Publications by authors named "Randolph Chambers"
Article Synopsis
- Global sea-level rise is causing saltwater intrusion in coastal freshwater wetlands, affecting microbial communities and ecosystem services.
- Researchers conducted a two-year study in the Florida Everglades, identifying key microbial groups that vary with salinity across different wetland types, such as freshwater and mangroves.
- Experimental simulations indicated that increased sulfate availability from saltwater intrusion shifts the balance from methanogens to sulfate reducers, potentially altering organic matter degradation processes in these ecosystems.
Nature-based shoreline protection provides a welcome class of adaptations to promote ecological resilience in the face of climate change. Along coastlines, living shorelines are among the preferred adaptation strategies to both reduce erosion and provide ecological functions. As an alternative to shoreline armoring, living shorelines are viewed favorably among coastal managers and some private property owners, but they have yet to undergo a thorough examination of how their levels of ecosystem functions compare to their closest natural counterpart: fringing marshes.
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- Hurricanes significantly impact mangrove wetlands, traditionally viewed negatively, but they also promote sediment deposition and nutrient fertilization that enhance productivity and resilience.
- After Hurricane Irma in September 2017, vertical accretion rates in impacted areas were dramatically higher than long-term averages, with phosphorus inputs notably increasing soil nutrients.
- The study indicated that nutrient uptake varied among mangrove species, with southwestern estuaries receiving five times more phosphorus, highlighting hurricanes' role in natural fertilization and ecological recovery.
Storm events impact freshwater microbial communities by transporting terrestrial viruses and other microbes to freshwater systems, and by potentially resuspending microbes from bottom sediments. The magnitude of these impacts on freshwater ecosystems is unknown and largely unexplored. Field studies carried out at two discrete sites in coastal Virginia (USA) were used to characterize the viral load carried by runoff and to test the hypothesis that terrestrial viruses introduced through stormwater runoff change the composition of freshwater microbial communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJuvenile growth rate and adult body size are important components of life-history strategies because of their direct impact on fitness. The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is a sexually dimorphic, long-lived turtle inhabiting brackish waters throughout the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. In parts of its range, terrapins face anthropogenically imposed mortality: juveniles of both sexes inadvertently enter commercial crab traps and drown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo examine possible connections between lake trophic status and runoff from surrounding subwatersheds, we determined patterns of sediment and nutrient deposition in a hypereutrophic, 16-ha impoundment on the Virginia coastal plain. Spatial survey of nutrients in surface sediments documented a strong correlation between total P and extractable Fe (r2 = 0.53).
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