Research Interests: Wetland ecosystem ecology, focusing on the interactive influences of hydrology, geomorphology, climate, and biology on nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, and sediment biogeochemistry and transport in watersheds, as well as plant community ecology and restoration ecology.
Greg Noe has been a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, VA, since 2002, where he leads the Wetland Ecosystem Ecology & Biogeochemistry Laboratory (WEEBL) in the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center. Dr. Noe’s research centers on wetland ecosystem ecology and watershed processes. His dissertation research identified the complex controls on annual plant germination in the salt marshes of southern California. This was followed by post-doctoral research on phosphorus biogeochemistry and enrichment effects in the Florida Everglades. When joining the USGS, he started a research program on nutrient cycling, transport, and retention in wetlands associated with floodplains.
He is currently the President of the Society of Wetland Scientists, serves on the Science and Technical Advisory Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program, serves on the editorial board of Wetlands and previously of Wetlands Ecology and Management, is the recipient of the President's Service Award from the Society of Wetland Scientists, and has served on the program committees of national and international scientific conferences and numerous graduate student committees. Greg is a recipient of the Meritorius Service Award from the Department of the Interior.
Current projects:
- Quantifying and modeling nutrient retention by riverine floodplains from site to watershed scales across the U.S.
- Evaluating the impacts of watershed restoration on water quality and stream health in the Chesapeake
- Identifying the effects of sea level rise, salinization, and sediment availability on tidal freshwater wetland ecosystem resilience along the Atlantic Coast
- Measuring the water quality functions in created wetlands, stream restoration projects, and floodplain restorations, and how to optimize their design
Science and Products
New Review of Sediment Science Informs Choices of Management Actions in the Chesapeake
New information on chemical and physical characteristics of streams and floodplains across the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
Type of Wetlands Affect How Much Nitrogen is Removed from the Bay’s Tidal Rivers
Quantifying Floodplain Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Services in the Delaware River Watershed
Science and Products
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New Review of Sediment Science Informs Choices of Management Actions in the Chesapeake
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is pursuing restoration efforts to improve habitats and associated water quality for fisheries, both in the watershed and estuary. Excess sediment decreases light in tidal waters for submerged aquatic vegetation, harms oysters, carries contaminants, and impairs stream health throughout the watershed. The CBP is implementing management actions and policies...New information on chemical and physical characteristics of streams and floodplains across the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds
Issue: Improving stream health is an important outcome of the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership. Stream conditions are important for recreational fisheries, and mitigating the amount of nutrients, sediment, and contaminants delivered to the Bay.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...Type of Wetlands Affect How Much Nitrogen is Removed from the Bay’s Tidal Rivers
Issue: Wetlands are important for removing nitrogen from rivers entering the Chesapeake Bay. More information is needed on how much nitrogen wetlands can remove.Quantifying Floodplain Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Services in the Delaware River Watershed
Floodplain and wetland areas provide critical ecosystem services to local and downstream communities by retaining sediments, nutrients, and floodwaters. The loss of floodplain functionality due to land use conversion and degradation reduces the provisioning of these services. Assessing, quantifying, and valuing floodplain ecosystem services provide a framework to estimate how floodplain systems... - Publications
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