Building Resilience to Challenges and Disruptions While coastal systems offer an abundance of resources and services available to coastal residents, communities and industries, these systems are subject to disturbances brought on by natural and human-caused events. During the past 20 years, the Gulf Coast has experienced a variety of substantial disasters and disruptions including chemical spills, major hurricanes, freshwater inflow events, a health pandemic, harmful algal blooms, recessions and more. For some of these disasters and disruptions, we have developed a better understanding of human and ecological recovery. For others, our knowledge is more limited. This track will encompass impacts of natural and human-caused disruptions and disasters on coastal communities and industries. Topics in this track may include new research discoveries, management approaches and perspectives related to how coastal challenges and disruptions impact people and the environment. Contributors of this session are encouraged to cover topics through the lens of better understanding coastal challenges and building resilience to them. Sample topics may include land use and land cover changes; land policies; innovative floodplain management strategies; sustainable building design techniques and methodologies; infrastructure development, deterioration and design; community response and adaptation activities; resilience-focused engagement and education programming; urban, rural and agricultural changes; severe storm preparation; and ecosystem responses to stressors. Submissions discussing collaborative partnerships to build socioeconomic and environmental resilience are also encouraged.
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Conserving and Restoring Critical Habitats Human activities have altered coastal and marine habitats over time because of increases in coastal development, land-based and water-based pollution, coastal and marine resource use, invasive species and changes in coastal geography. With a continuing trend for human populations to concentrate near the coasts, the pressures and potential impacts on coastal and marine habitats will only increase. Once habitats are damaged or lost it is difficult and costly to recover the benefits and services that they provide. However, in recent decades, we have seen increased efforts to identify, conserve and restore critical habitats along the Gulf of Mexico. Partnership efforts by academia, federal, state and local agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry and community groups have contributed to an increased knowledge base on restoration and conservation science. This track highlights research, monitoring, management, policy and educational approaches to coastal and marine conservation and restoration efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. We also encourage managers to share their experiences of how they have utilized restoration and conservation science to inform resource planning and management and managers and researchers on how they measure restoration successes.
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Enhancing Stewardship and Sustainability People of the Gulf Coast are inextricably linked to the marine and coastal environment and its resources. Over the millennia, populations have relied on coastal habitats for food, employment, recreation, storm protection and many other vital services. Those strong connections fuel a sense of responsibility to protect coastal resources and to educate future generations. While looking to the future, there is much to be learned from the traditional knowledge of communities and the best practices established by scientists and community partners. This track welcomes all parties involved in community engagement, stewardship, environmental justice and sustainability efforts. Speakers implementing novel or innovative ways to engage diverse communities and those celebrating cultural heritage are encouraged. Presentations sharing opportunities for students, and the broader community, to develop job-related STEM skills are also welcome.
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The Oyster is Your World Our bays and bayous serve as habitats for an important and popular keystone species, the oyster. In our coastal waters, oysters are vital to the marine ecosystem without which many other species would find it difficult to survive as oysters provide habitat for shelter from predators and a nursery for their young. Oysters also play an important role culturally, economically and environmentally. This track will include oyster-focused topics on restoration, research, resource management, aquaculture, wild harvesting, tourism, seafood, climate changes, water quality, sea-level rise and coastal resiliency among others. If you are a consumer, farmer, scientist, student, resource manager, chef, processor, government official, part of a non-governmental organization, or have any other interest in oysters, then you are invited to participate.
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Understanding and Managing Living Resources The Gulf of Mexico has significantly higher biodiversity than any other marine region of the United States and supports successful fisheries and a plethora of flora and fauna that provide a myriad of ecosystem services. However, exploitation of these resources has altered this prolific and bountiful ecosystem, and the Gulf continues to be subject to long-term fluctuations and episodic anthropogenic impacts. Ensuring resource sustainability in the Gulf of Mexico often requires a balance between diverse interests and the continued development of data, models and management policies that result in long-term benefits. This track will focus on the applied ecology and management of living resources in the coastal and marine waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Potential presentation topics include research that addresses management questions necessary for Gulf of Mexico sustainability, either at the species or ecosystem level. Presentations for this track will allow the research community, private sector, community action groups, resource managers and NGOs to share knowledge with coastal decision-makers and increase dialogue among these groups.
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Understanding the Ways of the Water The bays and bayous of the coastal zone lie at the interface between land and sea. As a result, modifications to estuaries and alterations to adjacent systems (e.g. headwaters, rivers, shelf waters) can affect changes in local water quality. Droughts and floods have also become increasingly frequent due to climate change, which results in disruptions to normal patterns of freshwater availability. Water quality impairment through natural or anthropogenic input alters the livelihoods of people who live and work in estuarine watersheds; maintaining good water quality requires managing recreational, commercial and industrial interests that all depend on these water bodies. In this track, we invite researchers, resource managers, policymakers and community members to share knowledge on topics related to assessing alterations to water quality and quantity, determining how changes to terrestrial, aquatic and marine activities affect water quality, developing coastal improvements or remediation strategies to address water quality stressors/impairments, addressing water quality and quantity issues in formal and informal education, and fostering behavioral change to protect water quality. Topics related to the interaction between water quality and estuarine benefits/ecosystem services are particularly encouraged.
Call for Abstracts |
Submission Types
Oral Presentation
Poster
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*Extended Deadline* Sept. 6, 2024 |
If you have any questions or require assistance in submitting your abstract, please contact Elizabeth Hall at (228) 818-8843 or EC.Hall@usm.edu. |