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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Kathryn A. Spear</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>René Baumstark</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Ryan Moyer</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Cindy A. Thatcher</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Lawrence R. Handley</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2012</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;Throughout the past century, emergent wetlands have been declining across the Gulf of Mexico.&lt;br&gt;Emergent wetland ecosystems provide a plethora of resources including plant and wildlife habitat,&lt;br&gt;commercial and recreational economic activity, water quality improvement, and natural barriers against&lt;br&gt;storms. As emergent wetland losses increase, so does the need for information on the causes and effects of&lt;br&gt;these losses, for emergent wetland mapping, for monitoring and restoration efforts, and for increased&lt;br&gt;education.&lt;br&gt;The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf of&lt;br&gt;Mexico Program Office (EPA GMPO) are committed to providing the best science to restore, enhance, and&lt;br&gt;protect these important ecosystems. The Emergent Wetlands Status and Trends Report is a continuation of&lt;br&gt;the completed Seagrass Status and Trends in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Report (Handley and others,&lt;br&gt;2007), both of which serve to update the EPA GMPO Status and Trends of Emergent and Submerged&lt;br&gt;Vegetated Habitats of Gulf of Mexico Coastal Waters, USA Report (Duke and Kruczynski, 1992). The&lt;br&gt;Emergent Wetlands Status and Trends Report is also part of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Ecosystems&lt;br&gt;Integration and Assessment Priority Issue Team’s work plan to provide resources that will aid in the&lt;br&gt;ecological and economic enhancement of the Gulf of Mexico region. The purpose of this report is to&lt;br&gt;provide scientists, managers, and citizens with valuable baseline information on the status and trends of&lt;br&gt;emergent wetlands along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The study upon which this report is based&lt;br&gt;examines the emergent wetlands of eight individual estuarine areas within the northern Gulf of Mexico&lt;br&gt;region and presents statewide summaries for Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Each&lt;br&gt;estuarine area is detailed in vignettes that address current status and historical trends of estuarine and&lt;br&gt;palustrine emergent wetlands, emergent wetlands mapping and monitoring, causes of status change,&lt;br&gt;restoration and enhancement activities, background information for the study area, and the methodology&lt;br&gt;employed to analyze and document the historical trends and current status of emergent wetlands.&lt;br&gt;The eight individual estuarine areas examined in this report are:&lt;br&gt; Corpus Christi/ Nueces/Aransas Bays, Tex.&lt;br&gt; Galveston Bay, Tex. &lt;br&gt; Barataria/Terrebonne Bay, La.&lt;br&gt; Mississippi Delta, La.&lt;br&gt; Mississippi Sound, Miss.&lt;br&gt; Mobile Bay, Ala.&lt;br&gt; Florida Panhandle, Fla.&lt;br&gt; Tampa Bay, Fla. &lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Introduction to emergent wetlands: Chapter A in &lt;i&gt;Emergent wetlands status and trends in the northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010&lt;/i&gt;</dc:title>
  <dc:type>reports</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>