Welcome to aquatic ecosystem ecology @RIT!

Our research explores the interactions between aquatic organisms and their environment that drive ecosystem function. Land-margin ecosystems, both marine and freshwater, are among the most valuable to humans but are also the most heavily impacted ecosystems on Earth, with human-associated disturbance causing drastic changes to steady-state ecosystem structure and function. Understanding how aquatic organisms respond to, or even create, perturbation and thereby affect biogeochemical cycling, biodiversity, water quality, and provision of ecosystem services under these changing conditions is imperative to predict future changes and inform appropriate management strategies. 

We are currently working on a wide variety of projects:

Improving wetland restoration techniques to maximize ecosystem services and minimize "disservices".
How do emerging contaminant such as engineered nanomaterials and microplastics influence the ecology and biogeochemistry of lakes?  
Using remote sensing to predict vulnerability of salt marshes and assess carbon sequestration potential.
Sustainable management of food waste to minimize ecological risks.
Using artificial intelligence to monitor invasive plants.