Departmental Research Areas:
- Management of Nutrients, Pesticides, and Wastes
- Soil Quality/Ecosystem Services
- Wetlands and Aquatic Systems
- Remediation of Contaminated Soils, Waters, and Aquifers
Research focus:
Research thus far has dealt with the measurement and understanding of in situ rates of biogeochemical processes involving carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur cycling. Ecosystems of interest include both salt and freshwater wetland marshes, lakes, rivers, and springs. A combination of traditional nutrient and flux analyses, enzyme activities, novel microscopic and isotopic approaches are utilized. More recent studies have focused on measurement of cyanobacterial mat nitrogenase activity, the use of stable isotopes (natural abundance and enriched levels) to infer biogeochemical processes and trace the fate of nutrients, and measurements of bacterial production and dissolved organic matter interactions in aquatic systems. The ultimate goal of this research is to better understand how environmental factors control biogeochemical reactions in landscape settings.
