Completed Research Projects

• Aquifer Denitrification in the Lower Florida (PI) Evaluating the potential for denitrification in the plume from deep disposal of treated wastewater [1 year project, 2014, funded by Gainesville Regional Utilities]

• Snail Controls on Algal Proliferation in the Ichetucknee River (PI) Trophic controls on ecosystem primary producer changes. [2 year project, 2011 - 2012, funded by Three Rivers Trust]

• Springs Restoration Plans (PI) Design of Restoration Plans for 3 Springs [1 year project, 2010, funded by FDEP]

• Models of Forest Water Yield (PI) Model investigation of water yield potential from altered management of coastal plain plantation forests. [1 year project, 2012, funded by Rayonier Corporation]

• Nitrate processing in Springs Coast Rivers (Co-PI) Investigation on N cycling in coastal rivers. [2 year project, 2011 - 2013, funded by SWFWMD]

• Monitoring and Restoration Plan - Greater Everglades (PI) Sampling to inform restoration performance. [1 year project, 2010, funded by SFWMD]

• Collaborative Research: High Resolution Sensor Networks for Quantifying and Predicting Surface-Groundwater Mixing and Nutrient Delivery to the Santa Fe River, Florida (Co-PI) Exploration of sensor networks for river basin monitoring [3 year project, 2010 - 2012, funded by NSF-Hydrologic Sciences]

• Determining the Age of Spring Vent Water (Co-PI) Exploring flow variation in measured mean water age [2 year project, 2011 - 2012, funded by Three Rivers Trust]

• Spatial Nutrient Loading in the Newnans Lake Watershed (PI) Identifying sources of P to a hypereutrophic lake with low intensity land uses. [2 year project, 2008 - 2010, funded by SJRWMD]

• Mechanisms of N loss in Springs and Rivers (PI) Explore the fate and effects of elevated N in Florida's Springs. [2 year project, 2008 - 2010, funded by SJRWMD]

• Hydrologic Changes in Isolated Forested Wetlands in Response to Urbanization (PI) Hydrology of geographically isolated wetlands [2 year project, 2008 - 2010, funded by USEPA]

• Controls on Delivery and Fate of Water, Nitrogen, and Calcium in a Spring-Fed Karst River (Co_PI) Carbonate weathering and elemental cycling in a large productive spring fed river. [3 year project, 2008 - 2011, funded by NSF]

• Statistical Modeling of Chemotaxonomic and Water Quality Associations (PI) Effort to understand the role of water chemistry in regulating autotroph competition. [1 year project, 2008, funded by SFWMD]

• Recovery and Regeneration of Forested Wetlands after Harvest: Evaluation of Best Management Practices in Florida (Co-PI) Cypress regeneration after wetland logging using new and traditional logging treatments. [3 year project, 2007 - 2010, funded by USEPA]

• Springs Nutrient Summary and Synthesis (Co-PI) Synthesis of evidence regarding nutrient concentrations and impacts to spring ecosystems. [1 year project, 2007, funded by FDEP]

• Isotope Tracing of Nitrate Sources in the Ichetucknee Springs Complex (PI) Using isotope tracers to track the pathways of N retention. [1 year project, 2007, funded by Three Rivers Trust]

• Scales and Resolution of Soil Nutrient Mapping in the Greater Everglades (Co-PI) Spatial patterns of soil chemistry and impacts for ecosystem development and regional mappin. [2 year project, 2007-2009, funded by USACoE]

• Evaluating Decomposition Dynamics, Community Composition and Ridge Senescence in the Ridge-Slough Mosaic of the Florida Everglades (PI) Effort to understand the origins of the ridge-slough patterned landscape. [4 year project, 2007-2010, funded by USACoE]

• Design and Demonstration of a Distributed Sensor Array for Predicting Water Flow and Nitrate Flux in the Santa Fe Basin (Co-PI) Novel sensor applications for river metabolism and flux measurements. [3 year project, 2006-2008, funded by NSF-Hydrologic Sciences]

• Spatial Nutrient Loading in the Newnans Lake Watershed (PI) Sources of nutrients to a shallow eutrophic lake, and modeling of lake behavior. [2 year project, 2006-2008, funded by SJRWMD]

• Mapping Sediment Quality in Lake Okeechobee (PI) Mapping changes in lake sediment after hurricane impacts and in response to restoration actions. [2 year project, 2007, funded by SFWMD]

• Rapid Assessment of Restoration Performance Measure at Multiple Scales in the Greater Everglades (PI) NIR Spectroscopy applied to Everglades peat soils. [2 year project, 2006-2007, funded by National Park Service]

• NIR Spectroscopy for Routine Agronomic Soil Analysis (Co-PI) NIR spectroscopy testing in coordination with regional soil testing lab. [2 year project, 2005-2006, funded by FDACS]

Ecohydrology - Fall 2021

Ecohydrology - Fall 2019

Forest Water Resources - Spring 2018

Watershed Management and Restoration - Fall 2018

Models of Forest Water Resources - Spring 2016

Matt Cohen, PhD (Principal Investigator)

I got my PhD from the University of Florida in 2003 and have been on the UF faculty since 2006. I am interested in almost everything, but retain a hallowed place in my personal and professional life for water. My research interests focus on the coupling of water and ecosystem processes, encompassing all of the connections and processes that occur along a raindrop’s path from the sky to the sea. Living in Florida, I’ve developed an inordinate fondness for wetlands. Living in these times, I maintain a deep commitment to empiricism. I teach classes in forest hydrology, watershed management and ecohydrology.

Here's my CV, ORCID, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar links. I am rarely on Twitter as @DrAquaMatt and have a (slightly) longer biography.

Esther Lee, PhD (Postdoc Scholar)

I received B.S. (2014), M.S. (2016), and Ph.D. (2021) all in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I joined Dr. Cohen’s research group as a postdoc since 2021. I study complex interactions between soil, water, climate, vegetation, and human systems and my research interests include ecohydrologic processes over various climate regimes, interaction between coexisting plants in their water use, and ecosystem response to changes in climate.

Katie Glodzik, PhD (Postdoc Scholar)

I'm a postdoctoral associate specialized in coastal and wetland ecology, geospatial analysis, and quantitative ecology. I did my PhD at UF in Interdisciplinary Ecology, focusing on saltwater intrusion and hydrologic change impacts to coastal wetlands. I have a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University and I've worked as a GIS consultant for non-profit conservation groups and government. I'm also interested in economics and behavioral science. I love hiking, swimming, and cooking, and I've recently been dabbling in archery and acrylics painting.

Yuseung Shin (PhD student)

I'm interested in stream ecology as a way to represent diverse ecosystem functions of flowing waters and to reflect the environmental changes of a watershed. I earned my master's degree from the Seoul National University by studying carbon dynamics between soils and streams. Currently, my PhD works in the University of Florida focus on ecosystem-level stream metabolism, which refers to photosynthesis and respiration. My research aims to understand the temporal patterns of stream metabolism and how those patterns are driven by abiotic factors, such as light, flow, temperature, and nutrients.

Josh Epstein, PhD (Lab technician)

I received my MS degree in wildlife ecology and conservation in August 2016 from the University of Florida where I measured the functional diversity of freshwater fish communities across the southeastern United States. I received my PhD in forest resources and conservation in August 2021 from the University of Florida where I studied the hydrology and biodiversity of geographically isolated wetlands in three Florida wetlandscapes (Big Cypress National Preserve, Ordway-Swisher Biological Station, and Austin Cary Forest). My research focuses on understanding the environmental and spatial drivers of aquatic biodiversity, and more specifically, how the timing and duration of inundation and hydrologic connectivity influence species composition.

Gregory Owen (MSc student)

I graduated from the University of Florida in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree. My research interest is focused on springs ecology and restoration. Currently I split time between by duties as a student researcher, and my full time job at Alachua County Environmental Protection Department where I manage a group a team engaged in water quality monitoring and restoration. When not at work or the University, I can be found shooting hoops on the basketball court, or walking in the woods with “Beans” my black Goldendoodle.

Sam Howley (MSc student)

Sam is an Interdisciplinary Ecology MS student in the School of Natural Resource Conservation and the Environment and joined the Ecohydrology Lab in Fall 2021. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Science at the University of Florida where she conducted research on landcover’s influence on stormwater pond nutrient dynamics in AJ Reisinger’s Urban Ecology Lab. After graduating, Sam worked as a field technician on an interdisciplinary project concerning prescribed fire effects on savanna pine wetlands. During her MS thesis, Sam is researching the impacts of flow reversals on spring ecology via metabolic gas concentrations and efflux. She is broadly interested in biogeochemistry, hydrologic connectivity, and anthropogenic impacts on hydrologic systems. When she isn’t in the lab, Sam enjoys biking, listening to music, and hanging out with her cat, Grayson.

Paul Donsky (MSc student)

I grew up in Gainesville, Florida and first fell in love with Florida's springs as a kid while tubing on the Ichetucknee River. In 2015, I began working for the nonprofit Florida Springs Institute studying the threats facing Florida's springs and rivers and realized I wanted to make protecting Florida's waters the focus of my career. In 2019, I transferred to Oregon State University where got my Bachelor's in Environmental Science and GIS and after, I enrolled in graduate school at UF to study springs again. For my Master's research, I aim to study the effects of increased river flooding and flow reversal events on the submerged aquatic plant communities and water quality of the Springs of the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers.

Maggie Parrish (MSc student)

Maggie successfully defended her thesis in October 2021.

Sofia Garcia (Undergraduate researcher)

I’m currently working towards my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with an anticipated graduation date of May 2022. I enjoy working outdoors despite only just comprehending the immense effort associated with participating in fieldwork—I’m an amateur troubleshooter to say the least. I work with geographically isolated wetlands with the purpose of understanding surface water flow connections. In my free time, you can find me birdwatching, admiring flowers, or spending time with friends outside.

Jules NeSmith, MSc (Lab Manager and Research Coordinator)

Jules is enjoying her new post as coordinator for the ecohydrology lab.

As of 2015

50. Yuan, J., M.J. Cohen, D.A. Kaplan, S. Acharya, L.G. Larsen and M.K. Nungesser. 2015. Linking metrics of landscape pattern to hydrological process in a lotic wetland. Landscape Ecology 30:1893-1912

49. Mushet, D.M., A.J.K. Calhoun, L.C. Alexander, M.J. Cohen, E.S. DeKeyser, L. Fowler, C.R. Lane, M.W. Lang, M.C. Rains, and S.C. Walls. 2015. Geographically Isolated Wetlands: Rethinking a Misnomer. Wetlands 35:423-431.

48. Marton, J.M., I.F. Creed, D.B. Lewis, C.R. Lane, N.B. Basu, M.J. Cohen and C.B. Craft. 2015. Geographically isolated wetlands are important biogeochemical reactors in the landscape. BioScience 65:408-418.

47. Acharya, S.p, D.A. Kaplan, S. Casey, M.J. Cohen and J.W. Jawitz. 2015. Coupled local facilitation and global hydrologic inhibition drive landscape geometry in a patterned peatland. Hydrologic and Earth System Science 19:2133-2144.

46. Kurz, M.J., V. de Montety, J.B. Martin, M.J. Cohen and R.T. Hensley. 2015. Diffusion and seepage-driven element fluxes from the hyporheic zone of a karst river. Freshwater Science 34:206-221.

45. Hensley, R.T., M.J. Cohen, and L.V. Korhnak. 2015. Hydraulic effect on nitrogen removal in a tidal spring-fed river. Water Resources Research 51:1443-1456.

44. Watts, A.C., D.L. Watts, M.J. Cohen, J.B. Heffernan, D.L. McLaughlin, J.B. Martin, D.A. Kaplan, T.Z. Osborne and L. Kobziar. 2014. Evidence of biogeomorphic pattering in a low-relief karst landscape. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 39:2027-2037n.

43. Nifong, R.L., M.J. Cohen and W.P. Cropper. 2014. Homeostasis and nutrient limitation of benthic autotrophs in natural chemostats. Limnology and Oceanography 59:2101-2111.

42. Liebowitz, D.M., M.J. Cohen, J.B. Heffernan, L.V. Korhnak and T.K. Frazer. 2014. Environmentally-mediated consumer control of algal proliferation in Florida springs. Freshwater Biology 59:2009-2023.

41. McLaughlin, D.L., D.A. Kaplan and M.J. Cohen. 2014. A significant nexus: Geographically isolated wetland influence landscape hydrology. Water Resources Research 50:7153-7166.

40. McLaughlin, D.L, M.L.C. Mazur, D.A. Kaplan and M.J. Cohen. 2014. Estimating effective specific yield in inundated conditions: a comment on a recent application. Ecohydrology 7:1245-1247.

39. Hensley, R.T., M.J. Cohen, and L.V. Korhnak. 2014. Inferring nitrogen removal in large rivers from high resolution longitudinal profiling. Limnology and Oceanography 59:1152-1170.

38. King, S.A., J.B. Heffernan and M.J. Cohen. 2014. Nutrient flux, uptake and autotrophic limitation in streams and rivers. Freshwater Science 33:85-98.

37. McLaughlin, D.L., and M.J. Cohen. 2014. Ecosystem specific yield for estimating evapotranspiration and groundwater exchange from diel surface water variation. Hydological Processes 28:1495-1506.

36. Cohen, M.J., M.J. Kurz, J.B. Heffernan, J.B. Martin, R.L. Douglass, C.R. Foster, and R.G. Thomas. 2013. Diel phosphorus variation and the stoichiometry of ecosystem metabolism in a large spring-fed river. Ecological Monographs 83:155-176.

35. Deimeke, E., M.J. Cohen, and K.C. Reiss. 2013. Temporal stability of vegetation indicators of wetland condition. Ecological Indicators 34:69-75.

34. Heffernan, J.B., D.L. Watts, and M.J. Cohen. 2013. Discharge competence and pattern formation in peatlands: A metaecosystem model of the Everglades ridge-slough landscape. PLoS ONE 8(5): e64174. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064174.

33. Kurz, M.J., V. de Montety, J.B. Martin, M.J. Cohen, and C.R. Foster. 2013. Controls on diel metal cycles in a biologically productive carbonate-dominated river. Chemical Geology 358:61-74.

32. McLaughlin, D.L., and M.J. Cohen. 2013. Realizing ecosystem services: Wetland hydrologic function along a gradient of ecological condition. Ecological Applications 23:1619-1631.

31. McLaughlin, D.L., D.A. Kaplan, and M.J. Cohen. 2013. Managing forests for increased regional water yield in the southeastern U.S. coastal plain. The Journal of the American Water Resources Association 49:953-965.

30. Cohen, M.J., J.B. Heffernan, A. Albertin and J.B. Martin. 2012. Inference of riverine nitrogen processing from longitudinal and diel variation in dual nitrate isotopes. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 117:G01021.

29. Hensley, R.T., and M.J. Cohen. 2012. Controls on solute transport in large spring-fed rivers. Limnology and Oceanography 57:912-924.

28. Kaplan, D.A., R. Paudel, M.J. Cohen and J.W. Jawitz. 2012. Orientation matters: Patch anisotropy controls discharge competence and hydroperiod in a patterned peatland. Geophysical Research Letters 39:L17401.

27. Liebenow, D.K., M.J. Cohen, T. Gumbricht, K.D. Shepherd and G. Shepherd. 2012. Do ecosystem services influence household wealth in rural Mali? Ecological Economics 82:33-44

26. Heffernan, J.B., A.R. Albertin, M.L. Fork, B.G. Katz and M.J. Cohen. 2012. Denitrification and inference of nitrogen sources in the karstic Floridan Aquifer. Biogeosciences 9:1671-1690.

25. McLaughlin, D.L., and M.J. Cohen. 2011. Thermal artifacts in measurements of fine scale water level variation. Water Resources Research 47:W09601.

24. McLaughlin, D.L., M.T. Brown and M.J. Cohen. 2011. The Ecohydrology of a pioneer wetland species and a drastically altered landscape. Ecohydrology 5:656-667.

23. De Montety, V., J.B. Martin, M.J. Cohen, C. Foster and M.J. Kurz. 2011. Influence of diel biogeochemical cycles on carbonate equilibrium in a karst river. Chemical Geology 283:31-43.

22. Cohen, M.J., D.L. Watts, J.B. Heffernan and T.Z. Osborne. 2011. Reciprocal biotic control on hydrology, nutrient gradients and landform in the Greater Everglades. Critical Reviews in Environmental Sciences 35:392-409.

21. Osborne, T.Z., S. Newman, P.I. Kalla, G.L. Bruland, M.J. Cohen, L.J. Scinto and L.R. Ellis. 2011. Landscape patterns of significant soil nutrients and contaminants in the Greater Everglades ecosystem: Past, present and future. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 41:121-148.

20. Watts, D.L., M.J. Cohen, J.B. Heffernan, and T.Z. Osborne. 2010. Hydrologic modification and loss of self-organized patterning in the Everglades ridge-slough mosaic. Ecosystems 13:813-827.

19. Heffernan, J.B., and M.J. Cohen. 2010. Direct and indirect coupling of primary production and diel nitrate dynamics in a sub-tropical spring fed river. Limnology and Oceanography 55:677-688.

18. Heffernan, J.B., D.M. Liebowitz, T.K. Frazer, J.M. Evans and M.J. Cohen. 2010. Algal blooms and the nitrogen-enrichment hypothesis in Florida springs: Evidence, alternatives and adaptive management. Ecological Applications 20:816-829.

17. Heffernan, J.B., M.J. Cohen, T.K. Frazer, R.G. Thomas, T.J. Rayfield, J. Gulley, J.B. Martin, J.J. Delfino and W.D. Graham. 2010. Hydrologic and biotic influences on nitrate removal in a subtropical spring-fed river. Limnology and Oceanography 55:249-263.

16. Brown, M.T., M.J. Cohen and S. Sweeney. 2009. Predicting national sustainability: The convergence of energetic, economic and environmental realities. Ecological Modelling 220:3424-3438.

15. Krediet, C.J., K.B. Ritchie, M.J. Cohen, E.K. Lipp, K. Patterson-Sutherland and M. Teplitski. 2009. Utilization of mucus from the Coral Acropora palmate by the pathogen Serratia marcescens and by environmental and coral commensal bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75:3851-3858.

14. Evans, J.M.p and M.J. Cohen. 2009. Regional water resource implication of bioethanol production in the Southeastern United States. Global Change Biology 15:2261-2273.

13. Fraulo A., M.J. Cohen and O. Liburd. 2009. Visible/near infrared reflectance (VNIR) spectroscopy for detecting two-spotted spider mite (Acari: Tetranychidae) damage in strawberries. Environmental Entomology 38:137-142.

12. Cohen, M.J., S. Lamsal, T.Z. Osborne, J.C. Bonzongo, K.R. Reddy and S. Newman. 2009. Soil total mercury concentrations across the Greater Everglades. Soil. Sci. Soc. Am. J. 73:675-685.

11. Romanelli, T., M.J. Cohen, M. Milan and M.T. Brown. 2008. Emergy synthesis of intensive eucalyptus cultivation in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Forest Science 54:228-241.

10. Cohen, M.J., E.J. Dunne and G.L. Bruland. 2008. Spatial structure of isolated forested wetland soils and implications for sampling design and condition assessment. Wetlands 28:34-49.

9. Cohen, M.J., M.W.Clark and J. Paris. 2007. Determination of phosphorus sorption capacity in wetland soils using NIR spectroscopy. Wetlands 27:1098-1111.

8. Cohen, M.J., R. Mylavarapu, I. Bogrecki and D. Lee. 2007. Reflectance spectroscopy for routine agronomic soil analyses. Soil Science 172:469-485.

7. Roth, B.E., K.C. Slatton and M.J. Cohen. 2007. On the potential for high-resolution LIDAR to improve rainfall interception estimates in forest ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology & Environment 5:421-428.

6. Cohen, M.J. and M.T. Brown. 2007. A Model of hierarchical wetland networks for watershed stormwater management. Ecological Modelling 201:179-193.

5. Brown, M.T., M.J. Cohen, E. Bardi, and W. Ingwersen. 2006. A systems approach to biodiversity. Aquatic Sciences 68:254-277.

4. Cohen, M.J., S. Dabral, W.D. Graham, J.P. Prenger and W.F. Debusk. 2006. Evaluating ecological condition using soil biogeochemical parameters and near infrared reflectance spectra. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 116:427-447.

3. Cohen, M.J., J.P. Prenger and W.F. DeBusk. 2005. Visible-near infrared reflectance spectroscopy for rapid, non-destructive assessment of wetland soil quality. J. of Environ. Qual. 34:1422-1434.

2. Cohen, M.J., K.D. Shepherd and M.G. Walsh. 2004. Empirical reformulation of the Universal Soil Loss Equation for erosion risk assessment in a tropical watershed. Geoderma 124:235-252.

1. Cohen, M.J., S. Carstenn and C.R. Lane. 2004. Floristic quality indices for biotic assessment of depressional marsh condition in Florida. Ecological Applications 14:784-794.

Life

One particularly attractive aspect of my job is that I work in the places that I also seek out for personal and aesthetic reasons. Florida's lakes, coastal systems, wetlands, and especially rivers and springs, are a remarkable natural heritage. My move to Florida in 1996 was with some trepidation (having grown up in the mountains) but it has been deeply rewarding. There is a subtlety here that I've come to appreciate, and that fuels my curiosity.

I am happily married to Leah, with two boys (Sawyer - 18 years old, and Grady - 17 years old), and a daughter (Calyra - 9 years old). I love science, Florida, ultimate frisbee, dogs, carpentry, and music.

General Scientific Interests

I often ask myself what I'd be doing if not for this. Honestly, it's a question for infinite rumination and just a little day dreaming. Here are some random thoughts on the subject...

I found myself interested in water and the environment at a fairly young age, and with a vague notion of that general direction, decided to work as an engineer, figuring that it was the engineers that go to do the coolest stuff and make th biggest difference when it comes to how we make use of the resources we have. Ironically, it was 4 nose-to-the grind years of engineered solutions to environmental problems that had me clamoring for more science, more environment, more ecology. I think the key fact in figuring out why I am here rather than, say, working as a consulting engineer is that I found something tantalizing in the way that processes almost conspire to make life. While the logical traps of Gaia, intelligent design and teleology are ever present, there is something profoundly exciting about considering the way the system fits together.

Take water...the critical physical attributes of water (polarity, latent heat capacity, temperature-density relation) and the persistence of life are inextricably linked in ways that are so fundamental as to make them seem implanted. And yet...we infer from the continuous unfolding of the ecological process that these relationships are learned (at least insofar as we can attribute the concept of learning to emergent systems). So it was that a set of books and ideas read naively (perhaps still so) during high school led me to systems ecology - Fritjof Capra, Stephen J. Gould, Richard Dawkins, Tim Allen (no...not the tool guy), self-organization, emergence, cascading consequences.

So when I consider what I might have done differently, I don't stray far from the present. I am simply motivated by the belief that there is order in the chaos - perhaps not tracatable and predictable, but comprehensible. And while the day to day machinations of water and biogeochemistry occupy my mind with more mundane and applied questions, at the root of my work is a desire to understand how systems work.