Large-scale Mississippi River diversions may help restore Louisiana's vanishing coastal wetlands at the expense of some of the nation's most valuable seafood, new research shows.
"The large-scale diversions will likely cause shifts in salinity, which have huge implications for the plants and animals that need a specific salinity," Hongqing Wang, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of the study, said in a news release. "Oysters, in particular, need suitable salinities in estuaries in order to grow big enough to harvest and to produce the next generation."
The study, conducted in collaboration with LSU's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, was published last month in Estuaries and Coasts, a journal of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Daily Comet
