To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, illustrator, ecologist, and native Orleanian Uma Nagendra takes a look at what we’ve learned since Katrina about how wetlands mitigate the devastating impacts of hurricanes.
 Uma Nagendra is a native New Orleanian now living in Athens, GA. She has been interested in natural disturbances since Katrina, and is currently a PhD Candidate studying forest recovery in the Southern Appalachians. When she’s not crawling over fallen trees in North Georgia, Uma enjoys aerial circus arts, playing the mandolin, and convincing other people to dance. She can be reached through her website or followed on Twitter @atinytornado. |
References
- Resio, D. T., & Westerink, J. J. (2008). Modeling the physics of storm surges. Physics Today, 61(9), 33-38.
- Farber, S. (1987). The value of coastal wetlands for protection of property against hurricane wind damage. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 14(2), 143-151(paywall)
- Costanza, R., Pérez-Maqueo, O., Martinez, M. L., Sutton, P., Anderson, S. J., & Mulder, K. (2008). The value of coastal wetlands for hurricane protection. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 37(4), 241-248. (paywall)
- Shaffer, G. P., Day Jr, J. W., Mack, S., Kemp, G. P., van Heerden, I., Poirrier, M. A., & Penland, P. S. (2009). The MRGO Navigation Project: a massive human-induced environmental, economic, and storm disaster. Journal of Coastal Research, 206-224.
- Engle, V. D. (2011). Estimating the provision of ecosystem services by Gulf of Mexico coastal wetlands. Wetlands, 31(1), 179-193.
- Masters, J. “Storm surge reduction by wetlands.”
More information and Recommended links
- Shepherd, M. “10 Years later, did we learn anything from Hurricane Katrina?” Forbes, Aug 14, 2015.
- Science Magazine’s special (open access) Hurricane Katrina Collection
- Environmental Protection Agency: “Coastal Wetlands”
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/intro/value/ - Environmental Protection Agency. 2001. “Functions and Values of Wetlands.”
