Category: ecology
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Taking the tide out of tidal marshes
In a study recently published in Environmental Research: Ecology, researchers used vector autoregression and Granger causality testing to uncover how tide influences biogeochemistry in a salt marsh off the coast of Georgia, USA. Combining measurements from a low-cost dissolved CO2 (pCO2) sensor platform with tide gage observations throughout the course of one month allowed scientists […]
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Sapelo Island Week Three
Sea oats have everything you are looking for looking for in a plant: shade tolerance, perenniality, general hardiness. They provide food for small mammals and birds, can be used for bird nesting material, and host Skipper butterfly caterpillars. Gardeners and home decorators are encouraged to purchase sea oat seeds from nurseries rather than pick their […]
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Sapelo Island Week One
I recently returned from a week of fieldwork on Sapelo Island, one of the barrier islands along the coast of Georgia in the Southeast United States. It was a gentle introduction to fieldwork in a humid subtropical climate. Our small team of graduate students helped each other measure average stem height and stem count in […]
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The History of Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island is famed for its rich history, but many accounts are confusing or gloss over important details. For instance, Georgia Coast Atlas refers to creator of Sapelo Island Research Foundation and co-founder of the University of Georgia Marine Institute, R.J. Reynolds, Jr., as a businessman. Another article refers to one previous island owner as […]
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Swampland
Today marks the SIXTH YEAR ANNIVERSARY of definearth! Thank you so much for reading and participating in my posts about science in the world around us. In honor of the blog’s birthday, today I am posting a short review of a study on two Kenyan communities that came together to improve their local swamps. Manguo […]
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Wetland Wednesday and Updates
Everyone knew going into this semester that it would be a rocky one. Classes at my university started two weeks ago, but it took only a week for administration to pause face-to-face teaching due to a rising case count and COVID breakout in two campus dormitories. I’m glad I could take my courses online, but […]