BRIAN ROBERTS

Executive Director and Chief Scientist / REU Program Director
broberts@lumcon.edu
985-851-2821

Roberts Lab Website
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Education · Research Interests · Current Projects · Teaching · Research Group · Selected Publications

EDUCATION

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2004-2007, Environmental Sciences Division
    Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • Ph.D., 2004, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    Cornell University
  • M.A., 1996, Marine Biology
    Boston University Marine Program
  • B.S., 1995, Biology and Philosophy
    College of William and Mary

RESEARCH INTERESTS

The Roberts Lab is interested in understanding how ecosystems transform and retain carbon, nutrients, and energy. We are particularly interested in how human activities (e.g. land use changes, nutrient enrichment, climate change, and oil spills) alter the mechanisms that regulate trophic dynamics, biogeochemical cycling, and materials transport along the continuum from headwater streams and lakes to large rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and open-ocean ecosystems. We are also interested in how restoration efforts might ameliorate some of these deleterious impacts.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Current research in the Roberts Lab is broadly focused in three areas: 1) ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry (particularly focused on terrestrial-aquatic and community-ecosystem linkages), 2) human-induced environmental impacts on wetland and aquatic ecosystems, and 3) restoration ecology. Our research team is currently involved in projects in multiple ecosystem types including headwater streams, rivers, baldcypress swamps, salt marshes, estuaries, and coastal oceans.  The interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of our research lends itself to providing numerous research opportunities to students.

Specifically, ongoing projects include:

  • Controls on wetland primary production and greenhouse gas fluxes
  • Methane dynamics in wetland, estuarine and marine ecosystems
  • Impacts of dredging on sand shoal ecosystems
  • Mangrove production and biogeochemistry
  • Biogeochemical cycling in estuaries and continental shelf ecosystems
  • Influence of living shoreline restoration projects on plant and biogeochemical dynamics
  • Coastal hypoxia and ocean acidification in the northern Gulf
  • Pelagic and benthic primary & secondary production in the northern Gulf
  • Effects of the Macondo Oil Spill on coastal ecosystems
  • Wetland biogeochemistry, plant ecology, and microbial ecology
  • Food webs and carbon flow in marsh ecosystems
  • Salinity alterations and marsh creation project impacts on wetland ecosystems
  • Stream ecosystem metabolism and biogeochemistry

TEACHING

  • Director of LUMCON’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program
  • Changing Coastal Oceans (offered every spring semester)

RESEARCH GROUP

  • Wendy Morrison, Lab Manager / Senior Research Associate
    • B.S., 1987, Biology
      University of Louisiana Monroe
  • Stacy Calhoun-Grosch , Postdoctoral Research Associate
    • Ph.D., 2023, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology
      University of Louisiana Lafayette
    • M.S., 2015, Marine and Environmental Biology
      Nicholls State University
    • B.S., 2013, Marine Biology
      College of Charleston
    • B.A., 2013, Spanish
      College of Charleston
  • Yaolin Guo, Postdoctoral Research Associate (LSU)
    • PhD, 2023, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology / Plant Evolutionary Ecology
      Fudan University (China) / University of Tübingen (Germany)
    • B.S., 2016, Chemistry
      Shanxi University (China)
  • Chequita Brooks, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Bowles primary)
    • PhD, 2021, Biological Sciences
      East Carolina University
    • BS, 2016, Biology (Molecular Biology Concentration)
      Western Carolina University
  • Justin Pitre, Research Assistant II
    • BS, 2023, Biological Sciences
      Nicholls State University
  • James Faxel, Research Assistant I
    • BA, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
      University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Brielle Martin,
    • BA, 2024, Earth and Oceanographic Science/Environmental Studies
      Bowdoin College
  • Maris Griffith, M.S. Student, Marine and Environmental Biology (Nicholls State University)
    • B.S., 2023, Chemistry and Biology
      Nicholls State University
  • Jacqueline Valladares, M.S. Student, Marine Sciences (University of Georgia)
    • BS, 2018, Marine Science
      University of Delaware

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

PDFs are available for all of the published articles listed below. Links at the end of each article will take you directly to the article on the journal’s website. If the article is a free-access publication or if you or your library has an on-line subscription to the journal, you will be able to download and/or print the article directly from the link. If you do not have access to the PDF and would like a reprint of the article, please send me an email.

(underline indicates student author, italics indicates post-doc author)
Clicking the links will redirect you to external website

Recent Publications

  • Liner S, Roberts BJ, Coxe N, Lavaud R*, La Peyre J, La Peyre ML. 2025. Vulnerability of Gulf Ribbed Mussels to marsh surface summer maximum temperatures. Journal of Shellfish Research. In press.
  • Chapman ST, LeBlanc C, Nelson J, Roberts BJ, Polito MJ. 2025. Vegetation and Habitat Classification of Created and Natural Brackish Marshes via Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS): A Case Study of the Lake Hermitage Marsh Creation Project . Estuaries and Coasts. 48:82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-025-01516-1​. [link]
  • Klinges D, Martin CW, Roberts BJ. 2025. Ecological associations of the coastal marsh periwinkle snail Littoraria irrorata: field and laboratory evidence of vegetation habitat preferences. PeerJ 13:e19071. DOI: http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.19071. [link]
  • Koontz EL, Parker SM, Stearns AE, Roberts BJ, Young CM, Windham-Myers LM, Oikawa PY, Megonigal JP, Noyce GL, Buskey EJ, Derby RK, Dunn RP, Ferner MC, Krask JL, Marconi CM, Savage KB, Shahan J, Spivak AC, St. Laurent K, Argueta JM, Baird SJ, Beheshti KM, Crane LC, Cressman KA, Crooks JA, Fernald SH, Garwood JA, Goldstein JS, Grothues TM, Habeck A, Lerberg SB, Lucas SB, Marcum P, Peter CR, Phipps SW, Raposa KB, Rovai AS, Schooler SS, Twilley RR, Tyrrell MC, Uyeda KA, Wulfing SH, Aman JT, Giacchetti A, Cross-Johnson SN, Holmquist JR. 2024. Controls on spatial variation in porewater methane concentrations across U.S. tidal wetlands. Science of the Total Environment 957: 177290. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177290. [link]
  • Carruthers TJB, Jones B, Terrel, MK, Black VA, Player BJ, Scheibly JF, Biber PD, Connolly RM, Cown J, Curole JP, Darnell KM, Dausman AM, DeJong AL, Doyle SM, Duarte CM, Friess DA, Fourqurean, Hemmerling SA, Hillmann, ER, Holm GO, Kiskaddon E, Heorfiou IY, Grimsditch GD, Jung H, Jupiter SD, Kendrick GA, Krauss KW, Liu B, Lovelock CE, Mack SK, Macreadie PI, McGlathery KJ, Megonigal JP, Miner M, Pittman GC, Roberts BJ, Settelmyer S, Sevick T, Simpson S, Staver LW, Stevens HJ, Sutton-Grier AE, Villa JA, White JR, Lavery PS, He S, Espisito CR, Waycott M. 2024. Filling critical knowledge gaps can reduce uncertainty and improve viability of blue carbon crediting mechanisms for tidal wetlands. Frontiers in Environmental Science 12:1421850. DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1421850. [link]
  • Jones SF, Arias-Ortiz A, Baldocchi D, Eagle M, Friess DA, Gore C, Noe G, Nolte S, Oikawa P, Paytan A, Raw JL, Roberts BJ, Rogers K, Schutte C, Stagg C, Thorne KM, Ward E, Windham L, Yando ES. 2024. When and where can coastal wetland restoration increase carbon sequestration as a natural climate solution? Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures 2: e13, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1017/cft.2024.14. [link]
  • Raabe JM, Kurtay G, Fontenot A, Greene S, Martignette AJ, Mibrandt E, Roberts BJ, Stauffer BA. 2024 Operation and integration of a commercially available nitrate sensor in Gulf of Mexico estuarine monitoring programs. Environmental Technology and Innovation. 35: 103676. DOI: 10.1016/j.eti.2024.103676. [link]
  • Gartelman A, Xu K, Maiti K, Liu H, Moran K, Wilson C, Roberts BJ, Nelson J. 2024. Sedimentation processes and morphological changes in a dredge pit and surrounding environment on Ship Shoal in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Marine Geology 470: 107218. DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107218​. [link]
  • Keppeler FW, Engel AS, Hooper-Bùi LM, López-Duarte PC, Martin CW, Olin JA, Polito MJ, Rabalais NN, Roberts BJ, Swenson EM, Jensen OP. 2023. Coastal wetland restoration through the lens of Odum’s theory of ecosystem development. Restoration Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/rec.14072​. [link]
  • Okin KL, Able KW, de Mutsert K, Fodrie FJ, López-Duarte PC, Martin CW, McCann MJ, Olin JA, Polito MJ, Roberts BJ, Jensen OP. 2023. Fishery closures, more than predator release, increased persistence of nearshore fishes and invertebrates to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Estuaries and Coasts. DOI:10.1007/s12237-023-01246-2. [link]
  • Martin CW, Olin JA, López-Duarte P, Roberts BJ (editors). 2023. Gulf of Mexico estuaries: Ecology of the nearshore and coastal ecosystems impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. doi: 10.3389/978-2-8325-2455-8. [link]
  • Martin CW, López-Duarte PC, Olin JA, Roberts BJ. 2023. Gulf of Mexico estuaries: ecology of the nearshore and coastal ecosystems impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Frontiers in Environmental Science 11:1203443. DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2023.1203443. [link]
  • Keppeler FW, Junker JR, Shaw MJ, Alford SB, Engel AS, Hooper-Bui LM, Jensen OP, Lamb K, López-Duarte PC, Martin CW, McDonald AM, Olin JA, Paterson AT, Polito MJ, Rabalais NN, Roberts BJ, Rossi RE, Swenson EM. 2023. Can created saltmarshes match biodiversity of pre-existing ones across scales? An assessment from microbes to predators. Ecosphere. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4461​. [link]
  • Martin CW, McDonald AM, Valentine J, Roberts BJ. 2023. Towards relevant ecological experiments and assessments of coastal oil spill effects: insights from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Frontiers in Environmental Science 10:1092097. DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2022.1092097. [link]

Most Cited Papers

  • Roberts BJ, Mulholland PJ, Hill WR. 2007. Multiple scales of temporal variability in ecosystem metabolism rates: results from two years of continuous monitoring in a forested headwater stream. Ecosystems 10(4): 588-606. doi: 10.1007/s10021-007-9059-2 [link]
  • Roberts BJ, Mulholland PJ. 2007. In-stream biotic control on nutrient biogeochemistry in a forested headwater stream, West Fork of Walker Branch. JGR-Biogeosciences 112, G04002, doi:10.1029/2007JG000422 [link]
  • Roberts BJ, Mulholland PJ, Houser JN. 2007. Effects of upland disturbance and in-stream restorations on hydrodynamics and ammonium uptake in headwater streams. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 26(1):38-53. [link]
  • Hill WR, Fanta SE, Roberts BJ. 2009. Quantifying phosphorus and light effects in stream algae. Limnology and Oceanography 54(1):368-380.[link]
  • Rosenheim BE, Roe KE, Roberts B.J, Kolker AS, Allison MA, Johannesson KH 2013. River discharge influences on particulate organic carbon age structure in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River System. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 27:1-13. doi: 10.1029/2012GB004339.[link]