Estuaries

Marine plant physiology informs ocean health and marine conservation: seaweed, cordgrass, and seagrass physiology are sensitive indicators of environmental stress. Ecosystem function depends on marine species diversity and genetic diversity. BML has one of very few labs equipped for marine macrophyte physiological studies. The Williams lab performs physiological research on marine macrophytes (seagrass, cordgrass, seaweeds) to investigate coastal marine plant response to stress.

John Largier has been collaborating with pathologists and wildlife health researchers in the UCD Vet School, producing a collection of papers on the transport of water-borne pathogens, including particle aggregation dynamics and plume dynamics. This information is critical for understanding how human and non-human pathogens are transported from land to the sea.

As part of the hydrological cycle, freshwater runs off the land and into the ocean – fueling ocean ecosystems with food and nutrients as well as affecting currents and stratification in coastal waters. Changes in the volume and timing of this runoff, as well as in the particulate and dissolved load, have a profound effect on coastal and estuarine waters with impacts on fisheries, ecosystems, wildlife and human health.