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.
In a non-partisan and collaborative manner, Houston Advanced 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.
Recent Resources
The Central Southwest/Gulf Coast Information Node is constantly being updated. Some of our newest content includes these highlights:
Texas Colonial Waterbirds - Colonial waterbirds are an important indicator of coastal ecosystem health. Trends in nesting populations are also representative of the health of vital coastal habitats. The Colonial Waterbirds Birds project includes an interactive mapping application that displays location and interactive graphs for data from the entire Texas Coast.
ATBI - The Big Thicket Nature Preserve in the National Park system consists of nine land units and six water corridors encompassing more than 97,000 acres. Big Thicket was the first Preserve in the National Park system and protects an area of rich biodiversity.
Marsh Monitoring - Restoration projects to restore coastal wetlands began in the early 1970s, however there has been little work to monitor the progress of restored sites. Organizations are now working together to develop a strategy to properly assess the restored wetlands by using backend databases and real time mapping applications.
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.
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