Founded: 1977
Full Time: 16
Part Time: 0
Budget: 1,600,000.00
Director: Robert P. Gambrell
103 Wetland Biogeochemistry Building
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Telephone: 225/578-8810 FAX: 225/578-6423 Email: gambrel@lsu.edu Website:http://www.wetlandbiogeochemistry.lsu.edu
Research Areas:
The Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute is a research department in the Louisiana State University Center for Coastal, Energy and Environmental Resources. The Institute's research projects carried out by the staff consists of investigation of biogeochemical processes taking place in fresh, brackish and salt marsh wetlands. Another important aspect of the Institute's program deals with soil-plant relations and their effect on plant community dynamics. Of special interest in soil plant relations is the response of wetland plant species to the stresses of anaerobiosis and salinity. Processes governing the stability and productivity of coastal wetlands is a high priority research objective in which several studies on factors affecting salt marsh deterioration and wetland loss are in progress. Greenhouse gas production (methane and nitrous oxide) in natural and agricultural wetlands (rice fields) is a recent research topic of interest to the Institute.
Although much of the research carried out by the Institute deals with coastal and interior wetlands in the lower Mississippi River floodplain and delta, the institute carries out work in other parts of the country as well as in several overseas locations. Wetland research projects are underway or recently completed in California, Florida, Indonesia, Thailand, India, England and West Africa.
Areas of Expertise:
Special Capabilities and Facilities:
The facilities of the Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute consist of several well-equipped, air-conditioned laboratories that are designed for a wide range of chemical, physiochemical, and biological work on wetlands.
The Institute also has greenhouse facilities, a gas exchange system which includes a plant growth chamber, ADC infrared gas analyzer, pressure chambers, and steady state porometers for plant response studies. Additional facilities available to the institute are an excellent library and modern computer facilities (PC and Mainframe).
Research Equipment:
3 Mass Spectrometers
4 Gas Chromatographs
1 Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer
1 Atomic Absorption Spectrometer
1 Gamma Connecting System
Keywords:
1007026 Wetlands
1003014 Chemistry
1008001 Coastal Processes