Robert Howarth &

Roxanne Marino

Cornell University

Visiting Summer Scientists
Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Laboratory
Woods Hole, MA. 

Our research interests include:  biogeochemistry; interactions of element cycles; global and regional nitrogen and phosphorous cycles; aquatic ecosystem biology; biotic, physical, and geochemical controls on nitrogen fixation in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems; influence of land-use, management practices, and climate change on export of substances from land to waters; atmospheric deposition of nitrogen onto the landscape; controls and consequences of eutrophication in estuaries; sediment biogeochemistry, particularly in seagrass ecosystems; environmental management and the effects of pollutants on aquatic ecosystems; interactions between ecosystem processes and community structure; application of science to sustaining the biosphere.

Current research topic: Nitrogen pollution has severely degraded two-thirds of the coastal marine ecosystems of the United States, but the pathways of effects in shallow lagoon systems are poorly known. This project is part of a larger NSF funded effort to evaluate the biogeochemical feedbacks that may aggravate or mitigate nitrogen pollution in a shallow harbor near Woods Hole, West Falmouth Harbor, which is experiencing a rapid increase in nitrogen pollution. Specific REU projects may involve the effects of nitrogen pollution on ecosystem metabolism and oxygen dynamics, the role of seagrass vegetation in sequestering nutrients on a variety of time scales (hours to days to seasons), and the role of nitrogen additions in suppressing natural nitrogen inputs through nitrogen fixation.

To learn more about our research, visit Bob Howarth's faculty website at: http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/howarth/default.html and the North American Nitrogen Center website at: http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/biogeo/nanc/NANC.htm


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