Projects

To support investigation of the various stresses that may be contributing to the extensive loss of vegetation in the Quinnipiac tidal marshes and begin to gather data on the relative importance of sub-surface compaction, decompositon in causing elevation loss in this ecosystem.

To offer a short course in river processes to local members of conservation/inland wetland commissions and environmrntal activists.  The course will cover the basic hydrologic, geomorphic, chemical and biological processes that govern stream exosystems, and how they are perturbed by human activities.  Participants will receive the scientific tools that they need in order to understand and critically evaluate environemntal data on the Q River.

To support the production of a student lead project of internet based-handheld computer field guides resources for the Quinnipiac River that calculates water quality data, geology, oysters, plants, macro-invertabrates, birds and oystering history.

To support Field Research Program to document wetland loss along the Quinnipiac River Estuary and document baseline conditions and historic trends.

To collect and  publish a systematic review of municipal land-use regulations in the Quinnipiac River Watershed.

To support studying nutrient export from subwatersheds during storm events, including phosphorus (P), which is the limiting nutrient in fresh waters.

To support the project entitled Comparison of Sediment Contaminants in the Branford River and the Quinnipiac River and their effects on the Benthic community.  This proposed research is an investigation of the sediment contaminant load of five sites in the Quinnipiac River and three sites within the Branford River.