Our research focuses on microorganisms and microbially mediated processes in coastal land-water interfaces and near-shore waters. We have conducted work on a broad range of microbial systems including microphytobenthic communities, epiphytic microalgae, benthic bacterial communities, bacterioplankton, and phytoplankton. The land-water interface is an area of intensive biogeochemical cycling and trophic interactions involving microorganisms. It is also an area of extensive human activity, making the interactions of pollutants and native microbial communities in the land-water interface a significant issue in developed coastal environments.

Current projects include:

• An EPA Nutrient Sciences for Improved Watershed Management project examining the attenuation of non-point source nitrogen pollution in a coastal watersheds
• An NSF Ecological Biology project assessing the impacts of utilization of inorganic nitrogen by N2 fixing cyanobacteria
• A NOAA Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise project exploring the effects of rising water level and shoreline stabilization on estuarine land-water interface communities
• An RJ Reynolds Fund project in Lake Mattamuskeet in eastern NC examining the nutrient limitation of primary producers
• A UNC WRRI funded project assessing the importance of the hyporheic zone in tidal fresh streams as a site for nutrient transformations