Eric Ward is a Research Ecologist at WARC in Lafayette, LA.
Eric J. Ward’s research focuses on the links between empirical studies and modeling in physiological and ecosystem ecology. The interpretation of field research and its efficient incorporation into projections of carbon and water cycling in managed and unmanaged ecosystems are critical to understanding ecosystem functions and services in a changing world. Dr. Ward’s current program addresses the effects of management and global change factors on carbon cycling in wetland ecosystems, with a focus on coastal wetlands of the SE United States. He works at a variety of field sites, ranging from freshwater floatant marsh to mangrove forests. He has contributed expertise in model-data synthesis to many collaborative efforts addressing ecosystem function in a changing world, such as his current efforts in the USGS LandCarbon National Assessment and the Powell Center Wetland FLUXNET Synthesis for Methane.
Background
Dr. Ward has been a collaborator in multiple large-scale ecosystem studies and experiments. Before USGS, he worked for Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the SPRUCE (Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments) experiment, which examined the effects of elevated carbon dioxide levels and whole ecosystem warming on a peatland forest in northern Minnesota. While a post-doctoral fellow at North Carolina State University, he worked on PINEMAP (Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation Project), a USDA Coordinated Agricultural Project that integrated research, extension, and education to adapt forest management approaches aimed at increasing forest resilience, sustainability and carbon sequestration over the coming decades. During his graduate studies at Duke University, Dr. Ward was part of the Duke FACE (Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment) study, which focused on the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on forests.
Education
PhD, Duke University, Ecology, 2012
BA, Kenyon College, Biology, 2003
Science and Products
Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
Assessing Environmental Stress in Mature Mangrove Stands: Linkages to Nutrient Loading
Wetland Methane Emissions: Functional-type Modeling and Data-driven Parameterization
Wetland Carbon Working Group: Improving Methodologies and Estimates of Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Flux in Wetlands
Wetland Carbon Cycling: Monitoring and Forecasting in a Changing World
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
Critical Coastal Habitats: Sustainability, Restoration and Forecasting
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
Science to Inform the Management of Mangrove Ecosystems Undergoing Sea Level Rise at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
Modeling impacts of drought-induced salinity intrusion on carbon fluxes and storage in tidal freshwater forested wetlands
Spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss at a Louisiana coastal salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain in 2019
Simulated Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions under Drought-induced Saltwater Intrusion in Tidal Freshwater Forested Wetlands
Mangroves provide blue carbon ecological value at a low freshwater cost
Causality guided machine learning model on wetland CH4 emissions across global wetlands
A model of the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss applied to a Louisiana salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain
Modeling impacts of drought-induced salinity intrusion on carbon dynamics in tidal freshwater forested wetlands
Wetlands under global change
Summary of wetland carbon and environmental management: Path forward
FLUXNET-CH4: A global, multi-ecosystem database and analysis of methane seasonality from freshwater wetlands
Gap-filling eddy covariance methane fluxes: Comparison of machine learning model predictions and uncertainties at FLUXNET-CH4 wetlands
Restoration of mangrove forest
Restoration of organic coastal and inland freshwater forests
Heterotrophic respiration and the divergence of productivity and carbon sequestration
Warming induces divergent stomatal dynamics in co-occurring boreal trees
Science and Products
- Science
Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
In 2020, Governor Edwards of Louisiana issued two executive orders: establishing the Climate Initiatives Task Force to develop the state’s first ever Climate Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to enhance coastal resilience in the state. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and natural lands are of vital importance not just for hurricane protection, health and wellbeing, and...Assessing Environmental Stress in Mature Mangrove Stands: Linkages to Nutrient Loading
WARC Researchers are comparing tree and root growth, soil CO2 flux, and surface elevation change between fertilized and unfertilized mangrove forests to assess the potential impact of increased nutrient loading and to help rate mangrove stand vulnerability.Wetland Methane Emissions: Functional-type Modeling and Data-driven Parameterization
To better understand the environmental drivers of methane emissions in tidal saltmarsh, tidal freshwater swamp forest, tidal freshwater marsh, and non-tidal freshwater marsh habitats, researchers are collecting observations of CH4 emissions and porewater concentrations at research sites representative of each of these habitats.Wetland Carbon Working Group: Improving Methodologies and Estimates of Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Flux in Wetlands
WARC researchers are working to quantify the impacts of future climate and land use/land cover change on greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.Wetland Carbon Cycling: Monitoring and Forecasting in a Changing World
WARC's wetland carbon cycle science team is working to improve model parameterizations and formulations and reduce forecast uncertainty in ecosystem modeling.Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
To ensure successful restoration of coastal wetlands, WARC researchers will measure carbon cycling processes that indicate ecosystem health and sustainability.Critical Coastal Habitats: Sustainability, Restoration and Forecasting
USGS WARC scientists are monitoring both the long- and short-term effects of coastal restoration efforts on ecosystem health in coastal habitats of Louisiana’s Barataria Basin.Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are coastal transition zones where freshwater rivers meet tidal seawater. As sea levels rise, tidal forces move saltier water farther upstream, extending into freshwater wetland areas. Human changes to the surrounding landscape may amplify the effects of this tidal extension, impacting the resiliency and function of the upper estuarine wetlands. One visible...Science to Inform the Management of Mangrove Ecosystems Undergoing Sea Level Rise at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida
Mangroves are forested tidal wetlands that occur in tropical, sub-tropical, and warm temperate coastal regions around the world. Mangroves occupy a significant area of coastlines globally and provide important ecosystem services to humans and wildlife. These services include aesthetic value, storm protection, food provisioning, recreation, critical wildlife habitat, and biological carbon sequestraUnderstanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
The Science Issue and Relevance: Coastal wetlands are some of the most productive and valuable habitats in the world. Louisiana contains 40% of the United States’ coastal wetlands, which provide critical habitat for waterfowl and fisheries, as well as many other benefits, such as storm surge protection for coastal communities. In terms of ecosystem services, biological resource production, and inf... - Data
Modeling impacts of drought-induced salinity intrusion on carbon fluxes and storage in tidal freshwater forested wetlands
A biogeochemistry model was developed to examine plant gross primary productivity (GPP), net primary productivity (NPP), plant respiration, soil respiration, soil organic carbon sequestration rate and storage under scenarios of drought and normal conditions at Tidal Freshwater Forested Wetlands (TFFW) sites along the Waccamaw River and Savannah River in the Southeastern United States.Spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss at a Louisiana coastal salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain in 2019
This dataset provides the water content, bulk density, carbon concentrations, nitrogen concentrations, and carbon content of all fourteen cores sampled in coastal Louisiana (CRMS 0224) in October of 2019. Each sample is identified by a unique identifier that corresponds to each site by depth increment combination. The pond age range associated with each site is provided. The depth increment associSimulated Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions under Drought-induced Saltwater Intrusion in Tidal Freshwater Forested Wetlands
This dataset contains the result of simulated daily emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from the soils in Tidal Freshwater Forested Wetlands (TFFW) along the Waccamaw River (SC, USA) and the Savannah River (GA and SC, USA) under drought-induced saltwater intrusion using a process-driven biogeochemistry model. - Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 20
Mangroves provide blue carbon ecological value at a low freshwater cost
“Blue carbon” wetland vegetation has a limited freshwater requirement. One type, mangroves, utilizes less freshwater during transpiration than adjacent terrestrial ecoregions, equating to only 43% (average) to 57% (potential) of evapotranspiration (ET). Here, we demonstrate that comparative consumptive water use by mangrove vegetation is as much as 2905 kL H2O ha−1 year−1 less than adjacent ecoregCausality guided machine learning model on wetland CH4 emissions across global wetlands
Wetland CH4 emissions are among the most uncertain components of the global CH4 budget. The complex nature of wetland CH4 processes makes it challenging to identify causal relationships for improving our understanding and predictability of CH4 emissions. In this study, we used the flux measurements of CH4 from eddy covariance towers (30 sites from 4 wetlands types: bog, fen, marsh, and wet tundra)A model of the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss applied to a Louisiana salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain
The potential for carbon sequestration in coastal wetlands is high due to protection of carbon (C) in flooded soils. However, excessive flooding can result in the conversion of the vegetated wetland to open water. This transition results in the loss of wetland habitat in addition to the potential loss of soil carbon. Thus, in areas experiencing rapid wetland submergence, such as the Mississippi RiModeling impacts of drought-induced salinity intrusion on carbon dynamics in tidal freshwater forested wetlands
Tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFW) provide critical ecosystem services including essential habitat for a variety of wildlife species and significant carbon sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, large uncertainties remain concerning the impacts of climate change on the magnitude and variability of carbon fluxes and storage across a range of TFFW. In this study, we developed a procesWetlands under global change
Wetlands are among the ecosystem types most threatened by global change, including both climate change and other anthropogenic factors such as sea level rise, urban development, deforestation, agricultural land use, drainage, levees, tidal flow restrictions, pollution, eutrophication, and fires. Wetlands not only store disproportionate amounts of carbon compared to other terrestrial ecosystems, buSummary of wetland carbon and environmental management: Path forward
Wetlands around the world are under pressure from both anthropogenic sources such as land-use change and accelerating climate change (Erwin, 2009; Moomaw et al., 2018). Storage of carbon resources is a key ecosystem service of wetlands and offer natural solutions to climate change mitigation; policies and management actions could determine the fate of these resources and their contributions to cliFLUXNET-CH4: A global, multi-ecosystem database and analysis of methane seasonality from freshwater wetlands
Methane (CH4) emissions from natural landscapes constitute roughly half of global CH4 contributions to the atmosphere, yet large uncertainties remain in the absolute magnitude and the seasonality of emission quantities and drivers. Eddy covariance (EC) measurements of CH4 flux are ideal for constraining ecosystem-scale CH4 emissions due to quasi-continuous and high-temporal-resolution CH4 flux meaGap-filling eddy covariance methane fluxes: Comparison of machine learning model predictions and uncertainties at FLUXNET-CH4 wetlands
Time series of wetland methane fluxes measured by eddy covariance require gap-filling to estimate daily, seasonal, and annual emissions. Gap-filling methane fluxes is challenging because of high variability and complex responses to multiple drivers. To date, there is no widely established gap-filling standard for wetland methane fluxes, with regards both to the best model algorithms and predictorsRestoration of mangrove forest
Mangrove forests occur worldwide along tropical coasts in inundated soils where primary production and anaerobic conditions contribute to the building of soil organic matter (Also see Mangroves Hot-spot, Volume 2). Note that peat may accumulate in certain coastal mangrove (Middleton and McKee, 2001). The actual amount of soil organic matter stored in these wetlands depends on the balance between pRestoration of organic coastal and inland freshwater forests
Peatland forests occur worldwide in inundated soils where primary production and anaerobic conditions contribute to the building of soil organic matter (Günther et al., 2020). Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) can be substantial from drained freshwater forests with organic soils. Therefore, rewetting peat via hydrologic restoration (see factsheet n°12 on Peatland restoration, this volume) can restoreHeterotrophic respiration and the divergence of productivity and carbon sequestration
Net primary productivity (NPP) and net ecosystem production (NEP) are often used interchangeably, as their difference, heterotrophic respiration (soil heterotrophic CO2 efflux, RSH = NPP−NEP), is assumed a near-fixed fraction of NPP. Here, we show, using a range-wide replicated experimental study in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations that RSH responds differently than NPP to fertilization andWarming induces divergent stomatal dynamics in co-occurring boreal trees
Climate warming will alter photosynthesis and respiration not only via direct temperature effects on leaf biochemistry but also by increasing atmospheric dryness, thereby reducing stomatal conductance and suppressing photosynthesis. Our knowledge on how climate warming affects these processes is mainly derived from seedlings grown under highly controlled conditions. However, little is known regard