Our laboratory focuses on questions relating to the structure and function of salt marsh ecosystems and coastal embayments, including predation, herbivory, decomposition and nutrient cycles, eutrophication in coastal marine communities, watershed and coastal water interactions. We have been investigating short- and long-term consequences of experimental eutrophication of salt marshes, using those manipulations to study how producers, consumers, and decomposers are linked in salt marshes and how these components of ecosystems are related to geochemical cycles of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, to decomposition of organic matter, and to issues of eutrophication of salt marshes. We also investigate the coupling of coastal watersheds and shallow coastal waters, including coastal bays and lagoons. Increased urbanization of coastal watersheds leads to increased nutrient loading of groundwater. Since groundwater flows to the sea, it transports nutrients to nearshore waters. We are measuring the extent of the nutrient transport to coastal bays on Cape Cod and examining the consequences of nutrient entry on water quality, nutrient cycles, producers, and consumers.
