My research interests are focused
in the coastal zone but range from effects of land use change on hydrology
and water quality of watersheds to the effects of sea level rise on the vitality
of intertidal salt marshes. In the Ipswich River watershed in northeastern
Massachusetts, my collaborators and I have been examining the effect of anthropogenic
activities, such as water withdrawals for municipal use, and climate change
on the timing and magnitude of water runoff to the estuary. We have also
been determining the nutrient signature" of water runoff from different land
uses, including urban, agriculture and forest. We plan to conduct experiments
in various river reaches to determine important sites of nutrient processing
and withdrawal. In the estuary we have been studying estuarine metabolism
and nutrient biogeochemistry and trying to determine the relative importance
of various organic matter sources such as watersheds, algae, and marshes.
We are also interested in how marshes will respond to increasing rates of
sea level rise. We are trying to determine relationships between marsh geomorphology
and sediment accretion rates.
Determining the role of riverine wetlands in
maintaining water quality
Examining nutrient processing in stream
hyporheic zones
Measuring marsh fragmentation — the role
of ice rafting and marsh decomposition?
Examination of why estuarine creeks and
sounds are so heterotrophic — does heterotrophy result from in situ respiratory
activity or from the inputs of respiratory products produced in adjacent
systems?
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