May 2013: Coastal Research Swings into Action

skullmarshcloud

Cloud formation over Skull Marsh.

In Collaboration with Nate Nibbelink, Clint Moore, and Bob Cooper (UGA Warnell), David Kaplan (UF), and all sorts of folks and agencies at the Georgia Coast, we are now moving forward with an interesting research initiative that focuses on the scale of spatial heterogeneity in different salt marsh dynamics. We are setting up shop alongside a study that Nate, Bob, and Clint have already started, which looks at bird and fish responses to tidal flow restrictions in marshes. Our part of the story is focused on dynamics that lead to the structural and functional self-organization process in marshes. The questions are: how does tidal restriction alter the spatial scales at which various self-organizing interactions occur, and how will this affect reorganization after tidal restrictions are removed?