Conservation Design Project Nears Completion MS student Luz Lumb and Dr. Gibeaut traveled to the headquarters of Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (MANERR) in Port Aransas on Wednesday, July 24th to present preliminary results and get stakeholder feedback for their contributions to the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative funded project Employing the Conservation Design Approach on Coastal Avian Habitats along the Central Texas Coast. This is a landscape-scale conservation planning project managed by the International Crane Foundation in collaboration with the MANERR, Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, The Nature Conservancy, and the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Science here at TAMUCC. The conservation design approach focuses on using geospatial data, biological information, and models to develop maps and other tools that can guide habitat conservation decisions in a quantitative way.  Potential high, low, and intermittent use habitat was determined for the whooping crane and a suite of other coastal avian species along the central Texas coast. A major goal in conservation design is to assess every single acre of habitat on a landscape scale in terms of its potential to support a species or assemblage of species. CMGL’s role in this project is the acquisition and development of spatial data for this project, including land cover information, bird surveys, Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), and sea level rise model outputs. The final product will be explicit maps of current and future potential habitat for high, low, and intermittent use for the endangered whooping crane to guide conservation efforts to achieve 120,000 acres of protected habitat to support the endangered species down-listing goal of 1000 cranes. According to current estimates, there is only enough protected winter habitat to support about 500 whooping cranes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that a thousand birds are needed to move the whooping crane from endangered to threatened status. The methodology developed here will employ biological data provided by the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory to assess potential habitat for a suite of important birds in the Central Texas Coast, and methods will be recommended to extend this approach to larger portions of the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCPLCC). The Composite Habitat Type dataset was developed from three existing land cover datasets covering benthic, wetland/intertidal, and upland environments. At the workshop, Luz presented the Composite Habitat Type dataset she developed for this project, as well as a methodology for identifying changes to potential whooping crane habitat under various sea level rise scenarios as projected by the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM). Dr. Gibeaut provided technical expertise on geospatial techniques and the acquisition and development of spatial data. Dr. Liz Smith of the International Crane Foundation (and member of Luz’s thesis committee), gave an overview of the progress of the entire project (almost done!) and led discussion about potential habitat maps developed for a variety of other birds. The stakeholders present represented state and federal wildlife management agencies as well as non-governmental conservation planning organizations. Workshop participants represented a wealth of academic and field experience related to habitat use for certain bird species and on-the-ground configuration of habitat and land cover. Their feedback proved extremely valuable for the refinement of species’ needs maps and in understanding the benefits and limitations of various land cover data sets used in the development of the Composite Habitat Type dataset. Next steps for the project include incorporating participant’s input and completing the final report.

Del Angel presents at the Aquarium at Rockport Harbor Diana Del Angel, Coastal Geoscientist at the CMGL presented at the Aquarium at Rockport Harbor as part of the aquarium’s lecture series on July 18th, 2013. The presentation was titled “Beach Nourishment on the Texas Coast” and highlighted coastal processes, erosion and the need for beach nourishment. Beaches and dunes are an important cultural and ecologic part of coastal systems and are many times a large part of local economic vitality. In some developed areas, beach erosion resulting from storm events or other natural and anthropogenic causes can results in a loss of beach and dune environments and associated resources. One of several solutions to beach erosion is beach nourishment, which consists of the pumping of sand onshore to widen and elevate the beach. This talk highlighted the methods and design used for beach nourishment and provided examples of nourishment projects on Galveston Island and South Padre Island, Texas.                                           Galveston Island Seawall before (top) and after (below) beach nourishment in 2009. Images courtesy of Cameron Perry.              The Aquarium at Rockport Harbor Lecture Series is open to the public and is held the 1st and 3rd weekend of the month at 4:30 pm in the Education Center. For more information visit >> http://www.rockportaquarium.com/index.php/education-center/lecture-series.html

Terrestrial lidar scan at Bob Hall Pier: Corpus Christi, Tx  By: Melinda Martinez                               Throughout summer, CMGL lab has been experimenting with the terrestrial light detection and ranging (lidar) laser scanner borrowed from North Carolina State University by scanning different environments. At Bob Hall Pier near the beach, the high tides made for an interesting scan since water reflects the laser beam in different directions.   On Wednesday, July 17th, Alistair Lord, Dr. Michael Starek, Mukesh Subedee, and Melinda Martinez of the CMGL lab conducted lidar scans on the beach near Bob Hall Pier in Corpus Christi, TX (Figure 1 and 2). The purpose of the trip was originally to scan the marsh field on Mustang Island, but the site was flooded due to heavy rain all morning. This would have made it difficult to get an a 3-D model of the marsh because of the way water reflects the laser. Skies were much clearer near Bob Hall Pier, so a scan was performed before the rain started again.  Figure 1. A 3D x,y,z point cloud from the laser scanner. Points are colored by the RGB (red, green, blue) pixel values obtained from the image acquired by the scanner’s co-aligned internal digital camera Figure 2. Panoramic digital image of Bob Hall Pier from the co-aligned internal digital camera. Image shows a section of the 360 degree field of view. Once a location was chosen, the field crew set up the equipment and began collecting data (Figure 3). The lidar scanner was set on a tripod leveled to the ground. Two GPS markers, consisting of a steel rebar and a styrofoam ball at the end, were set on each side of the scanner to be used as a reference point for the site. Once everything was connected and powered, the scan began with an initial wait time of 30 minutes, but this didn’t include the time it takes for the scanner to rebalance on the tripod. The collection time varies depending on how detailed the image is set on the computer. More detail requires shooting more points, which could possibly take up to 3 hours.  Figure 3. Image showing the Leica ScanStation 2 terrestrial laser scanner, scanner battery, and the scanner laptop used to operate the scanner and record the data. The lidar scanner emits a laser that reflects vertically by a rotating mirror and can be set to scan 180˚ or a full 360˚, the latter was set to for this site. The scan produces a 3D model of the area with a range of 250 meters scanning everything in sight, including people. Only one scan was performed on this day due to rain.

CMGL students participate in ECSC project By: Michael Rittenhouse During the week of July 8th, graduate students Kevin Eager, Luz Lumb, and Michael Rittenhouse, along with Alistair Lord of the Coastal and Marine Geospatial Lab (CMGL) participated in a collaborative research project sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Cooperative Science Center (NOAA-ECSC).   Figure 1: ECSC students estimate canopy height with a protractor. Photo by: Luz Lumb The NOAA-ECSC is comprised of member institutions whose research supports the study and understanding of human interactions with coastal environments. Much of the organization’s work concentrates on ecological and coastal management issues specific to National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR).  The goals of the NOAA-ECSC are to enhance community awareness relating to the importance of coastal ecosystems while providing the next generation of scientists with the appropriate tools to support environmental decision making and broaden scientific bases  for resource management through various environmental assessments.  Figure 2:  Students from Delaware State University and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi record RTK measurements through a residential section of St. George Island, Florida. Photo by: Alan Hunter Kneidel The most recent project, which took place near Apalachicola Bay, Florida, focused on sharpening field techniques.  Students identified vegetation and estimated canopy height, provided ground truth verification for WorldView-2 satellite imagery, and recorded real-time kinematic (RTK) survey measurements for area wetlands. This particular project brought together students from Florida A&M University, Creighton University, Delaware State University, University of Texas-Brownsville, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Figure 3: Alistair Lord and Kevin Eager provide ground truth verification for satellite imagery.  Photo by: Luz Lumb

Esri International User’s Conference in San Diego By: Dr. John Wood Esri International User’s Conference in San Diego. The Esri International User’s Conference in San Diego, California is always a blast, and this year was no exception! Dr. John Wood recently attended the conference, as well as the Esri Education Conference in San Diego, California. Esri is the leading GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software producer, and the Coastal and Marine Geospatial Lab (CMGL) uses ArcGIS, an Esri software, to display, analyze and create spatial information. TAMUCC has a site license to all Esri products. At the plenary, Jack Dangermond (CEO, Esri), explained that he has a lot planned for the next few months, including the release of a new version, ArcGIS 10.2. Many users all over campus who will be pleased with the changes. Considered a full release, some significant changes will take place. First, it will run on multiple processors, which should increase performance and allow better multi-tasking functionality. Second, ArcGIS Portal will be a core product, allowing sharing maps, applications and geo-information within internal networks. Third, a whole host of ‘free’ data will be available from Esri to licensed users, through the included online subscription. 16 new geo-processing tools have been added, as well as new conversion tools and support for Excel, improved PDF export, new imagery tools, improved publishing abilities, and mapping within Microsoft Office Applications. Esri has announced a new ‘Esri Oceans’ initiative in the very near future. The keynote speaker was Will-I-Am, who spoke about his initiative to bring GIS to inner-city youth, to help improve their neighborhoods and lives. Dr. Wood made a presentation on the past, current and future of benthic habitat mapping in Texas, during a moderated paper session entitled ‘OCEAN: Seafloor Mapping’. Esri is pursuing a greater engagement with the ocean science community, as complex ocean data is increasingly used to inform the responsible use and governance of the oceans, as well as effective management and conservation.

CMGL Student Featured in ASBPA Newsletter By: Marissa Dotson CMGL undergraduate student Marissa Dotson’s article entitled “Coastal Vegetation Line Dynamics Along Mustang and North Padre Islands, Texas” was published in the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association’s Coastal Voice newsletter in the July/August 2013 issue. The article highlights Dotson’s undergraduate research on vegetation line changes on Mustang and North Padre Island. The entire issue can be accessed from ASBPA’s website here. The Texas Open Beaches Act established a mandate in 1959 allowing unobstructed access to the dry portion of Gulf-facing beaches, from the mean high water line to the vegetation line. Because beaches are not physically static, the public easement moves as the vegetation line naturally shifts landward or seaward. In recent years, the concept of rolling easements has come under intense legal scrutiny. In 2012, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in Severence v. Patterson that the easement will only shift if the vegetation line is moved through the slow process of imperceptible erosion, but not through sudden erosion due to inevitable storm activity. Unfortunately, this ruling threatens open access to a historically public natural resource and disregards natural coastal processes that affect beach morphology. Representative photo of the Mustang-Padre Island study site. Photo credit: Diana Del Angel In an attempt to create a more comprehensive characterization of vegetation line dynamics, this research analyzes the historical trend of vegetation movement and the potential effects of beach maintenance on vegetation line position. Aerial photography dating from 1979 to 2012 is used to digitize vegetation lines and analyzed for rate of change and net movement along heavily-used sandy barrier islands of Mustang and North Padre Islands, Texas. This data is then compared to relative levels of beach maintenance activity along the islands to quantify the effect of beach maintenance on vegetation line movement. The author, Marissa Dotson Photo credit: Larry Hyde Beach maintenance activities include scraping the beach with heavy equipment, stacking sand landward or seaward of foredunes, and removing sargassum. The results from this study indicate that areas of relatively high beach maintenance activity correspond with seaward shoreline and vegetation line movement because maintenance activities artificially add sand to the foredune. The artificially extended foredune becomes vegetated, extending the vegetation line seaward. In general, the shorelines and vegetation lines on non-maintained beaches are moving landward, with the exception of Mustang Island State Park—the only location in the study area where driving on the beach is not allowed. An inference can be drawn that the natural beach state promotes dune accretion and vegetation propagation, but driving is destructive to incipient dunes and vegetation. Additional details of this research will be presented at ASBPA’s 2013 National Coastal Conference in South Padre Island, Texas.

Transect monitoring of wetland vegetation and elevation on Mustang Island, Texas By: Preston Mclaughlin  The Coastal and Marine Geospatial Lab (CMGL) is establishing a barrier-island wetland observatory on Mustang Island (Figure 1). The idea is to concentrate a number of mapping and measurement techniques in this area to gain a better understanding on how the various subenvironments will respond to sea level rise and climate change. So far we have conducted short coring for sediment accretion studies using Cesium 137 (Boris Radoslavjevic MS thesis) and installed marker horizons. We have also conducted airborne lidar surveys and are conducting repeated ground surveys along an earlier established transect. Future plans include sediment elevation tables and water level loggers. Figure 1. The CMGL wetland observatory uses various data collection and mapping techniques to study spatial and temporal changes in back-barrier subenvironments. Image Credit: Diana Del Angel On June 26th, Alistair Lord, Kevin Eager, Michael Rittenhouse and Preston McLaughlin performed field research on the bayside of Mustang Island State Park. Transect monitoring across upland and back-barrier wetland environments documented vegetation and topography. Previous surveys on this transect were conducted in November of 2010 and April of 2011. This information can be used to determine changes in ecosystem zonation, as well as the variations in vegetation type, cover, and height.   Figure 2. Alistair Lord (left) and Kevin eager (right) setting up the GNSS reference station at the datum. Photo Credit: Preston Mclaughlin               After arriving at the transect on the west end of Mustang Island State Park, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reference station was placed on the reference datum (Figure 2), which was previously established by driving a steel rod 10+ meters into stiff Pleistocene sediments below the barrier island for stability. The research group then began to collect coordinate points using the GNSS Real Time Kinematic system (Figure 3), this system allows for the collection of coordinates and elevation with accuracies within a few centimeters. Photographs were taken with the GPS camera at each coordinate point to visually document the type of vegetation within that particular area.  Written notes on vegetative taxonomy, percent cover, height of vegetation, and type of geo-environment were also recorded at every point.  Coordinate points were roughly distributed every 5 meters in the constantly fluctuating geographic portions of the transect.  10 meter spaces were used in the tidal flats due to the lack of vegetation and the flat surface.  A total of 234 points were collected along the 2000 meter transect that extended from the back-barrier upland to the first sandbar around 25 meters past the shoreline.   Figure 3. Kevin eager (center) using the GNSS RTK system to record a coordinate. Michael Rittenhouse (right) documents vegetation information. Photo Credit: Preston Mclaughlin