Coastal Bend students present findings on coastal environmental issues

Across the Coastal Bend, student researchers inspired by coastal issues are studying environmental impacts on local ecosystems and how best to protect wildlife.

Students from local colleges and universities presented their environmental research at the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation's "Student March Madness" coastal issues forum Monday evening.

Hector Marrero-Colominas, a student in Del Mar College's computer science program, presented his work to build an artificial intelligence model to better predict cold weather, which can impact sea turtles.

Marrero-Colominas has worked with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Conrad Blucher Institute's Coastal Dynamics Lab, which has created models to predict water and air temperatures to help coastal stakeholders prepare for and minimize fish kills and cold-stunning events when temperatures drop.

"I'm trying to add to the model something that we're lacking," Marrero-Colominas said. "Our community stakeholders have asked us during events, 'How confident are you in this prediction? Are you certain it's correct?'"

Marerro-Colominas is working to display the likelihood of the model’s temperature predications. Using 11 years of data, Marrero-Colominas tested the artificial intelligence model to predict temperatures during 2021's winter storm in Laguna Madre.

The results are displayed in a line graph with a shaded probability range that narrows when the predicted temperature range is most likely and widens when the prediction is less confident.

Kody Barone, a graduate student at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, discussed how the 2021 winter freeze impacted soil organic carbon preserved by black mangroves.

Barone said that increasing temperatures over the years have led to mangroves, which are important for capturing carbon, overtaking salt marshes in areas near Port Aransas.

But many mangroves did not survive the 2021 winter freeze.

"I'm trying to figure out how does the soil organic matter decomposition change due to this mangrove loss," Barone said.

Harte Research Institute doctoral student Rostam Mirzadi is measuring the reproductive success of water birds on islands along the Texas coast through drone surveys.

Mirzadi said that water bird populations are decreasing in part due to loss of nesting habitat.

"Over 50% colonial water bird species require islands for colony sites," Mirzadi said. "Nesting habitats on these islands are disappearing and disappearing quickly."

On the Texas coast, over 26 species of water birds nest on hundreds of islands. But recent studies have found that a quarter of these islands will disappear entirely within 50 years, Mirzadi said.

"Managers have been rehabilitating colony islands, but there's generally a lack of understanding of habitat measures on islands and the associated bird productivity," Mirzadi said.

Productivity refers to how many nests survive long enough to produce chicks and how many fledged chicks survive. Mirzadi has traveled to nesting sites from Galveston to Port Isabel, using drones to photograph islands. Mirzadi then mapped nest sites using the aerial images and counted eggs and fledglings.

Mirzadi was able to estimate survival rates for different species and what factors might have had an impact, such as island size and the type of foliage where nests were located. In some cases, he also observed the impact of human disturbances when birds abandoned nesting sites after humans visited their islands.

"The black skimmers seem to be a lot more susceptible," Mirzadi said. "Some Caspian terns that were also on those islands (where he saw human disturbances) did not have nearly the same effect."

Texas A&M University-Kingsville graduate student Forrest Fay presented on the use of prescribed fire as a land management tool.

Gulf Coast prairies and marshes historically burned frequently. But as land use has changed, fires have been suppressed, Fay said.

Fay said that fire can actually increase plant diversity by removing dead plant material, improving nutrition and forage opportunities for livestock and wildlife.

He was able to test the impacts of fire by burning plots of East Foundation ranch land.

"Burning suppresses brush encroachment, increases plant diversity and maintains crucial grasslands and prairies," Fay said. "The grasslands of South Texas were built by fire. Fire doesn't just help the grasslands, it needs it. The landscape is hungry for fire."

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Local college, university students discuss environmental research