Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Home

WARC conducts relevant and objective research, develops new approaches and technologies, and disseminates scientific information needed to understand, manage, conserve, and restore wetlands and other aquatic and coastal ecosystems and their associated plant and animal communities throughout the nation and the world.

By tracking the health and stability of amphibian populations, the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) provides valuable information on environmental relationships and population dynamics.

Learn More

Have you seen me? Report sightings of non-native and invasive aquatic plant and animal species to the Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) information resource.

Report Sightings

Coastal Louisiana wetlands make up the seventh largest delta on Earth and support the largest commercial fishery in the lower 48 states. However, Louisiana currently undergoes ~90% of the total coastal wetland loss in the continental U.S.

Learn more

News

This picture was taken June 23, 2010 along the Louisiana shoreline in Barataria Bay and shows oil spilled from Deepwater Horizon
November 17, 2016

A new USGS-NASA study found widespread shoreline loss along heavily oiled areas of Louisiana's coast after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and compared the erosion from the spill with coastal changes Hurricane Isaac caused in 2012.

Blotched foxface rabbitfish
October 12, 2016

Fish Marks 36th Non-Native Marine Fish Species Found in State

Publications

Soils mediate the impact of fine woody debris on invasive and native grasses as whole trees are mechanically shredded into firebreaks in piñon-juniper woodlands
Year Published: 2017

Soils mediate the impact of fine woody debris on invasive and native grasses as whole trees are mechanically shredded into firebreaks in piñon-juniper woodlands

To stem wildfires, trees are being mechanically shredded into firebreaks with the resulting fine woody debris (FWD) potentially exerting immense control over soil and plants. We linked FWD-induced changes in microbial activity and nutrient availability to the frequency of Bromus tectorum and three native, perennial grasses across 31 piñon-juniper woodlands, UT, USA. Using a series of mixed models...

Mechanisms of aquatic species invasions across the South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative region
Year Published: 2016

Mechanisms of aquatic species invasions across the South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative region

Invasive species are a global issue, and the southeastern United States is not immune to the problems they present. Therefore, various analyses using modeling and exploratory statistics were performed on the U.S. Geological Survey Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) Database with the primary objective of determining the most appropriate use of presence-only data as related to invasive species in...

Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deep-sea coral-associated sediment communities
Year Published: 2016

Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deep-sea coral-associated sediment communities

Cold-water corals support distinct populations of infauna within surrounding sediments that provide vital ecosystem functions and services in the deep sea. Yet due to their sedentary existence, infauna are vulnerable to perturbation and contaminant exposure because they are unable to escape disturbance events. While multiple deep-sea coral habitats were injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH...