Geology topics

Melissa Carle

Publications and source records attributed to Melissa Carle.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2025

Lower trophic level monitoring implementation plan for Barataria Basin: Protocols and programmatic management

Prior work completed by Kiskaddon et al. (2021, 2022b, 2022a) identified critical data gaps for Lower Trophic Level (LTL) organisms in Barataria Basin, Louisiana. A Monitoring and Adaptive Management (MAM) Activity Implementation Plan (MAIP) was subsequently developed to describe a MAM Activity that would address and fill these critical data gaps (hereafter termed the “LTL project”). As the lead implementing Trustee of the LTL project, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in collaboration with the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (LA TIG), is charged with implementing the LTL project (NOAA, 2022). The Water Institute (the Institute), in cooperation with federal, state, and private entities including NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Louisiana State University (LSU), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette), University of California (UC) Santa Cruz, and Dynamic Solutions, LLC developed this implementation plan to further detail LTL data collection in Barataria Basin that will fulfill the MAIP. This monitoring implementation plan describes procedures and protocols critical for data collection and project management.

Louisiana↗

USGS2022

Workshops report for mesophotic and deep benthic community fish, mobile invertebrates, sessile invertebrates and infauna

Two workshops with subject matter experts in the appropriate fields, were held in November and December 2021 to elicit guidance and feedback from the broader mesophotic and deep benthic scientific community. These workshops focused on best practices/approaches and identifying data gaps relative to habitat assessment and evaluation goals of the Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Community (MDBC) restoration portfolio. The first workshop was a combined effort of the Habitat Assessment and Evaluation (HAE) Project Team and the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Program. Industrial Economics, Inc. (IEc) provided extensive workshop planning, organizing, execution, and facilitation support during all stages of the workshop. Based on a questionnaire sent to scientists in August, 2021, the workshop focused on fish and mobile invertebrate habitat associations, abundance trends, community metrics, and food web functionality. Topical presentations and discussions focused not only on demersal fish and mobile invertebrates that are directly associated with mesophotic and deep benthic habitats, but also considered water column species and communities that benefit from these habitats more broadly. The second workshop, intended to complement the first workshop, focused on identifying best practices and critical information gaps for key community metrics, larval dispersal modeling, connectivity, effects and variability of environmental parameters, and recovery trajectories of corals, infauna, and other sessile invertebrates. Through literature review, internal HAE scientists considered these topics to be critical for restoration success. Products from the literature review included topical summaries (see Appendix B) that summarized the current state-of-the-science and provided the framework for the workshop. Information generated from the workshops will assist the MDBC HAE Project, and more broadly the DWH Program, identify data gaps and develop a suite of best practices for restoration activities.

DWH MDBC Summary Report↗

USGS2020

Louisiana Adaptive Management Status and Improvement Report: Vision and Recommendations

As part of the process to increase implementation of adaptive management for ecosystem-based coastal restoration within Louisiana, we aim for this report to be broadly applicable across planning processes as well as funding and implementing entities. It compiles technical knowledge and guidance summarized as key findings through the text which lead to eight priority recommendations to improve application of adaptive management in Louisiana. This report identifies critical linkage points and opportunities for knowledge and data transfers within, and among, agencies in Louisiana. The primary focus is on CPRA and others affiliated with the LA TIG. This report presents a consensus based common vision for adaptive management of coastal restoration implementation in Louisiana. As CPRA is the primary agency responsible for coordinating and facilitating coastal restoration projects within the state of Louisiana, the primary source of information and experience was collated from personnel and processes carried out at CPRA. To capture needs and mechanisms ,across agencies, extensive input was also received from the LA TIG, representing the other state and federal Trustees.

Louisiana↗