Current Projects
Carbon sequestration potential around restored oyster reefs
Oyster reefs provide a variety of ecosystem services, including food production, habitat formation, improved water quality, and shoreline protection. One underexplored role of oyster reefs that has recently been examined is the role that oyster reefs might play in carbon sequestration along the coastline. As benthic-pelagic couplers, oysters contribute to mass burial of fixed organic carbon into sediments around their reefs, especially fringing reefs that help stabilize sediments. This project is supported by Yamaha Rightwaters, in collaboration with Dr. Tyler Cyronak at SEES and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Effects of groundwater discharge on seagrass in Florida Bay
Florida Bay has experienced multiple seagrass die-off events over the past 20 years. This project, funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency, will explore relationships between groundwater discharge and seagrass populations in basins that experienced different groundwater die-off intensity. The project is in collaboration with Dr. Jacque Kelly in the Geology and Geography Department at Georgia Southern, Dr. Jennifer Rehage at Florida International University, and Dr. Bradley Furman at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Examining multiple stressors on oyster aquaculture from the estuary to the bag
Oyster aquaculture is a growing industry in the southeast US. This project seeks to explore the water quality conditions oysters experience within individual bags and relate that to water quality at the farm and at the estuary level. Funded by Georgia Sea Grant, this project is focused on the relationship between oyster density and both dissolved oxygen and pH and will help make recommendations to growers on grow-out. This project is a collaboration between Dr. Danny Gleason of the Institute for Coastal Plain Science at Georgia Southern, Thomas Bliss at the Georgia Sea Grant shellfish hatchery, and Dr. Christopher Hintz from Savannah State University.
Algal turf scrubber technology to remediate nutrient pollution
Algal turf scrubber (ATS) technology uses a downward sloping flow-way to cultivate turf algae mats. As water flows over the growing algae mat, nutrients are removed and the water is cleaned. The resulting biomass can have many uses, and our group is exploring potential uses for biomass. With funding from the Henry David Thoreau Foundation, working with Dr. Anthony Siccardi and Dr. Jenifer Zettler in the Biology Department, as well as Art faculty, we are converting algal biomass into a bio-clay material that can be sculpted and potentially used for oyster restoration.
Assessing the utility of eDNA techniques to monitor white shrimp abundance on the Georgia coast
White shrimp are a valuable commercial fishery in Georgia, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources uses traditional techniques (trawling) to monitor their populations. Trawling can be destructive and results in a lot of bycatch, while being labor intensive. Working with Dr. Stephen Greiman and Dr. Jamie Roberts, this Georgia DNR funded project will assess the utility of eDNA - environmental DNA that organisms shed - as a potential monitoring tool. If successful, eDNA could be a cheaper alternative for monitoring. Graduate student Raven Hurt also received a Georgia Sea Grant Research Traineeship to work on this project.
How do environmental conditions and oyster population genetics influence pathogen prevalence and intensity?
Oysters are an ecologically and economically important species along the Georgia coast, making it critical to understand how stressors might affect management. Our preliminary research suggested that disease prevalence is high, but variable, in Georgia, and that oysters on reefs are more related to each other than to oysters on nearby reefs. Collaborating with Drs. Stephen Greiman and Scott Harrison, we are exploring the interplay between oyster disease and genetics. We are also starting to screen for Vibrios in this Georgia Sea Grant funded project.