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Outstanding in Her Field

Maggie Capooci from the University of Scranton spent her time as a WHOI Summer Student Fellow evaluating how marsh ecosystems respond to restoration of tidal connectivity. Under-sized culverts beneath roads and railways restrict water flow in the tidal creeks that connect marshes to bays and can cause saltwater marshes to convert to freshwater systems. To remedy this, many restrictions are now being removed or repaired across Massachusetts. Capooci’s research examined differences in plant communities and sediment processes in restored and natural salt marshes and was part of a project led by WHOI biogeochemist Amanda Spivak and collaborators at U.S. Geological Survey and Marine Biological Lab.(Photo by Amanda Spivak, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)