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The Once and Future Marsh

October 15, 2018

WHOI biogeochemist Amanda Spivak (center) collects plant and sediment samples in Barstable Great Marsh with the help of research assistant Kelsey Gosselin (left) and MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Sheron Luk (right). Together with collaborators from the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, and Louisiana State University, they are examining how ditches dug 90 years ago to drain marshes and control mosquitoes have shaped salt marshes today, reducing their ability to store carbon and protect shorelines from sea level rise. The project is funded by Woods Hole Sea Grant and the NERRS Science Collaborative. (Photo by Laura Castañón, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)