Sea Grant/Reserve Fellows Selected

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
E-Ching Lee, 919-515-9098, eching_lee@ncsu.edu
John Fear, 919-515-9104, jmfear@ncsu.edu

Posted Wednesday, May 6, 2015

North Carolina Sea Grant and the N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve Program awarded 2015 Coastal Reserve Fellowships to Jill Arriola and Seth Theuerkauf.

This joint program is designed to foster research within the boundaries of the reserve and address a coastal management issue.

“This partnership, now in its fifth year, continues to promote excellent training opportunities for our North Carolina graduate students. It also provides relevant findings that enhance our ability to manage our coastal resources,” says John Fear, Sea Grant deputy director.

Arriola, a doctoral student with Jaye Cable in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Marine Sciences Department, studies coastal hydrology and geochemistry.

The fellowship will enable Arriola to examine wetlands at the Emily and Richardson Preyer Buckridge Reserve. A wetland is a coastal habitat that provides storm-surge protection and long-term burial of organic material, as well as act as a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

“My research focuses on the predicted longevity of these valuable wetlands before permanent inundation due to sea-level rise. I am interested in the potential impacts of their loss as barriers to flooding on surrounding communities and farms,” she explains. “This is especially important here in North Carolina, as well as their transformation from sinks to sources of carbon dioxide.”

Arriola — who calls Littleton, Co., home — received her Bachelor of Science degree in environmental, earth and ocean sciences from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She also holds a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

Theuerkauf is a doctoral candidate in marine ecology and conservation at North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology. His interest is in generating, synthesizing and converting scientific information about the coastal environment into useable data and management tools for many audiences. He works with CMAST Director David Eggleston.

For the fellowship, Theuerkauf is quantifying the impact of a widespread invasive grass, Phragmites australis, on the services provided by the marsh ecosystem at Buxton Woods, Kitty Hawk Woods and Currituck Banks reserve sites.

“My research could help inform the site managers how to best allocate resources to handle the invasive Phragmites, and can more broadly inform an ecosystem services-based approach to invasive species management,” he notes.

A native of Gloucester, Va., Theuerkauf earned undergraduate degrees in biology and environmental science from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He is a recipient of a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, administered by the American Society for Engineering Education.

Brandon Puckett, reserve research coordinator, is excited about the new projects.

“Both fellows bring creative approaches to addressing two issues of critical importance to the reserve, and coastal management in general: vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level rise and management of invasive species,” he notes.

“Although Jill and Seth will address disparate research topics during their fellowship, the implications from both projects may improve the resilience of coastal communities by promoting an improved appreciation for the important ecosystem services provided by coastal wetlands.”

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