Jessica Sullivan
University of South Carolina-Columbia, SC·Earth & Environmental Science·Early-career
As sea level rises, salt marshes survive only if they can move inland. These marshes store water, move nutrients around and lock away carbon, so their survival matters.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Ecology & Evolution
- Topics
salt marsh
marsh migration
sea-level rise
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Measure how subtle marsh elevation and drainage patterns control water flow across the marsh surface, sediment buildup and how long water stays, across a salt marsh to forest gradient in the ACE Basin, South Carolina.
- Test whether the artificial ditches of reclaimed rice-field marshes (ag-marshes) connect water flows to nearby uplands, increasing flooding and shaping how marsh spreads into forest.
- Compare current and past sedimentation rates in natural marsh, ag-marsh and the ag-marsh to forest transition zone, using space-for-time substitution.
- Develop a computer model that predicts salt marsh response to natural and human pressures at local to regional scales and from hours to decades.
More about the research
This project asks how small differences in marsh elevation and drainage control how, when and where marshes advance into neighboring forests.
Why it matters
Coastal communities and land managers need to know which marshes can survive sea-level rise by moving inland. The findings and model could improve coastal vulnerability models. They could also inform policy and decisions on marsh restoration and conservation, including whether former rice-field marshes can serve as corridors for marsh migration.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
James Morris
University of South Carolina-Columbia, SC·Ecology & Evolution
Test whether salt marsh elevation gain is driven by belowground biomass production of Spartina alterniflora and scales with net ecosystem production, using long-term North Inlet measurements.
Samantha Chapman
Villanova University, PA·Ecology & Evolution
Test whether excess nitrogen loading disrupts the soil accumulation that lets coastal wetlands keep up with sea level rise, using experimental nitrogen additions at creekside and interior field plots.
Merryl Alber
University of Georgia, GA·Ecology & Evolution
Characterize how the averages and variability of drivers such as sea level, salinity and flooding change across space and time on the Georgia coast, and integrate these dynamics through modeling.
The school
University of South Carolina-Columbia: 22 labs on PI Pages, $277M a year on research, 425 research doctorates a year.
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