John S. Jacob- Ph.D.
- Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University
John S. Jacob
- Ph.D.
- Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University
About
32
Publications
5,626
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,001
Citations
Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
July 1997 - July 2019
Publications
Publications (32)
This case addresses an interactive participatory mapping tool (CHARM- Community
Health And Resource Management) that enables scenario planning, often critically
lacking in many aspects of hazard mitigation planning. In developing and
innovating a user-friendly participatory tool, this case highlights how the CHARM
e platform integrates the building...
A geoarchaeological investigation that included soil-stratigraphic and paleoecological analyses was conducted at Richard Beene, a deeply stratified open-air site associated with an alluvial terrace of the Medina River in south-central Texas. The sequence of cultural and alluvial deposits at the site is one of the most complete records of Holocene h...
Potential E. coli contamination in surface waters from on-site sewage facilities was investigated in the Dickinson Bayou watershed, Texas. This watershed is listed as impaired due to bacteria by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Two water quality monitoring stations, with flow meters and automatic water samplers, were installed in the...
Modern democracy cannot survive without effective citizen participation. The complexity of modern post-industrial life, unfortunately, is an impediment to participation. A new urban grant might be our best hope to enable real citizen participation in modern urban America, but Extension professionals would have to reach deep into our own past to res...
Since 1996, the bacteria levels in Dickinson Bayou have been considerably higher than the state limit of 126 colony forming units (CFU) / 100 mL for recreational waters. One hypothesis is that failing onsite sewage facilities (OSSFs) in the nearby residential areas are causing an increase of Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentrations in Dickinson Ba...
Depressional wetlands are distributed throughout the United States and provide many essential ecosystem services. It is important,
from both an ecological and a regulatory perspective, to understand the surface water pathways that connect such wetlands
to each other and to surrounding water bodies. For many of these wetlands systems, the amount of...
Hydrological processes of geographically isolated freshwater wetlands in relatively flat coastal settings are typically not highly transparent and are often variable from year to year. As a result, wetland ecohydrologists and regulators are struggling to determine which freshwater wetlands should be regulated. The decision hinges on whether or not...
A simple spreadsheet model was used to evaluate potential water quality benefits of high-density development. The question was whether the reduced land consumed by higher density development (vs. standard suburban developments) would offset the worse water quality generated by a greater amount of impervious surface in the smaller area. Total runo...
Rapid urbanization, industry, and agriculture have put enormous developmental pressure on coastal forested wetlands along the Texas coast. At least 97,000 acres of freshwater forested wetlands on the Texas coast have been lost since 1955, amid much larger losses of other coastal wetland types (TPWD-Texas Wetlands Conservation Plan, 1996). Some coas...
The study reported here assessed residents' perception of small, fast-growing coastal community on issues of quality of life, conservation, and growth. Data for the study were collected from an on-site survey in Aransas County, Texas from 2006 to 2007. Results show that the residents are concerned about preserving their natural resources, maintaini...
The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse policy frameworks that are important for facilitating adaptation to climate change impacts in coastal zones. The paper is based on a case study analysis of the Gulf of Mexico and examines two countries, the US and Mexico. It considers two climate change effects specific to coastal areas: sea level ri...
4 pp., 21 color photos People need parks. Great urban parks are places where communities come together, people interact, and social capital develops. Learn the characteristics of great urban parks and how they are created.
When enacting or administering stormwater education programs, it can be quite difficult to locate objective, science-based resources that can be used to inform the public of actions they can take to help reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff. The Texas A&M University System has produced a series of educational and technical resources that focus on...
A continuous record of organic carbon δ13C from a buried soil sequence in south-central Texas demonstrates: 1) strong coupling between marine and adjacent continental ecosystems in the late Pleistocene as a result of glacial meltwater entering the Gulf of Mexico and 2) ecosystem decoupling in the Holocene associated with a reduction of meltwater an...
Archaeological and ecological investigations in the Mirador
Basin of northern Guatemala have recovered archaeological,
phytolith, palynological, and pedological data relevant to the
early occupation and development of Maya civilization in a specific
environmental matrix. Fluctuation in vegetation types as evident
in cores and archaeological pr...
Wetland research in northern Belize provides the earliest evidence for development of agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Pollen data confirm the introduction of maize and manioc before 3000 B.C. Dramatic deforestation, beginning ca. 2500 B.C. and intensifying in wetland environments ca. 1500-1300 B.C., marks an expansion of agriculture, which occurr...
We investigated the soils and sediments of Cobweb Swamp, adjacent to the archaeological site of Colha in northern Belize, to adumbrate landscape evolution and the impact of the ancient Maya on a tropical palustrine wetland. The Cobweb section exposes a complex and dynamically evolving landscape, with a rich interplay between natural and human force...
A series of channel/island features at the archaeological site of Colha on the margins of Cobweb Swamp in northern Belize were determined to be relics of ancient wetland agricultural fields. Conformation of the stratigraphy in both mounded and nonmounded areas, as examined in pits and trenches, revealed definite human modification of the buried Cob...
{delta}{sup 13}C of organic carbon (OC) in soils and paleosols integrates the relative contribution of C{sub 3} and C{sub 4} plants to the soil OC pool. Geographic distribution and relative productivity of C{sub 4} species are both correlated strongly with temperature. {delta}{sup 13}C of paleosol OC should reflect long-term vegetation dynamics and...
A 5.4-m sequence of peat and marl overlying a basal clay in a northern Belize wetland was studied to assess salinity changes over the past 7000 yr. The distribution of ostracods, gastropods, and foraminifers revealed initially freshwater conditions in a terrestrial wetland, changing to at least mesohaline conditions by about 5600 yr B.P. The mesoha...
Clinoptilolite, a highly siliceous zeolite, was observed in tuffaceous sediments of the Texas Trans-Pecos volcanic field. A toposequence of three soils (a Ustollic Calciorthid, a Lithic Torriorthent, and a Ustollic Haplargid) was selected to study the pedogenic fate of clinoptilolite formed in the tuff. X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy wer...
Uno de los dilemas más grandes del estudio de los antiguos Mayas es la forma en que se sostuvieron en un ambiente que hoy se considera sumamente inhóspito. Los suelos de las Tierras Bajas generalmente son muy fértiles (Simmons et al 1959), pero la falta de agua en la época de sequía hace casi imposible la vida en esta región, salvo cerca de los muy...
16 pp., 20 color photos, 1 graph, 3 illustrations As our towns and cities grow, we have choices to make about our natural areas, our historic heritage, our mobility, our sense of community, and even our health and safety. The loss of natural areas and the beneficial effect they have on a city's environment can be a serious consequence of uncontroll...
