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Project Investigators: Ashwini Kucknoor, Biology Department

Mosquito-borne diseases are rapidly spreading due to increasing international travel and trade. The
word arbovirus is derived from arthropod-borne virus (arthropod-borne virus). Arboviruses are mostly
small RNA viruses that belong to 4 families: Flaviviridae, Bunyaviridae, Reoviridae, and Togaviridae.
Examples include California encephalitis, Chikungunya, Dengue, Eastern equine encephalitis,
Powassan, St. Louis encephalitis, West Nile, Yellow Fever and Zika virus. Infections by these viruses
usually occur during warm weather months when mosquitoes and ticks are active. According to the
World Health Organization, dengue virus infection has increased 30-fold over the past 50 years and now
affects nearly 100 million people, primarily in the Americas and Asia. Standing flood waters are also
favorable places for mosquitos to breed. As a result, the incidence of vector-borne viral diseases can
increase after hurricanes. Accurate, rapid, and cost-effective surveillance of vector-borne pathogens is
critical for monitoring infection prevalence and thereby mitigating transmission risk. Animal
surveillance is also passive and is highly dependent on resources available for specimen collection and
testing. Texas does not have a state-wide mosquito control program; individual jurisdictions or mosquito
control districts allocate resources to routinely collect mosquitoes using a variety of different mosquito traps. Therefore, mosquito surveillance data in Texas are not a complete representation of virus transmission in the state. Mosquito control districts, the Texas Department of State Health Services state arboviral laboratory, or third-party laboratories test mosquito collections for the presence of arboviral infection, usually by molecular methods, and report results to the Zoonosis Control Branch (ArbovirusActivity in Texas 2019 Surveillance Report).

Recently, our lab completed a mosquito barcoding project of Jefferson County, funded by office of
undergraduate research, wherein we have identified the mosquito species collected by Jefferson County
Mosquito Control department using molecular barcoding techniques. Results showed that three important species of mosquitoes that are vectors for arboviruses are predominantly present in our area. Therefore, the objective of this proposal is to identify arboviruses in the mosquito samples that have already been barcoded, using qRT-PCR method. In addition, new samples will be collected and analyzed, to determine the effects of changing weather conditions such as a hurricane or major storms impacting the pathogen carrying ability of the mosquitoes, specifically related to arboviruses.

Project Investigators: Kole M. Kubicek (Assistant Professor of Ichthyology, Department of Biology)

Estuaries along the Gulf Coast provide nursery habitat (e.g., seagrass beds, coastal marshes)
which serve as a refuge for juvenile fishes and invertebrates and provide essential resources for
adult individuals of numerous species, many of which of are of economic and cultural
importance. As a result, nursery habitats are essential in maintaining the ecological integrity and
resiliency of marine ecosystems. The persistence of a productive nursery habitat in an estuary is
partially dependent on the recruitment of larvae into these systems. This is dependent on both
biotic and environmental factors, the latter of which vary regularly on a weekly, monthly and
annual basis. Gaining a better understanding on the conditions and timing of larval settlement
within an estuary can provide information on potential fluctuations in populations of different
species and help inform management decisions. However, current management of fisheries along
the Texas Gulf Coast is based primarily on data collected from sampling targeting juveniles and
adults with surveys of larval communities lacking.

Sabine Lake is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas. It is devoid of
seagrass beds and nursery habitat in the ecosystem is instead solely dependent on coastal
marshes. However, the Texas shoreline of Sabine Lake has been heavily altered by hydrological
diversions and shoreline rock revetments for the creation of ship channels needed for Maritime
commerce, cutting off connections between the open water of the estuary and marshland habitat.
This effectively restricts nursery habitats to the Louisiana Coast and a few sites along the Texas
shoreline. Despite this, there is a highly productive, local recreational fishery located on Pleasure
Island, Port Arthur, Texas that is centered around a manmade dredge placement compartment
within the island’s north revetment. The enclosed compartment consists of open water habitat
with emergent vegetation along much of the perimeter and maintains a connection with Sabine
Lake via tidal flow through two sets of 3ft diameter pipes. This design effectively mimics the
tidal connection common to coastal marshes and the compartment may serve as a supplemental
nursery habitat on the otherwise heavily modified Texas shoreline.

The goal of this study is to conduct the first survey, to our knowledge, of larval fish and
invertebrate communities in Sabine Lake. As a part of this preliminary survey, the larval
communities of the manmade dredge material compartment will be compared with that of the
open estuarine water as well as unmodified nursery habitat to assess its potential as an artificial nursery habitat with successful larval recruitment. To accomplish this, larval fish and invertebrate population inventories will be conducted on a monthly basis in three distinct regions within Sabine Lake to account for different habitat types within the system. In addition to community composition as a whole, we will also specifically focus on target fisheries species (e.g., Southern Flounder). Data collected from surveys will be analyzed to determine what if any differences exist between the larval communities in various habitats of Sabine Lake and what if any environmental variables may explain these differences. 

This proposed project should complete the remeasurement of approximately 330 National
Geodetic Survey (NGS) benchmarks (survey markers) that were originally measured using the
GNSS RTK Network method from 2010 through 2012. These benchmarks occur in Jefferson,
Orange, Chambers, Hardin, Liberty, Jasper, and Newton Counties. The earlier survey was
designed to determine average subsidence or uplift rates for these benchmarks by comparing the
original elevation measured at the time of monumentation (installation) with the measurements
made during the 2010 through 2012 campaign. If the new elevations were lower, subsidence
occurred. If they were higher, uplift occurred. The average rates of subsidence or uplift were
determined by subtracting the old elevation from the new one and dividing it by the difference in
time between the older measurement and the newer one. The results are average subsidence (-)
or uplift (+) rates for each benchmark in mm/yr. The problem with this method is that the date
those older elevation observations were made are assumed to be the date the benchmarks were
installed. Although a good assumption, it may not always be correct. In addition, many of these
benchmarks were monumented many years ago (up to approximately 80 years ago) so the
average rates that are determined are relatively long-term rates.

By remeasuring as many of the approximately 330 benchmarks as can be found again using the
same equipment and techniques, we are comparing measurements that were made in 2010
through 2012 with those that were and will be made in 2023 through 2024. This will yield
relatively recent subsidence, or uplift rates averaged over only the last 11 to 15 years. In
addition, the exact date and time of the ca. 2011 measurements and 2023-2025 measurements are
known, so that uncertainty is taken out of the equation.

The 2023 remeasurement campaign resulted in 88 benchmarks being remeasured in Jefferson
County and surrounding areas. It also resulted in a thesis that is in the process of being rewritten
for a manuscript. The current summer 2024 campaign is expected to have remeasured about 120
benchmarks when it completes at the end of July. This leave approximately 120 benchmarks to
be remeasured during this proposed project. After completion, all remeasured benchmarks will
be put into one database for distribution and analysis to determine the relatively recent
subsidence or uplift rates, and to compare them to those rates calculated previously after the ca.
2011 campaign. Subsidence/uplift rate maps will also be made, and a thesis will be written and
published. These results are expected to be the most comprehensive subsidence/uplift rate
measurements available for Southeast Texas based on reoccupation of benchmarks using RTK
GNSS techniques. The results are expected to aid many organizations, particularly government
entities, to understand how fast subsidence or uplift is occurring in their areas of interest and how
that may impact the people they serve. The results can also be used as ground-truth control for
newer InSAR subsidence/uplift studies.

Project Investigators: Randall Yoder.

The health and existence of humans is intricately intertwined and highly dependent on the larger ecosystems of which we are only a part.  Resilience of our human communities is also linked to resilience of those ecosystems.  It is known that the ability of systems to recover from perturbation is enhanced by the presence of numerous different species in the community.  Parasites of other organisms often go unnoticed, unidentified, and unquantified.  Relatively recent studies have shown that they make up significant proportions of the biomass in some ecosystems.  They are known to affect energy flow and several other aspects of ecosystems and in general, diverse parasite communities are thought to be good indicators of overall healthy ecosystems.  I propose to survey the parasites of various freshwater fish species of this region to contribute to the small amount of existing data on those parasite communities.  I will concentrate but not limit efforts to smaller fish species which have received comparatively little attention.  Fish will be collected using traditional means such as minnow traps, seins, and gill nets.  Fish will be collected from a variety of habitats including, backwater sloughs, rivers and creeks and drainage ditches.  Fish will be transported to the laboratory, identified, measured, and euthanized in MS222.  External surfaces will be examined for ectoparasites.  Fishes will be necropsied, and organs placed in separate Petri dishes and examined under stereomicroscope for helminth and other macroparasites.  Parasites will be preserved stained and mounted for identification using standard techniques.  Measures of parasitism (eg. prevalence, abundance, etc.) will be calculated for each species.  Basic statistical analyses will be conducted to elucidate any relationships between fish size, sex, etc. and measures of parasitism.  The project proposed here is essentially an extension of the one funded last year.  That funding made it possible to pay 3 graduate and 5 undergraduate students to participate in research.  Over 180 fish have been necropsied revealing over 800 parasites belonging to at least 13 taxa.  The project ended up focusing on one site throughout the year and student effort was concentrated on fish necropsy.  Extending the funding will allow for sampling form new locations and involving students in the identification of parasites and analysis of data.  It is still my plan to use this project as a springboard to more projects and application for external funding, including a Thicket of Diversity grant for study within the Big Thicket National Preserve.   

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