Research

Wetland Restoration in the Lake Erie Basin

My postdoctoral work focuses on the role of wetland restoration as a means to reduce nutrient loads in surface water. My current project aims to model phosphorus retention in wetlands with the aim of improving water quality in the Great Lakes through strategic wetland restoration. I am also interested in other ecosystem functions of restored wetlands, such as carbon sequestration and habitat provisioning. I am working to understand the potential synergies and and tradeoffs between different ecosystem services as a function of restoration location and design. This work is conducted in partnership with Ducks Unlimited. 

Phosphorus retention/release in restored and constructed wetlands

I conducted a meta-analysis of over 50 constructed and restored wetlands to better understand the drivers of phosphorus retention and the causes of phosphorus release. Findings include recommendations for wetland management for improved water quality outcomes. 

Ury, Emily A., Puvaanah Arrumugam, Ellen Herbert, Pascal Badiou, Bryan Page, Nandita B. Basu. 2023. Source or Sink? Meta-analysis reveals diverging controls of phosphorus retention and release in restored and constructed wetlands. Environmental Research Letters. 


Coastal Forest Loss

I studied changes to vegetation communities in the rapidly changing coastal plain of North Carolina using a combination of forest survey data and satellite remote sensing. 

The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is one of the largest coastal protected areas in the country. Despite protection, we found widespread shift in vegetation communities particularly the loss of coastal forest. Our model suggests sea level rise and extreme events are spatially and temporally correlated to these changes. 

Ghost forests are a prevalent transition state in coastal landscapes impacted by sea level rise and saltwater intrusion. They mark a transition from native forested wetland vegetation to scrub/shrub, salt marsh and open water. Our land cover classification analysis reveal remarkable fragmentation of forested wetland in protected (areas without development or logging). The consequences of this rapid habitat loss are not fully understood.

Emily A. Ury, Xi Yang, Emily S. Bernhardt, Justin P. Wright. 2021. Rapid deforestation of a coastal landscape by sea level rise and extreme events. Ecological Applications. 31(5): e02339. 

Emily A. Ury, Steven M. Anderson, Robert K. Peet, Emily S. Bernhardt, Justin P. Wright. 2020. Succession, regression and loss: does evidence of saltwater exposure explain recent changes in the tree communities of North Carolina’s coastal plain? Annals of Botany. 125(2): 255–263. 

Elliott White, Emily A. Ury, Emily S. Bernhardt, Xi Yang.  2021. Climate Change Driving Widespread Loss of Forested Wetlands throughout the North American Coastal Plain. Ecosystems. 

Salinization of Freshwater Wetlands

I conducted salt addition experiments in both the field and lab to understand how freshwater wetland carbon cycling responds to salinization.  Lab results demonstrate the important interaction between incoming salts and the receiving soil matrix. Factors like pH and base saturation control how salt binds to soil particles and the degree of stress imposed on soil-living microorganisms. 

Field studies show a high degree of variation is soil carbon response to salt addition. Hydrology and soil characteristics influence both the magnitude and direction of ecosystem responses to salinization. This work is conducted in a large scale salt + fertilizer addition experiment run in collaboration with researchers from NC State University and UNC. The Salt and Nutrient Addition Plots (SNAP) have been running since 2016 and to date we have added over 4000 pounds of salt. 

Emily A. Ury, Justin P. Wright,  Marcelo Ardón, Emily S. Bernhardt. 2021. Saltwater intrusion in context: soil factors regulate impacts of salinity on soil carbon cycling. Biogeochemistry. 

Emily A. Ury, Marcelo Ardón, Justin P. Wright, Emily S. Bernhardt. 2023. Restored forested wetland surprisingly resistant to experimental salinization. PLOS ONE

Other Projects

I worked with fellow graduate student Patrick Gray to survey the SNAP plots with drone mounted optical and thermal cameras. Results forthcoming! We hope to use this data to detect early signs of foliar stress from the salt treatments.

I conducted my masters research at Yale University under the advisement of Dr. Peter Raymond. My masters work focused on the fate of phosphorus from agricultural fertilizers in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. I used the isotopic signature of oxygen in phosphate (PO4) to trace fertilizer phosphate from agricultural drainage ditches to the main-stem of the Mississippi River.  My results indicated that despite high net phosphorus export from agricultural regions, the percent of phosphorus entering surface water without first being utilized in some way by organisms (consumption by plants or bacteria) is quite low. This work also demonstrated the utility of the oxygen isotopes of phosphate as a tracer for phosphorus in the environment.