A rapid assessment of the effects of Tropical Storm Alberto and Hurricane Beryl on colonial waterbirds nesting on the Texas coast
Hurricane Beryl (animation courtesy of the National Weather Service)
Tropical Storm Alberto and Hurricane Beryl impacted the Texas coast during June and July of 2024, damaging property and coastal wildlife, including sensitive colonial nesting waterbird species. However, little is known about how waterbirds respond to tropical storms because it is impractical to design studies to test for effects due to the unpredictability of tropical storms. Therefore, researchers at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, and Texas A&M University Kingsville collaborated to offer a rapid assessment of how colonial waterbirds nesting on the mid and lower Texas coast were affected by two storms that differed in their level of storm surge, wind, precipitation, and in location of landfall. The institutions were able to assess the impacts of storms on waterbird rookery islands because they were already collecting data on island conditions and the number of nesting colonial waterbird nests before and after the storms for an ongoing NOAA-funded research project. The rapid assessment, which documents island erosion, habitat loss, and nest failure and survival, will be shared with agencies and non-governmental organizations charged with managing our coastal ecosystems to inform them of current conditions and impacts from tropical cyclones to these iconic Gulf of Mexico birds.
The document may be viewed and downloaded below: