In the fall of 2018 I started a Master’s program in the Department of Geography and the Environment at Villanova University. I joined Nathaniel Weston’s lab, studying salt marshes. As part of the Weston lab, I performed field and lab work in support of National Science Foundation (NSF) funded projects at the Delaware River salt marshes, and the Plum Island Ecosystem Long Term Ecological Research Site (PIE-LTER). I utilized a EGM-4 PP system to measure carbon, SETs to measure short term accretion, YSI water quality meter to measured pH and oxygen, and measured 210Pb and 137Cs on cores using a gamma counter.
My thesis is Tidal Marsh Response to Sediment Deposition from Seasonal Storms. My study site was the PIE-LTER in Massachusetts. In July of 2020 during the pandemic I successfully defended my thesis remotely. As part of my thesis, I performed a manipulative, factorial experiment on sediment deposition. As part of my data collection, I performed loss on ignition protocols for measuring organic content, measured above- and belowground biomass, and used a spectrophotometer to measure ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate on porewater. I am currently in the process of writing a manuscript for publication.
Andrea C Stumpf 