Mark S. Woodrey

Mississippi State University | MSU · Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Coastal wetlands are predicted to undergo extensive transformation due to climate and land use change. Baseline maps of coastal wetlands can be used to help assess changes. Found in the upper portion of the estuarine zone, high marsh and salt pannes/flats provide ecosystem goods and services and are particularly important to fish and wildlife. We d...

Background Application of prescribed fire in natural plant communities is an important wildlife habitat management tool. Prescribed fire managers have suggested anecdotally that changing weather patterns may be influencing the frequency of days that have optimal conditions to conduct coastal marsh burns along the US Gulf of Mexico coast. Our study...

Conservation decisions are often made in the face of uncertainty because the urgency to act can preclude delaying management while uncertainty is resolved. In this context, adaptive management is attractive, allowing simultaneous management and learning. An adaptive program design requires the identification of critical uncertainties that impede th...

Conservation planning for large ecosystems has multiple benefits but is often challenging to implement because of the multiple jurisdictions, species, and habitats involved. In addition, decision making at large spatial scales can be hampered because many approaches do not explicitly incorporate potentially competing values and concerns of stakehol...

Irregularly flooded wetlands are found above the mean high water tidal datum and are exposed to tides and saltwater less frequently than daily. These wetlands provide important ecosystem services, such as providing habitat for fish and wildlife, enhancing water quality, ameliorating flooding impacts, supporting coastal food webs, and protecting ups...

Marsh birds are highly elusive and select wetland habitats that are difficult to navigate, as well as easily damaged by human observers. Autonomous recording units (ARUs) have been used to determine presence or absence of marsh bird species, but little is known about distance effects on detection probability. Therefore, our objectives were to 1.) e...

Little is known of rail migration ecology, consequently limiting efforts to effectively conserve rail populations. Therefore, we investigated changes in the migratory arrival/departure dates for Virginia Rails (Rallus limicola), King Rails (Rallus elegans) and Sora (Porzana carolina) north of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Using citizen science data c...

The northern Gulf of Mexico has been the focus of many coastal habitat restoration projects in the wake of new funding streams stemming from the settlement of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation. One such project was the creation of New Round Island (RNDI) in Mississippi, a 86‐ha island created using dredge material in 2017. The island...

Microplastic debris is a persistent, ubiquitous global pollutant in oceans, estuaries, and freshwater systems. Some of the highest reported concentrations of microplastics, globally, are in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), which is home to the majority of plastic manufacturers in the United States. A comprehensive understanding of the risk microplastics p...

Natural resource management decisions are often made in the face of uncertainty. The question for the decision maker is whether the uncertainty is an impediment to the decision and, if so, whether it is worth reducing uncertainty before or while implementing actions. Value of information (VoI) methods are decision analytical tools to evaluate the b...

Many tools have been generated in recent decades to support decision-makers in understanding and acting on climate science, causing stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) to repeatedly express the need for guidance when selecting climate resilience tools. The Climate and Resilience Community of Practice (CoP), Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA), and...

en Accurate estimation of populations of secretive marsh birds is difficult, especially during the non-breeding season when vocalizations are infrequent. Thus, dynamics of marsh bird populations remain relatively unknown, especially during the non-breeding season along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. To address this lack of information ab...

Increasingly, climate researchers are pressured to generate products and tools from their research that support informed decision-making for increased social and environmental resilience. Despite the goal of these tools to integrate climate science into decision-making, little follow-up study is conducted after climate resilience tools are released...

The recognized gap between research and implementation in avian conservation can be overcome with translational ecology, an intentional approach in which science producers and users from multiple disciplines work collaboratively to co-develop and deliver ecological research that addresses management and conservation issues. Avian conservation natur...

The recognized gap between research and implementation in avian conservation can be overcome with translational ecology, an intentional approach in which science producers and users from multiple disciplines work collaboratively to co-develop and deliver ecological research that addresses management and conservation issues. Avian conservation natur...

Millions of tons of plastic enter the environment every year, where much of it concentrates in environmental sinks such as tidal marshes. With prior studies documenting harm to marine fauna caused by this plastic pollution, the need to understand how this novel type of pollution affects estuarine fauna is great. Yet, research on the fate and uptake...

The current COVID‐19 pandemic has forced the global higher education community to rapidly adapt to partially or fully online course offerings. For field‐ or laboratory‐based courses in ecological curricula, this presents unique challenges. Fortunately, a diverse set of active learning techniques exists, and these techniques translate well to online...

Herbivore-plant interactions have been shown to play central roles in determining the structure of salt marsh communities. However, relatively little is known about how marsh herbivory varies over small spatial scales (e.g., < 2 km) within a single geographic region as well as the potential driving forces for such variability. Here we quantify the...

The yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) is a migratory bird of high conservation priority throughout its range and winters across the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains regions of the southeastern United States. Although the winter ecology of this species has been recently explored, no studies have addressed their distribution and abundance in r...

Recommendations for study design, data gathering, data use, and data sharing that promote collaboration and learning about birds in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Clonal and genetic diversity in foundational plant species are critical for species resiliency and ecosystem processes, both of which contribute to restoration success; however, genetic data is often lacking for common plant species used in many restoration practices. Only a few plant species dominate salt marshes, ecologically and economically val...

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ContextCommon species important for ecosystem restoration stand to lose as much genetic diversity from anthropogenic habitat fragmentation and climate change as rare species, but are rarely studied. Salt marshes, valuable ecosystems in widespread decline due to human development, are dominated by the foundational plant species black needlerush (Jun...

With the exception of sites along coastal Texas, southeast Oklahoma, and coastal South Carolina, the winter distribution and abundance of Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) is poorly understood. Along the northern Gulf Coast region, winter occurrence is suspected based on a scattered collection of museum specimens and anecdotal observations,...

Vulnerability assessments combine quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of species or natural communities to current and future threats. When combined with the economic, ecological or evolutionary value of the species, vulnerability assessments quantify the relative risk to regional species and...

Descriptions of natural communities. (DOCX)

Climate summaries and seasonal averages. (DOCX)

Results of vulnerabilities for natural communities and focal species. (DOCX)

Assessor variation. (DOCX)

SIVVA NATCOM and SIVVA for species criteria and modules. The SIVVA modules (in italics) and criteria for each module are listed with descriptions and directions associated with the criteria. Differentially shaded groupings in Ecosystem Status indicate that only the highest scored criteria in the subsection will be used in final SIVVA scoring. (DOCX...

Tidal wetlands produce long-term soil organic carbon (C) stocks. Thus for carbon accounting purposes, we need accurate and precise information on the magnitude and spatial distribution of those stocks. We assembled and analyzed an unprecedented soil core dataset, and tested three strategies for mapping carbon stocks: applying the average value from...

Coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise are greatly influenced by biogeomorphic processes that affect wetland surface elevation. Small changes in elevation relative to sea level can lead to comparatively large changes in ecosystem structure, function, and stability. The surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) approach is being used glob...

The Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) is a migratory bird with many aspects of its ecology poorly understood. The objective of this study was to examine effects of fire, vegetation structure, and landscape variables on site occupancy and detection probabilities for Yellow Rails overwintering in coastal pine savannas of Mississippi and Alabam...

Habitats around the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) provide critical resources for Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbirds, the majority of which travel across or around the GOM every spring and fall as they migrate between temperate breeding grounds in North America and tropical wintering grounds in the Caribbean and Central and South America. At the same t...

Premise of the study Juncus roemerianus (Juncaceae) is a foundational species and ecosystem engineer of salt marshes in the Gulf of Mexico. These ecosystems provide coastal flood attenuation, nurseries for important species, and other ecosystem services, but are experiencing significant decline. Nuclear microsatellite markers were developed for J....

Gulf Coast communities and natural resources suffered extensive direct and indirect damage as a result of the largest accidental oil spill in US history, referred to as the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. Notably, natural resources affected by this major spill include wetlands, coastal beaches and barrier islands, coastal and marine wildlife, se...

Climate, sea level rise, and urbanization are undergoing unprecedented levels of combined change and are expected to have large effects on natural resources—particularly along the Gulf of Mexico coastline (Gulf Coast). Management decisions to address these effects (i.e., adaptation) require an understanding of the relative vulnerability of various...

Pollutants discharged from stormwater pipes can cause water quality and ecosystem problems in coastal bayous. A study was conducted to characterize sediment and nutrients discharged by small and large (20 cm in internal diameters, respectively) pipes under different rainfall intensities ( 2.54 cm, respectively). Results showed that large pipes had...

Climate, sea level rise, and urbanization are undergoing unprecedented levels of combined change and are expected to have large effects on natural resources—particularly along the Gulf of Mexico coastline (Gulf Coast). Management decisions to address these effects (i.e., adaptation) require an understanding of the relative vulnerability of various...

Seaside Sparrows (Ammodramus maritimus) along the Gulf of Mexico are currently recognized as four subspecies, including taxa in Florida (A. m. juncicola and A. m. peninsulae) and southern Texas (Ammodramus m. sennetti), plus a widespread taxon between them (A. m. fisheri). We examined population genetic structure of this “Gulf Coast” clade using mi...

Measurements of primary production and respiration provide fundamental information about the trophic status of aquatic ecosystems, yet such measurements are logistically difficult and expensive to sustain as part of long-term monitoring programs. However, ecosystem metabolism parameters can be inferred from high frequency water quality data collect...

Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GBNERR) is an 18,400-acre protected area in southeastern Jackson County, MS. The GBNERR, along with 27 other Reserves, collects long-term environmental data, including water quality, weather and nutrient parameters, following accepted national protocols as part of a System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP...

Little information is available on stormwater runoff loadings from urbanized coastal watersheds in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Stormwater discharges from pristine or least (Heron), moderately (Cumbest), and heavily (Chico) urbanized watersheds in Mississippi, were monitored from June 2010 to July 2011 to quantify loadings of nutrients and sediment...

The seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus; SESP) includes seven extant subspecies ranging from the northeastern coast of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Genetic diversity of SESP may be impacted since coastal marsh habitats are highly fragmented, thereby limiting gene flow among adjacent populations. Genetic analysis of SESP populations wi...

Background/Question/Methods There is little information concerning the impacts of urban development within watersheds on nutrient budgets in coastal bayous of the North Central Gulf of Mexico. The overall objective of the current study was to detect if nutrient budgets differed among bayous with varying degrees of urbanization. Three bayous (Bayo...

Global climate change is expected to significantly affect coastal ecosystems worldwide. For tidal marsh birds of the Gulf of Mexico, the extent of these impacts on future population dynamics is unknown. Here, we present information on our current understanding of marsh bird responses to climate change, identify gaps in that understanding, and propo...

The saltmarsh topminnow (Fundulus jenkinsi) is federally listed as a Species of Concern due to a its rarity, impacts from human activities, and lack of information on its biology and ecology. From 2007 through 2008, we used Breder traps to fish the marsh edge on a falling tide in four regions from Louisiana through the Florida panhandle during wint...

Loss and modification of tidal marsh habitat has contributed to the decline of marsh bird species. For many marsh birds that inhabit tidal ecosystems, little information exists on habitat use, particularly in relation to movement and response to prey availability. In this study, radio-telemetry was used to investigate home range size, movement patt...

Much of North America’s tidal marsh habitat has been significantly altered by both natural and man-made processes. Thus, there is a need to understand the trophic ecology of organisms endemic to these ecosystems. We applied carbon (δ 13C) and nitrogen (δ 15N) stable isotope analysis, along with isotope mixing models, to egg yolk, liver, and muscle...

To document nest survival and habitat differences in the nesting habitats of Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostis) in tidal marshes of the northern Gulf of Mexico, we monitored 76 active nests within the Pascagoula River Marsh Coastal Preserve (a freshwater-dominated estuary) and the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (a marine-influenced e...

AbstrAct: One ecological service that oyster reefs provide is stabilization of shorelines through reduced wave energy and erosion from boat traffic, storms, and predominant wind direction. Additionally, increasing sedimentation can enhance the growth of emergent marsh vegetation which further stabilizes unconsolidated sediments. A 21 mo study of co...

Wintering Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) populations rely on lands managed with prescribed burning, but the effects of various burn regimes on their overwinter survival are unknown. We studied wintering Henslow's sparrows in coastal pine savannas at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, Jackson County, Mississippi, USA,...

Human-induced and natural processes continue to act upon the estuaries of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Predictive models have been applied to project the interactions between habitat modification and population estimates for some estuarine species. However, these assessments may be furthered by focusing on a suite of species, such as a subset of th...

Relationships between egg volume and an array of life-history traits have been identified for many bird species. Despite the importance of egg volume and the need for precise and accurate measurements, egg volume is usually estimated using a mathematical model that incorporates length and width measurements along with a shape variable. We developed...

We studied variation in detection probabilities of several marsh bird species during the breeding season in relation to tidal height (i.e., water level) within several tidal marshes of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, we examined the influence of tidal height on our ability to detect Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris), Seaside Sparrow (Am...

We compared 2 survey methods for assessing winter bird communities in temperate grasslands: Winter Bird Population Study surveys are area-searches that have long been used in a variety of habitats whereas Project Prairie Bird surveys employ active-flushing techniques on strip-transects and are intended for use in grasslands. We used both methods to...

Seaside Sparrows (SESP; Ammodramus maritimus) are passerines restricted to coastal salt marsh. They are considered a species of concern by the National Audubon Society, Partners in Flight, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service due to current and projected habitat loss. The Gulf Coast Joint Venture (GCJV) Landbird Monitoring, Evaluation, and Resear...

Estimates of nest survival rate are often based on the assumption that the rate is constant during the nest cycle. Because violating this assumption can generate biased estimates, determining the age of a nest is important. For precocial marsh birds, including Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostris), current estimates of nest survival do not take this...

During travel, migrants may encounter unfamiliar habitats and predators and visit sites for which they lack information on predation risk. Temporary stops during migration permit only limited opportunities to gather information about risk, and other priorities, such as the need to forage, may restrict these opportunities. Under these conditions, th...

The development of comprehensive conservation strategies and management plans for migratory birds depends on understanding migrant-habitat relations throughout the annual cycle, including the time when migrants stopover en route. Yet, the complexity of migration makes the assessment of habitat require- ments and development of a comprehensive conse...

The reproductive ecology of the Least Tern (Sterna antillarum) was examined at four nesting colonies along the Lower Mississippi River during the 1995-1997 breeding seasons. Nest success, hatching success, and reproductive success were calculated in order to estimate productivity and evaluate reproductive status. Nesting colonies varied in size fro...

Although many landbird migrants are capable of making spectacular, nonstop flights over ecological barriers, including the Sahara Desert, the eastern Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico, few actually engage in nonstop flights between points of origin and destination. Rather, they stop over periodically, sometimes for only a few hours and other t...

We estimated fat load, length of stopover, and rate of mass change for six Neotropical migrant landbird species at a site along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Swainson's Thrushes (Catharus ustulatus), Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), White-eyed Vireos (Vireo griseus), Red-eyed Vireos (V. olivaceus), Magnolia Warblers (Dendroica ma...

Differential timing of passage by age or sex classes at sites along migration routes is ambiguous with respect to whether these groups differ in onset or rate of migration and provides little insight into the dynamics of differential timing. Therefore, we compared age-specific differences in timing of autumn migration by five species of passerines...

Using five mated pairs of free-ranging White-breasted Nuthatches Sitta carolinensis, I examined whether the social dominance of the male nuthatch over the female affects the caching behavior of each individual of the pair. I allowed each bird of a mated pair in five deciduous woodlots in central Ohio to scatterhoard 30 mealworms Tenebrio sp. For ea...

The effects of handling time on the caching behavior of White-breasted Nut- hatches (Sitta carolinensis) were studied in deciduous woods in central Ohio during the winters of 1987-1988 and 1988-1989. I asked whether White-breasted Nuthatches differed in their treatment of food items with different handling times. During four alternating hour- long...

________________________________________ The conservation of declining intercontinental landbird and shorebird migrants is complicated by the migratory nature of these organisms. Although debate over the causes of declines in most species will no doubt con-tinue for some time, continued attention has focused largely on events associated with the br...

Millions of Nearctic-Neotropical landbirds move through the coastal forests of the Gulf of Mexico each spring and autumn as they migrate across and around the gulf. Migration routes in the gulf region are not static—they shift year to year and season to season according to prevailing wind patterns. Given the dynamic nature of migration routes, coas...

The Gulf Coast Bird Observatory (GCBO) and the Southeastern Working Group of Partners in Flight have developed a protocol to monitor landbirds with volun- teer observers performing avian censuses in the field. Field observations are compiled within a powerful internet database, and recording and summary capabil- ity is maintained by the GCBO. More...