The Team

B.S. Environmental Science, Class of ‘27 (Drexel University)

Rachel is broadly interested in wetland ecology. She has helped on multiple projects assessing the effects of burrowing crabs on tidal marsh sediments. This summer, Rachel will be continuing in the lab as an ASUR Fellow.

B.S. Environmental Science, Class of ‘25 (Drexel University)

Dylan is interested in understanding ecosystem processes across space and time. As a Co-op in the lab, Dylan is seeking to understand how urbanization and harvesting/fishing pressure impact biological structure and ecosystem functions in both terrestrial and marine habitats.

B.S. Biological Sciences; B.A. Criminology & Criminal Justice, Class of ‘24 (University of Alabama)

M.S. Biological Sciences, Class of ‘25 (University of Alabama)

Amanda’s masters’ thesis is looking at the relative impacts of snail consumers and nutrient enrichment on the ecosystem functions of biofilms in tidal marshes. Her work is funded by an Arts & Sciences Support for Undergraduate Research (ASSURE) grant.

B.S. Environmental Science, Class of ‘26 (Drexel University)

Kira is broadly interested in marine and coastal ecology. As an ASUR Fellow, Kira led a project evaluating how burrowing crabs effect plant traits, productivity, and community structure along a chronosequence of tidal marsh restoration. Kira will be expanding on this work with a second ASUR Fellowship this summer.

B.S. Marine Biology; Class of ‘24 (University of Alabama)

Emily is assessing how tidal inundation and sedimentation influence the productivity of tidal marsh plant communities along the northern Gulf of Mexico.

B.S. Environmental Science, Class of ‘27 (Drexel University)

Aiden is interested in understanding how animals impacts tidal marsh structure. During his ASUR Fellowship, he tested how burrowing crabs impact decomposition rates in restored tidal marshes. This summer he will be a STAR Fellow studying the impacts of blue crab predation on tidal marsh stability.

B.S. Marine Biology; B.S. Chemistry, Class of ‘25 (University of Alabama)

Blount Undergraduate Initiative

Morgan has several projects. Her first project evaluated the recovery of sedimentation in restored and created tidal marshes. This project was supported by an ASSURE grant from UA.

Check out her 2023 Bays and Bayous Symposium poster here and her recently accepted co-authored manuscript in Wetlands.

Recently, Morgan has began leading a survey project evaluating the relationship between burrowing crabs and sediment conditions along a tidal marsh chronosequence.

B.S. Biology, Class of ‘27 (Drexel University)

Mariam is joining the lab as a STAR scholar this summer. She will be assessing the impacts of predator population size and demographics on prey anti-predator defenses in tidal marshes.

B.S. Environmental Engineering, Class of '25 (University of Alabama)

Randall Research Scholars Program & Blount Undergraduate Initiative

Abbey is interested in how large-scale climatic shifts influence the productivity of tidal marsh plant communities. Check out her poster from the 2023 University of Alabama Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference here.