Malone Lab Awarded NSF CAREER

The Malone Disturbance Ecology Lab was awarded an NSF Career Award to determine how Everglades wetlands are changing in response to complex stressors, driven by shifting hydrological regimes.

This project involves characterizing species-level physiological responses to changing salinity and hydrologic conditions, remote sensing to detect the size and location of the low productivity zones, and eddy covariance to measure the productivity rates of entire ecosystems. This research aims to establish links between wetland ecosystem structure and C dynamics, and the degree to which hydrology influences wetland feedbacks to already increasing atmospheric CO2.

The data produced from this project will improve wetland data- model comparisons by measuring how CO2 and CH4 emissions fluctuate in response to the seasonal effects of inundation and changes in salinity. This project will also produce a documentary film to raise awareness of the important changes happening to coastal ecosystems and empower residents, students, and politicians to join in our effort to develop resilient ecosystems.