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2014-01-20
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0309288452

As the Gulf of Mexico recovers from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural resource managers face the challenge of understanding the impacts of the spill and setting priorities for restoration work. The full value of losses resulting from the spill cannot be captured, however, without consideration of changes in ecosystem services-the benefits delivered to society through natural processes. An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico discusses the benefits and challenges associated with using an ecosystem services approach to damage assessment, describing potential impacts of response technologies, exploring the role of resilience, and offering suggestions for areas of future research. This report illustrates how this approach might be applied to coastal wetlands, fisheries, marine mammals, and the deep sea-each of which provide key ecosystem services in the Gulf-and identifies substantial differences among these case studies. The report also discusses the suite of technologies used in the spill response, including burning, skimming, and chemical dispersants, and their possible long-term impacts on ecosystem services.

Coastal Ocean Observing Systems

Coastal Ocean Observing Systems
Author: Yonggang Liu
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2015-06-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 012802061X

Coastal Ocean Observing Systems provides state-of-the-art scientific and technological knowledge in coastal ocean observing systems, along with guidance on establishing, restructuring, and improving similar systems. The book is intended to help oceanographers understand, identify, and recognize how oceanographic research feeds into the various designs of ocean observing systems. In addition, readers will learn how ocean observing systems are defined and how each system operates in relation to its geographical, environmental, and political region. The book provides further insights into all of these problem areas, offering lessons learned and results from the types of research sponsored and utilized by ocean observing systems and the types of research design and experiments conducted by professionals specializing in ocean research and affiliated with observing systems. - Includes international contributions from individuals working in academia, management, and industry - Showcases the application of science and technology in coastal observing systems - Highlights lessons learned on partnerships, governance structure, data management, and stakeholder relationships required for successful implementation - Provides insight into how ocean research transfers to application and societal benefit

Coastal and Marine Hazards, Risks, and Disasters

Coastal and Marine Hazards, Risks, and Disasters
Author: Jean Ellis
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 591
Release: 2014-11-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0123965381

Sea and Ocean Hazards, Risks and Disasters provides a scientific approach to those hazards and disasters related to the Earth's coasts and oceans. This is the first book to integrate scientific, social, and economic issues related to disasters such as hazard identification, risk analysis, and planning, relevant hazard process mechanics, discussions of preparedness, response, and recovery, and the economics of loss and remediation. Throughout the book cases studies are presented of historically relevant hazards and disasters as well as the many recent catastrophes. - Contains contributions from experts in the field selected by a world-renowned editorial board - Cutting-edge discussion of natural hazard topics that affect the lives and livelihoods of millions of humans worldwide - Numerous full-color tables, GIS maps, diagrams, illustrations, and photographs of hazardous processes in action will be included