Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters

Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters PDF Author: H. Dickson Hoese
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
Provides descriptions, photographs, and illustrations of 539 species of fishes found in the Gulf of Mexico along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters

Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters PDF Author: H. Dickson Hoese
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
Provides descriptions, photographs, and illustrations of 539 species of fishes found in the Gulf of Mexico along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas

The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas PDF Author: John Wesley Tunnell
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441334
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas is the only hypersaline coastal lagoon on the North American continent and only one of five worldwide. Extending along 277 miles of shoreline in South Texas and northeastern Mexico, the lagoon is renowned for its vast seagrass meadows, huge wintering redhead population, and bountiful fishing grounds. Recent concerns about increasing human activity have focused attention on the long-term health of the Laguna Madre as growing population pressures, pollution problems, and dredging threaten this unique ecosystem. The Nature Conservancy, whose mission is the conservation of biodiversity through protection of habitat, recognized the need to compile all known information about the Laguna Madre in order to move ahead with a science-based conservation agenda. This book is the result. Taking an ecosystem approach to the study of this rich habitat, the authors first provide an overview of the natural history of the Laguna Madre and adjacent areas, including an essay on the importance of the region's private ranches. Succeeding chapters discuss the diverse natural resources of the lagoon—seagrasses, open bays, tidal flats, barrier islands, abundant waterfowl, colonial waterbird rookeries, sea turtles, and fisheries. A final section identifies information gaps, offers a conservation framework, and makes recommendations for preserving the biodiversity of this complex and special ecosystem. Over seventy years of literature on the Laguna Madre and surrounding environments has been synthesized here. With 150 figures and illustrations, the book is the first to take a broad and comprehensive look at both the Texan and Tamaulipan Laguna Madre. For scientists, conservationists, resource managers, and policy makers involved in the future of the Texas and Mexico coasts, the value of this book is clear. And coastal residents, birders, anglers, and nature lovers who want to learn about and take care of the Laguna Madre will find this to be an indispensable guide.

Texas Aquatic Science

Texas Aquatic Science PDF Author: Rudolph A. Rosen
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1623491932
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
This classroom resource provides clear, concise scientific information in an understandable and enjoyable way about water and aquatic life. Spanning the hydrologic cycle from rain to watersheds, aquifers to springs, rivers to estuaries, ample illustrations promote understanding of important concepts and clarify major ideas. Aquatic science is covered comprehensively, with relevant principles of chemistry, physics, geology, geography, ecology, and biology included throughout the text. Emphasizing water sustainability and conservation, the book tells us what we can do personally to conserve for the future and presents job and volunteer opportunities in the hope that some students will pursue careers in aquatic science. Texas Aquatic Science, originally developed as part of a multi-faceted education project for middle and high school students, can also be used at the college level for non-science majors, in the home-school environment, and by anyone who educates kids about nature and water. To learn more about The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, sponsors of this book's series, please click here.

A Texan Plan for the Texas Coast

A Texan Plan for the Texas Coast PDF Author: James B. Blackburn
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1623495784
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
In this powerful call to action, conservationist and environmental lawyer Jim Blackburn offers an unconventional yet feasible plan to protect the Texas coast. The coast is in danger of being damaged beyond repair due to the gradual starvation of freshwater inflows to its bays, the fragmentation of large tracts of land, and general public neglect. Most importantly, it is threatened by our denial that the coast faces major threats and that its long-term health provides significant economic benefits. To save coastal resources, a successful plan needs to address the realities of our current world. The challenge is to sustain an economy that creates optimism and entrepreneurship while considering finite natural resources. In other words, a successful plan to save the Texas coast needs to be about making money. Whether visiting with farmers and ranchers or oil and chemical producers, Blackburn recognizes that when talking about the natural environment in monetary terms, people listen. Many of the services we get from the coast are beginning to be studied for their dollar values, a trend that might offer Texas farms and ranches the potential for cash flow, which may in turn alter conservation practices throughout Texas and the United States. Money alone cannot be the only motivation for caring about the Texas coast, though. Blackburn encourages Texans to get to know this landscape better. Beautifully illustrated and accessibly written, A Texan Plan for the Texas Coast weaves together a challenging but promising plan to protect the coast through economic motivation, thoughtful litigation, informed appreciation, and simple affection for the beauty and life found on the Texas coast.

The Formation and Future of the Upper Texas Coast

The Formation and Future of the Upper Texas Coast PDF Author: John B. Anderson
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585445615
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
With strong personal and professional ties to the Gulf of Mexico, marine geologist John B. Anderson has spent two decades studying the Texas coastline and continental shelf. In this book, he sets out to answer fundamental questions that are frequently asked about the coast—how it evolved; how it operates; how natural processes affect it and why it is ever changing; and, finally, how human development can be managed to help preserve it. The book provides an amply illustrated look at ocean waves and currents, beach formation and erosion, barrier island evolution, hurricanes, and sea level changes. With an abundance of visual material—including aerial photos, historical maps, simple figures, and satellite images—the author presents a lively, interesting lesson in coastal geography that readers will remember and appreciate the next time they are at the beach and want to know: What happens to the sand that erodes from our beaches? Can beach erosion be stopped—and should we try? How much sand will be needed to stabilize our beaches? Does a hurricane have any positive impacts? How much development can the coast withstand? This entertaining and instructive book provides authoritative answers to these and other questions that are essential to our understanding of coastal change.

Texas Gulf Coast Stories

Texas Gulf Coast Stories PDF Author: C. Herndon Williams
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614232466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
The middle Texas coast, known locally as the Coast Bend, is an area filled with fascinating stories. From as early as the days of de Vaca and La Salle, the Coastal Bend has been a site of early exploration, bloody conflicts, legendary shipwrecks and even a buried treasure or two. However, much of the true history has remained unknown, misunderstood and even hidden. For years, local historian C. Herndon Williams has shared his fascinating discoveries of the area's early stories through his weekly column, "Coastal Bend Chronicle." Now he has selected some of his favorites in Texas Gulf Coast Stories. Join Williams as he explores the days of early settlement and European contact, Karankawa and Tonkawa legends and the Coastal Bend's tallest of tall tales.

Traveling the Shore of the Spanish Sea

Traveling the Shore of the Spanish Sea PDF Author: Geoff Winningham
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1603441611
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
In a work of sweeping breadth and beauty, Geoff Winningham has created a profusely illustrated, contemplative travel journal that showcases his talent as both a photographer and a writer and reveals his affection and respect for the two countries he calls home. In 2003, photographer Geoff Winningham saw for the first time both the southern coast of Veracruz, with its volcanoes, rain forests, and steep mountains, and the Texas coast near High Island, where the land seems to stretch endlessly, covered by a sea of salt grass. He decided that these two visually striking areas could be the beginning and end points of a photographic study that would also engage the two cultures in which he had lived for twenty years, the U.S. and Mexico. Now, seven years and more than a hundred trips later, Traveling the Shore of the Spanish Sea: The Gulf Coast of Texas and Mexico is the result. In this beautifully illustrated and engagingly written book, Winningham also considers the role that the Gulf of Mexico played in the discovery and exploration of the New World. Winningham's journey begins east of High Island, in Port Arthur, where the images suggest a cautionary tale relating to the oil industry and the land. It ends twelve hundred miles down the coast at the end of an old, stone road in tropical terrain of almost indescribable beauty, overlooking the sea. In between, more than two hundred photographs include natural landscapes (ranging from unspoiled to completely despoiled), roadside architecture and signage, and images of people Winningham met. As he attempts to come to terms with the disturbing changes he witnessed to the coastal environment, the book also contains elements of a poignant, personal lament for what is being lost. Traveling the Shore of the Spanish Sea: The Gulf Coast of Texas and Mexico will delight and enchant readers with its deeply felt personal narrative and the power and beauty of its images.

Sea-Level Change in the Gulf of Mexico

Sea-Level Change in the Gulf of Mexico PDF Author: Richard A. Davis
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1603442243
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
A must-read for Gulf Coast scientists, naturalists, and residents . . . From Florida to Mexico and along the shores of Cuba, the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico are vulnerable to sea-level rise because of their fragile and low-lying shorelines and adjacent coastal environments. In addition to wetlands, river deltas, beaches, and barrier islands, millions of people who live and work along the Gulf coast are susceptible to the affects of both intense storms in the short term and a gradual rise in sea level over the longer term. While global warming headlines any current discussion of this topic and is certainly a major factor in sea-level change, it is not the only factor. Earthquakes and other crustal shifts, the El Niño/La Niña phenomena, river impoundment and sedimentation, tides, and weather can all affect local, regional, and global sea levels. In Sea-Level Change in the Gulf of Mexico, Richard A. Davis Jr. looks at the various causes and effects of rising and falling sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico, beginning with the Gulf’s geological birth over 100 million years ago, and focusing on the last 20,000 years, when global sea levels began rising as the glaciers of the last major ice age melted. Davis reviews the current situation, especially regarding beach erosion and loss of wetlands, and offers a preview of the future, when the Gulf Coast will change markedly as the twenty-first century progresses. Amply illustrated and written in a clear, straightforward style, Sea-Level Change in the Gulf of Mexico is a valuable resource for anyone who cares deeply about understanding the past, present, and future of life along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Fishing the Texas Gulf Coast

Fishing the Texas Gulf Coast PDF Author: Mike Holmes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1461746957
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
Texas offers tremendous angling opportunities—and its nearly 400-mile coast along the “Mediterranean of the Americas” offers everything from flounder, speckled trout, redfish, and other species inshore, to kingfish, cobia, and blue-water big game offshore. In this all new addition to The Lyons Press’s Regional Fishing Series, Mike Holmes provides information on top fishing locations, as well as advice on tackle, baits and lures, best fishing times, and fishing strategies.

Texas Coral Reefs

Texas Coral Reefs PDF Author: Jesse Cancelmo
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585446339
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Just one hundred and ten miles south of the Texas-Louisiana border, beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, lie two coral reefs, together called the Flower Garden Banks. This coral community, the northernmost reef system in the United States and a national marine sanctuary, is home to hundreds of kinds of fish and other tropical sea life. Manta rays and turtles visit regularly, as do whale sharks and schools of hammerhead sharks. Other wonders include the annual mass coral spawns and a briny depression called Gollum Lake. Nearby are two other reefs. Stetson Bank, its top spotted with hard corals, mollusks, and sponges, is known for its diversity—from black sea hares to golden smooth trunkfish. At Geyer Bank, thousands of butterfly fish dominate a huge population of tropical fish whose density rivals that of the coral reefs in the South Pacific. Protruding from the flat, muddy continental shelf, these and thirty other natural reefs support an exceptional amount and variety of sea life in Texas waters. They sit amid hundreds of oil and gas platforms, which create their own special reef ecosystems. These reefs, equal in their profusion of life and color to the storied reefs of Florida and Hawaii, have not been widely known to Texans outside of a small group of scientists and divers. With extraordinary photographs and a knowledgeable first-person narrative, author Jesse Cancelmo instills an appreciation for the beauty and fragility of one of the state’s least-known natural environments. Texas Coral Reefs will inspire adventurers—both the underwater and armchair varieties—to enjoy these spectacular but little-known sites that lie so close to home.