2025 CSAP Research Projects Announced
Four students pursing master’s degrees in the fall will be new participants in the Coastal Science Assistantship Program (CSAP), a partnership between the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) and Louisiana Sea Grant that provides graduate students with up to three years’ financial support.
CSAP supports Master of Science students in science or engineering research relevant to Louisiana coastal protection efforts. This collaboration offers the dual benefit of engaging students in CPRA activities while potentially recruiting qualified personnel for the agency.
Louisiana Sea Grant administers these assistantships, available to all Louisiana university faculty to recruit outstanding students to coastal restoration-related research. Annually, up to four new students are chosen, based on the review of proposals, and awarded $30,000 each for up to three years. The latest projects are:
What Comes Next? Tracking Wetland Transitions across the Louisiana Coast
Student: Sabel Murphy, University of New Orleans (UNO), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Principal Investigator: Madeline Foster-Martinez, UNO
Changing environmental conditions prompt shifts in coastal vegetation species. The speed of these changes and the resulting vegetation response can be the difference between vegetation death and subsequent land loss, or vegetation transition and land maintenance. Since vegetation impacts both sediment and hydrologic processes, including vegetation changes is key to modeling coastal land evolution. Murphy will utilize data collected over 18 years through the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System to identify vegetation transition patterns – allowing for the probabilities of common transitions to be calculated.
A Comparative Assessment of Sediment Characteristics and Benthic Infaunal Communities along the Northeast and Southwest Regions of the Lake Pontchartrain Estuary
Student: TBD
Principal Investigators: John White, Cassandra Glaspie; Louisiana State University, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences
The Lake Pontchartrain estuary is a vital coastal basin linked to both important recreational and commercial fisheries. There is a scarcity of dense spatial data available on the variable physical and chemical sediment characteristics that make up the basin. The greatest sediment variability, however, can be seen from the center of the estuary where there is low-bulk density towards the northeast shore, which contains the highest bulk density indicative of sandy sediments. Infauna – animals living in the sediments – distribution is critically important to the food web, in particular bottom-feeding fish like Gulf sturgeon. This research will characterize the infauna along the lake’s northeastern shore, as this habitat might be critically important to valuable fish species. Additionally, researchers will determine if the muddier sediments of the estuary support similar bottom-dwelling organisms and potentially similar fish species.
Linking Hydroperiod to Surface Elevation Change, Vertical Accretion and Subsidence (Shallow and Deep) in Louisiana’s Active and Deteriorating Deltaic Marshes
Student: TBD
Principal Investigator: Carol Wilson, Louisiana State University, Department of Geology and Geophysics
Louisiana’s coastal wetland loss – exacerbated by sea level rise and other factors – is well documented. Continuous organic and inorganic sediments are needed to build wetland soils both vertically and horizontally and to counter the impacts of tidal and wave energy, subsidence, sea level rise and atmospheric forces. The project research team plans to test the hypothesis that surface elevation changes and vertical accretion in Louisiana’s marshes are positively linked to seasonal wetland hydroperiod – the duration and frequency of wetland flooding. Findings should be useful to CPRA, wildlife managers and navigation engineers interested in protecting the coast, enhancing marsh sustainability and maintaining river channelization and operation.
Investigating How Tidal Inundation and Plant Composition Influence Black Mangrove Growth and Survival to Inform Coastal Restoration
Student: TBD
Principal Investigator: Robyn Zerebecki, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Louisiana’s coastal restoration efforts often focus on restoring foundation species – such as Spartina alterniflora – to drive creation of new habitat, reduce physical environmental stressors, enhance food availability and shape species interaction. Due to infrequent cold events and warming temperatures, the composition of foundation species is changing. Nowhere is this change more apparent than in southern Louisiana where black mangroves are expanding into marshes that have historically been dominated by Spartina. This project will investigate how Spartina presence or absence, black mangrove maternal lineage and tidal inundation influence mangrove growth and survival. Researchers believe mangrove propagules may benefit from the presence of Spartina when under stress at early life stages. Further, the researchers believe that different maternal lines will vary in plant traits, and this variation could have impacts on restored wetland ecosystem function.