For the research, I am helping with Justin's project while pursuing some of my own, related questions. My dissertation primarily looks at how species interact via the modification of seawater chemistry. To do this, I have characterized the way habitat-forming species modify chemistry within the habitat they create while teasing apart the mechanistic drivers of shell formation in organisms that can utilize those habitats. These investigations have revealed that chemistry perturbations driven by changes in alkalinity can be as important to shell formers as perturbations to chemistry driven by changes in CO2. Because freshwater environments can experience drastic variations in alkalinity based on water source and watershed properties, they're the perfect system for further pursuing questions related to these results while also allowing me to push the extent of the chemistry extremes farther that I could in seawater. I'm hoping to use these variations to explore a couple different questions in addition to the goals of Justin's project. First, is shell formation in freshwater calcifiers driven by the same mechanisms driving shell formation in marine calcifiers? Second, can CO2 modification of water chemistry within habitats formed by aquatic vegetation ameliorate chemical stress experienced in low alkalinity waters? While these experiments will reveal processes important within freshwater systems, I'm hoping that the results within freshwater species can help to inform both shell formation mechanisms and conservation strategies that can apply to marine systems.

Approved