OUR GOALS
We are an interdisciplinary group of scientists, land managers, and environmental educators examining how coastal wetlands are responding to rising temperatures, seas, and nutrient loads. Working in collaboration with the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) in St. Augustine, FL, we focus on understanding the complex ways human activity impacts wetland ecosystem processes to inform better restoration practices and maintain wetland ecosystem services for an uncertain future.
GTMNERR sits on the ancestral home of the Timucuan people.
OUR WORK
In the NSF-funded WETFEET project we are using warming and nutrient addition experiments to determine whether coastal wetlands keep pace with rising seas. As temperatures and nitrogen levels continue to increase, the dominant vegetation of the GTMNERR is also shifting from grassy marshes to woody mangroves. The ongoing loss of wetlands and conversion of marshes to mangroves could dramatically alter coastal nitrogen budgets and interact with the increasing eutrophication of U.S. coastal waters.
Experimenting with Elevation is a collaboration exploring management options for wetland elevation maintenance through engaging scientists, land managers, environmental educators, and other stakeholders across northeast FL. Funded by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative.
Roots and Rakes is a continuation of work started with EWE to explore the creation of oyster shell rakes along the Intercoastal Waterway and their impacts on marsh health and nutrient cycling. Funded by The Friends of the GTM.
