Research Projects
We conduct research all over New Jersey and the United States
Ongoing research projects
Impacts of sea-level rise on salt marsh methane emissions
There is a strong and growing interest in preserving and restoring salt marshes along the New Jersey coast because of their ability to store “blue carbon” in their soil, preventing it from entering the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and contributing to climate change. In fact, blue carbon storage is central to New Jersey’s plan to achieve its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However, some of the blue carbon stored in salt marshes is consumed by microorganisms that produce methane, a greenhouse gas 45 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Sea-level rise (SLR) is likely to alter salt marsh methane emissions because it will increase the salinity of estuaries and increase the amount of time that salt marsh plants spend inundated. Both of these things will change soil microbial processes and plant growth in ways that are likely to alter methane emissions in unpredictable ways. To simulate the combined future changes in marsh elevation and estuary salinity caused by SLR, we will install “marsh organs” at 3 locations along a natural salinity gradient with plants held 5 different elevations relative to sea level. We will then measure methane emissions, soil methane concentrations and transformation rates, and rates of plant-mediated gas exchange along these experimental elevation and salinity gradients. Finally, we will create a tool that planners and managers can use to estimate likely future methane emissions from salt marshes. This will allow them to prioritize proposed restoration/preservation projects by selecting sites with minimum predicted methane emissions and maximum long-term climate benefits.
It's always winter in the cold room
Assessing salt marsh health using drones
Increasing the resilience of New Jersey’s tidal wetlands to sea-level rise is of utmost importance. Tidal wetlands provide a myriad of ecosystem services from cleaning water to buffering coastal developments from storms. NJ has more than 200,000 acres of tidal wetlands, most of which are owned and managed by the State. Traditional field methods for assessing tidal wetland condition are time- and resource-intensive. The Division of Fish and Wildlife, as well as other wetland monitoring and restoration entities in the State, are looking for efficient, cost-effective ways to map plant communities and assess the health of tidal wetlands. Remote sensing of plant health has been done for decades from satellite sensors measuring the wavelengths of light absorbed and reflected by green plants. Certain pigments in plant leaves strongly absorb wavelengths of visible (red) light. The leaves themselves strongly reflect wavelengths of near-infrared light, which is invisible to human eyes. Using an algorithm, the raw data is transformed into a vegetation index that can be used to indicate the relative density and health of vegetation. Satellite imagery has lower resolution (km2) than the spatial scale of variability in wetland plant communities and habitat (m2). In contrast, drones can collect multispectral imagery at the spatial resolution required to assess wetland plant community health, even being able to isolate individual plants. We are developing a method for mapping plant communities and tidal wetland condition using drones equipped with multispectral imaging. We will validate the results derived from processed drone imagery using traditional field methods for assessing and understanding tidal wetland health. This includes measuring soil and pore water chemistry, the focus of Rowan’s contribution to this effort.
It's always winter in the cold room
Investigating leaf compost for use in salt marsh restoration
Salt marshes are an integral part of the New Jersey coast, providing valuable ecosystem services including flood, storm surge, and wave protection, habitat providence wildlife, carbon sequestration, and nitrogen removal. The New Jersey coast boasts over 200,000 acres of tidal wetlands, but most of these wetlands are steadily losing elevation relative to sea level because of ongoing, rapid sea-level rise (SLR), and may ultimately be lost to drowning. A substantial fraction of these vulnerable marshes are located within the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge that sprawls across 48,000 acres of southern New Jersey. Forsythe staff are committed to preventing or slowing this process and are actively conducting research into best practices to achieve this goal. One proposed solution to this problem is a salt marsh enhancement practice known as thin layer placement (TLP). Waterways need to be dredged periodically to maintain their navigability, and instead of disposing of this dredged material, it can be pumped or sprayed onto the salt marsh surface, raising its elevation, and helping it keep pace with SLR. The quality of sediment applied during TLP is very important for plant growth and marsh recovery and health. Dredged material is often sandy and very low in organic matter compared with the organic-rich marsh peat that one finds naturally in healthy salt marshes. We are working with Joe Smith, a Wildlife Biologist at Forsythe, on an experiment to test the response of plant growth to different soil types, including organic-rich municipal leaf compost and dredged sediment, and to determine if soil type affects greenhouse gas emissions.
A novel, low-cost methane datalogger for continuous deployment in wetland soil
Salt marshes provide a natural mechanism to combat climate change by burying carbon in its plant roots and soil, making them essential in removing carbon from the atmosphere. However, these wetlands are a large source of methane, which counteracts this carbon burial. Methane, being a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is especially important to measure in salt marshes as we move forward with increasing climate change. Currently, there are no models of methane dataloggers that can be deployed for long periods of time (months to years) that exist to measure direct continuous methane concentrations in the soil over a given time frame.