Science on Tap lecture to focus on wetlands restoration
by: Rene Abadie
HAMMOND – The status of wetlands restoration in southeast Louisiana will be the focus of Southeastern Louisiana University's next Science on Tap seminar scheduled Tuesday, May 6.
The informal presentation – to be made by Southeastern Professor of Biology Gary Shaffer – will be held at 7 p.m. at Tope lá Catering, 113 East Thomas St., Hammond. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the presentation is free and open to all ages.
Shaffer has been studying Louisiana wetlands for years and has compiled a significant body of research on the impacts that logging of native trees, erosion, nutrient starvation, saltwater intrusion, herbivores such as nutria and other factors are having on the deterioration of wetlands of southeast Louisiana.
"Over the years, we've studied these factors in the lab as well as in locations such as our Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station on the Manchac land bridge," said Shaffer. "Over the past several years, a controversy has broken out on the effects that nutrients from river diversions and assimilation wetlands have on wetlands. In my presentation, I will discuss why some investigators find negative effects of nutrients while others find highly positive effects, using the Hammond Assimilation Wetland as an example."
For more information, contact the Department of Biological Sciences at 985-549-3740.
