Search

This article examines the suitability and potential advances of decision-theoretic models from finance regarding investment decisions in shoreline stabilization projects. A set of scenarios represents the dynamics of the decision-state facing the planner and identifies factors that should be incorporated into the decision-making process. It is shown that decision models from finance can account for the risk and uncertainty inherent in shoreline stabilization projects, potentially suggest improvements and refinements to presently used cost-benefit analysis procedures, and offer new tools that can aid in decisions concerning provision of shoreline stabilization. The outcomes of these scenarios justify better planning and control of existing and future building, and that of poststorm policies. Lastly, these models allow us to explore the range of our understanding of coastal processes and interactions with shoreline stabilization projects and can identify new and useful data needed in coastal management and hazard management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its ancestral home in Indo-Burma, the mango was spread into the Western Hemisphere by the Portuguese and Spanish during the period of exploration and discovery. It was brought into Florida over a century ago and, through intermittent periods of wax and wane, mango production has become concentrated on the crestal portions of a Pleistocene limestone surface in southeastern Dade County. The Pleistocene surface, however, is also highly valued for residential development, and the mango groves are gradually being converted to urban land use. Although the groves are being displaced, many trees are retained in the urban setting and continue to produce fruit for the commercial market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The largest Gulf coast alluvial plain in Mexico lies primarily in the state of Tabasco. Although predominantly a fluvial-deltaic plain the coastal landforms contribute beach-ridge topography which extends inland up to twenty miles. Beach ridges attain fullest development adjacent to distributory channels and reflect periods of active discharge. Trenching of the ridges disclosed their internal stratification to comprise forest units which suggest sequences of washover deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]