Isabel Sanchez-Viruet

I am interested in understanding how coastal ecosystems respond to nutrient enrichment and how these further respond to nutrient concentration decrease and other mitigation strategies. Currently, I am focusing on floating wetlands and their potential for nitrogen removal on mesohaline water of the Chesapeake Bay. This experiment aims to provide well-constrained estimates of nitrogen uptake by floating wetlands and provide information about how floating wetlands can help mitigate the effects of nitrogen pollution.

BUT, what is a floating wetland??? - Floating wetlands are artificial media platforms that allow plants to grow in waters where they usually do not grow. Their roots spread down into the water through the floating media platform, creating dense roots that absorb nutrients directly from the water. Additionally, the roots provide surface area for algae and bacteria to grow and remove nutrients and other contaminants from the water. 

Here we can see the saltmarsh hay growing through the floating media