NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2008

Ardon-Sayao Marcelo, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The research and training plan for this fellowship to Marcelo Ardon-Sayao is entitled "Nutrient cycling in coastal wetland ecosystems under an accelerating hydrologic cycle." The sponsoring scientist is Dr. Emily S. Bernhardt at Duke University. Global climate change is forecasted to impact society and ecosystems by altering the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Increased intensity and frequency of storms could impair the ability of coastal wetlands to prevent water quality problems, such as increased nutrient runoff to coastal ecosystems. The main goal of this research is to develop empirical relationships describing the effects of increasingly variable wetland hydrology on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) retention in nutrient rich coastal plain ecosystems by addressing the following questions: 1) How does timing and frequency of storms affect the fate and transport of N and P across a recently restored wetland ecosystem? 2) How does the temporal variability of rainfall affect transformations of N and P in wetland soils? 3) How do landscape fluxes of N and P change during rapid experimental reductions of water level? Research will be conducted primarily within a 400-ha wetland mitigation project in Tyrell County, NC. The training goals include learning new experimental and analytical techniques to examine the effects of altered hydrology on nutrient transformation in wetlands across different scales and establishing long-term collaborations with scientists in different disciplines, government officials, consultants, and land owners to further the application of research to public policy. Broader impacts include increasing the participation of under-represented minorities at the postdoctoral level and mentoring undergraduate students in ecological research, making an effort to involve underrepresented minority students. This research will aid predictions of the likely direction of change of nutrient exports as a result of a more hydrologically variable future for southeastern coastal plain ecosystems.