Coastal wrack changes hydrology
Featured Image: Coastal forest hammock in Perdido, Florida. Source: Author. Van Stan II, J.T., S.T. Allen, T. Swanson, M. Skinner,
Read moreAuthor: Mary Grace Lemon
Water vapor and Covid-19: The viral threat of cold, dry weather
Even before Covid-19, most people were acutely aware of the viral threat of winter. Seasonal colds seem to be more abundant during the winter while the widely broadcasted threat of flu season and subsequent chore of annual flu vaccinations are predictable components of late fall. However, I have also had my fair share of exceptional warm weather colds. I have encountered a collection of rumors as to why viral infections such as the common cold and influenza are statistically worse during the winter, but I have never really done enough research to actually believe any of them, or care, for that matter. Insert Covid-19.
Read moreHistory and Science; An Essential Duet for River Conservation
Recently I was down by the Mississippi River with a friend when he remarked, “Look at that tree!” A 30 foot log was barreling downstream in the middle of the 1 mile wide river channel bouncing along the many eddies created by the rushing, brown water. I had heard about large wood rafts that historically clogged up the Red River in Louisiana and many rivers around the world. I tried to imagine what thousands of 30 foot logs floating in the river together would look like and I didn’t get very far before I googled “The Great Raft.” The old images of a massive log jam displayed on my phone were beyond anything I could have imagined.
Read moreSalty about coastal walls
Artificial barriers are one of humans favorite thing to build. We build them to keep ‘other’ people in or out. We build them to keep animals in or out. And of course we build them to keep the natural environment out or our AC in. Usually walls are just temporary solutions to a much deeper problem which is definitely true in the case of sea level rise. Coastal communities need walls to protect against flooding. But what happens when to the impounded ecosystem when mother nature crashes through the wall anyway?
Read moreEcological grief: In my feelings along the Gulf Coast
Aldo Leopold stated “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.” He meant that those of us with deep connections to the natural environment, whether that be a farmer, fisher, or ecologist, are more aware of declining ecological health. We notice that there are less birds. We notice all the dead turtles along the road. We notice that it hasn’t rained in weeks and all the plants are crying. The unprecedented changes stemming from climate change have gained an increasing amount of people’s attention leading to the formation of the term ecological grief. The verdict is out. Climate change is making many of us depressed.
Read moreWhite water in the swamp: The success of the Bonnet Carré in controlling the Mississippi River
“Why are there rapids in the cypress swamp?”, I ask myself. It is a weird scene. White water is tumbling through the cypress forest out towards Lake Pontchartrain from the southwest, traversing a completely flat landscape. A strong current tears out under the bridge into the lake. “That would be a fun kayak,” I think. I am cruising down Interstate 10 right where it touches the edge of the lake just upriver from New Orleans. I quickly remember that the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carré Spillway. Again.
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