Central Southwest Gulf Coast Information Node

CSWGCIN Map

Welcome to the Central Southwest Gulf Coast Information Node (CSWGCIN), your gateway to biological information for Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and the Gulf of Mexico, including the coastal areas of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. This biologically diverse region is undergoing rapid population growth. CSWGCIN will address the biodiversity aspects of sustainable development within the region through research into the applications of new geospatial data analysis and visualization technologies. CSWGCIN will create the foundation of a standardized, accessible, and digital collection of useful biological information maintained by a variety of partners, including governmental agencies, non-governmental and private sector organizations, and academic institutions.


Shortcut URL to this page: http://www.nbii.gov/CSWGC

FEATURED PROJECTS


Coastal Fisheries

The Coastal Fisheries Mapping Application and Data Download provides access to fisheries data from the Louisiana Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.  The application allows the user to view each of the bay systems or coastal study areas along the TX and LA coasts and view population trend graphs for selected species that inhabit these areas.  Population trends can be compared against several hydrological parameters of interest.  Species abundance data can be downloaded in Excel format.
  

Research Collections Database

The Research Collections Database allows the user to view all of the biological collections available within the CSWGCIN region. The database includes a description of each collection including the format of the collection and the institution that manages it, as well as linking the user to the collection's webpage.
  

Drought Information Portal

Drought is a natural regular feature of any regional climate, including the Central Southwest Gulf Coast Region. Drought is defined as a deficiency in normal precipitation over a protracted time period, but can be exacerbated by unusually high temperatures and winds, or unusually low levels of humidity. These conditions can cause vegetation to dry out, creating optimal conditions for wildfire. Over 800 wildfires have occurred in Texas this year, fueled by this abundance of extremely dry vegetation.

Check out the Drought Information Portal for resources on drought including maps and images of drought-affected areas in CSWGCIN.
  

  Regional Ecosystems

There are twelve different Level 2 (as designated by the EPA) ecoregions within the Southwest and Central Southwest Gulf Coast. For each ecoregion, an informational page describing the unique physical and biological characteristics that comprise the region has been developed. The discussion highlights one endangered species, one invasive species and one species typical to that ecoregion.

The Ecoregions interactive mapping application provides access to geographic distributions of all threatened and endangered species, select invasive species, political boundaries, and baseline environmental data found within the Southwest and Central Southwest Gulf Coast.
  

The Karst Aquifer Portal

The Karst Aquifer portal highlights the Edwards, Roswell and Ozarks aquifers in the CSWGCIN and SWIN regions. Karst aquifers are limestone (or other easily-dissolved rock) that produce karst features, such as sinkholes, cave systems and springs, over time as the rock dissolves and fractures. These features provide niche habitats for a wide variety of threatened and endangered species.

The Karst Aquifer portal features information and data, as well as an interactive mapping application, on groundwater and surface water conditions, precipitation, and threatened and endangered species in the Edwards, Roswell and Ozarks aquifers.
  

Gulf of Mexico Biodiversity

The Gulf of Mexico Biodiversity interactive mapping application explores the incredibly diverse habitat in the Gulf, displaying distribution information on benthos, plankton and other marine life groups as well as provide background data on parameters such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, and others. The Gulf of Mexico Biodiversity portal explores some of the diverse phyla represented in the mapping application and has discussion on species habitat, widespread range, and life history characteristics.
  

Regional Invasive Species Database

The CSWGCIN region includes many different introduction pathways for invasive species. It is also home to a diverse array of ecosystems ranging from humid, semi-tropical coastal habitats to bottomland forests, arid deserts and mountains. These combined factors lead to a large number of invasive species being found in the CSWGCIN region.

The CSWGCIN Regional Invasive Species Database provides information describing over 250 invasive species found in the CSWGCIN region, including introduction pathways, images, species fact sheets, taxonomic information provided by the USDA Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) and bibliographic citations.




Species of Greatest Conservation Need

Learn about species in need of conservation in the Central Southwest and Gulf Coast region, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Over 2,600 amphibians, birds, fishes, mammals, reptiles, invertebrates, and plants have been identified by State wildlife agencies as species of Greatest Conservation Need (GCN). This interactive application provides resources from multiple authoritative sources including NatureServe and ITIS.

 


Conferences of Interest


 
  14th World Lake Conference
10/31/2011 - 11/4/2011
Austin, Texas
United States

  Texas Invasive Plant and Pest Conference
11/7/2011 - 11/10/2011
Austin, Texas
United States


Partner Spotlight

In a non-partisan and collaborative manner, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) is a conduit from basic research to action that fosters the implementation of policies and technologies based on rigorous principles of social science, natural science, and engineering. HARC's research themes support sustainability solutions in ecosystems, water, air & climate, clean energy, the built environment, and environmental health.

The National Wetlands Research Center of the USGS is a source and clearinghouse of science information about wetlands in the United States and the world for fellow agencies, private entities, academia, and the public at large. Staff members obtain and provide this information by performing original scientific research and developing research results into literature and technological tools. They then disseminate that information through a variety of means.

The NBII Program is administered by the Biological Informatics Program of the U.S. Geological Survey
About NBII | Accessibility Statement | NBII Disclaimer, Attribution & Privacy Statement | FOIA
Science.gov Logo       USGS Logo       USAgov Logo