Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation

Wading through muddy waters: The policy, microbiology, and hydrodynamics of estuarine restoration

Main content start

The overarching goal of this project is to understand how the salt marsh ecosystem could be affected by proposed hydrological modifications. To achieve this, we propose to monitor a section of tidal marsh with a sediment observatory in order to characterize the present system. We will then reduce the flow in this stretch of tidal marsh by installing a sill in the tidal channel, which will reduce velocities and create an anoxic zone behind the sill, mimicking eutrophic conditions. The sediment observatory will be used to monitor the changes to the system, in conjunction with assessment of how the microbial community and structure and functioning changes. These results will be extrapolated to demonstrate how the estuary might respond to the proposed modifications and what the implications of these results could be for the management of the system.

Project: Wading through muddy waters: the policy, microbiology, and hydrodynamics of estuarine restoration
Funding Source: Environmental Venture Projects 
Funding Year: 2007
Research Areas: Oceans
Regions: North America

Research Team:
Chris Francis (Earth System Science),
Margaret Caldwell,
Steve Monismith (Engineering & Oceans)