Full Name

Ken Foreman

I am especially interested in shallow bays and estuaries that receive the majority of their nutrient inputs through submarine groundwater discharge. These shallow systems differ from more well studied deep systems like main stem of Chesapeake Bay in that enough light reaches the bottom sediments to sustain significant benthic primary productivity. In nutrient-poor shallow systems, eelgrass communities thrive, but as these systems become eutrophic due to nutrient inputs, macroalgae replace eelgrass , hypoxia becomes more frequent and some desirable species, like scallops, are lost. I have been studying the factors controlling nutrient loading via groundwater and the effects of this loading on total ecosystem metabolism, phytoplankton abundance and production in two estuaries on Cape Cod, Waquoit Bay, and in West Falmouth Harbor. The West Falmouth Harbor research is part of a larger study funded through a NSF Biocomplexity grant that involves collaborators from Cornell and the University of Virginia. I am also co-principal investigator on a project evaluating innovative alternative approaches to remediating nitrogen pollution using a permeable reactive barrier to intercept and denitrify nitrates in groundwater.