My introduction to this project was
in a course at GMU a year ago, Ecological Sustainability taught by my current
mentor Dr. Changwoo Ahn in the EVPP department.
I learned many of the concepts underlying wetland ecology studies. I helped establish a 40-mesocosm plant
diversity experiment, which has grown into what I am looking at in my project,
the resulting plant biomass after two seasons of growth of four different plant
species.
What drives me towards this project
is my interest in natural environment conservation and sustainability. Taking an ecosystem approach considers
interactions and balances between living and nonliving things. The goal of
wetland sustainability is solving the problem of how best to sustain ecosystem
functioning in the long term. Numerous
are the services provided by wetland ecosystems, clean watersheds, storm
buffering, reducing soil erosion, and providing vegetation and animal habitat
to name a few. These areas are
threatened by development. Fortunately,
policy decrees wetland creation to make up for wetland losses to development. But are created wetlands as functional as
those lost?
This is where I come in,
researching wetland functioning in newly created wetlands, building data
through research, informing policy decisions, and promoting sustainability. Those are what I see as, my long term career
goals in ecology. The things I learn now
will provide an enriched back ground for graduate education in this field.
Research has shown carbon deposits
develop in created wetlands in deep open water areas and in perimeter areas of
vegetation. Does a diverse planting of
species store more carbon than a less diverse planting of species? I participate in the laboratory procedures used
to measure the carbon accumulated in the soil, in the roots of the plants, and
in the above ground biomass of the plants.
It has involved many hours of work done cooperatively with the students
in the Wetland Ecosystem Laboratory team, “wetlanders”, directed by Dr.
Ahn. In the field in September I’ve been
harvesting plants, taking root cores, transporting samples; processing soils
for analysis in the lab; reviewing primary literature and laboratory
procedures; recording data and doing statistical tests.
During October I have been
directing a team of wetlanders in the preparation of aboveground plant tissue
for carbon analysis. I have discovered
how to manage this process. The next
step is packaging the ground plant matter for elemental analysis and finally
running the tests to be completed early November. Saturday the 25th October, we go
to a local wetland, currently in restoration, and take soil samples. I would like to compare these samples to
those of the mesocosm experiment. The
work is ongoing.
