Research Initiation Award: Comparing Carbon Fluxes of Tidal Marshes and Oyster Aquaculture Farms in the Chesapeake Bay

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The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness and improve research and teaching at the home institution. This award to Morgan State University supports faculty and undergraduate research experiences determining the relative impact of climate change in the Chesapeake Bay. Specifically, by measuring particulate organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon and dissolved inorganic carbon in salt water tidal marshes and oyster aquaculture, the project will reveal evidence of carbon cycling and serve as a basis for comparative analyses between two coastal ecosystems. The overall goals of the proposed project are to compare the effects of saltwater tidal marshes and oyster aquaculture farms on coastal carbon cycling, understand the effects of oyster aquaculture facilities have on the coastal carbon cycle, and train HBCU undergraduate students in chemical oceanography using modern chemistry instruments and techniques. Toward this goal, this project aims to analyze three carbon pools (particulate and dissolved organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon) and an array of water quality parameters (chlorophyll-a, total suspended solids, colored dissolved organic matter, etc.) from three different locations in the Chesapeake Bay six times per year for two years. The results are likely to reveal seasonal and tidal patterns and differences in carbon cycling between paired marsh-aquaculture sites and between the tidal marshes and aquaculture facilities in general. It is anticipated that this will produce valuable information to the scientific community to better understand how the coastal carbon cycle may be changing as tidal marshes are lost due to climate change and human activities in oyster aquaculture facilities. In addition, this study may contribute to enhancements in STEM education, increasing diversity in geosciences, advancing industry-academic partnerships, and informing environmental and public policy decisions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.