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a monthly update on CES's latest research, education and community engagement
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wetlands ecology & coastal resilience
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I'm happy to report the conclusion of our successful
NSF
Coastal SEES field research
conducting qualitative, social science research using focus group discussions with local residents in the three geographic areas being investigated: Plum Island in Massachusetts, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and central Coastal Georgia. See our Student Spotlight video and further details below.
CES also hosted a full-day workshop exploring the connection between changes in the Gulf Stream and sea levels on the US East Coast. A summary document is available below.
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Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy Fourth of July,
Colin Polsky
Florida Center for Environmental Studies (CES)
Florida Atlantic University
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Changes in Gulf Stream Affect Sea Levels
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What is the role of oceanic circulation on the rate of sea level rise? How do changes in the Gulf
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Read the Summary here |
Stream affect sea levels on the US East Coast?
A one-day workshop,
Effects of Gulf Stream Variations on Sea Levels along the Eastern Coast was held on Tuesday, May 9, 2017, hosted by the Florida Atlantic University's Center for Environmental Studies in the auditorium of the South Florida Water Management District. Researchers from NOAA, Old Dominion University, University of Miami and Florida International University presented their latest observations, models, and analysis. For more information, please contact
Dr. Leonard Berry, emeritus professor of geosciences at FAU.
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Students in the Salt Marsh
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Coastal SEES focus groups held in Massachusetts, Virginia & Georgia
In May, Dr. Polsky and Research Assistants Jeanie Buck, Vince Edwards, and Alyssa
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NSF Coastal SEES - Student Spotlight |
Wood visited the Plum Island Ecosystems LTER site in Massachusetts. They explored the Massachusetts Parker River Refuge, local salt marsh sites, and the Newburyport Maritime Museum to understand the local community.
Three successful focus group discussions, co-moderated with Clark University, gathered information on how local residents value marsh ecosystem services.
Subsequent trips in June to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and to central Coastal Georgia collected similar data, with another FAU Research Assistant, Hallee Meltzer. One of these students, Alyssa, is also conducting stakeholder interviews in the Georgia research area for her master's thesis to compare results between interviews and focus groups. The end product of this research will be participatory planning charettes held in each location to plan for adaptation in the communities considering sea-level rise and what the residents find important or valuable. Additionally, this information will be utilized in an econometric model to further assess the monetary value of these marshes and further the field of economic valuation of these types of ecosystems.
Coastal SEES Collaborative Research: Coastal sustainability: A cross-site comparison of salt marsh persistence in response to sea-level rise and feedbacks from social adaptations is a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary, NSF-funded research project investigating changes in and people's perceptions of salt marshes. FAU is collaborating with researchers from the University of Virginia, Clark University, the Marine Biological Laboratory, the College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and the University of Georgia Research Foundation on this research project.
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