Robert R. Twilley
Professor and Director of Sea Grant

Mailing and Contact Information:
3257 Energy, Coast and Environment Building
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

E-mail: rtwilley@lsu.edu
Phone: (225) 578-6431
Fax: (225) 578-6423

Educational Background:
Ph.D. University of Florida, 1982
M.S. East Carolina University, 1976
B.S. East Carolina University, 1974

Research Interests:
System ecology and biogeochemistry of coastal wetlands, conceptual and simulation models, coastal ecosystem restoration, nutrient dynamics

Grants:
2006-2010 University of Minesota - National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (PI R.R. Twilley).

2006-2011 Florida International University - FCE LTER II: coastal ologotrophic ecosystems research (PI R.R. Twilley, Co-PI V.H. Rivera).

2006-2008 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Sea Grant) -Landscape patterns of denitrification in marsh and subtidal sediments of Breton Sound during river-pulsing events using isotopic methods (PI R.R. Twilley).

2005-2007 National Park Service - Nutrient biogeochemistry of mangrove transition zone: I. Role of denitrification and tidal exchange in mangrove sediments as nutrient sinks in Taylor and Shark River sloughs (PI R.R. Twilley, Co-PI V.H. Rivera).

2005-2007 South Florida Water Management District - Evaluating the effect of hydroperiod and soil fertility on the productivity and structure of mangrove forests in South Florida: a mesocom experiment (PI R.R. Twilley, Co-PI V.H. Rivera).

2004-2007 Louisiana Department of Natural Resources – Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Assessment and Restoration (CLEAR) program: a tool to support adaptive management of coastal restoration (PI R.R. Twilley).

2002-2007 US Department of Agriculture-CSREES – Utilizing Mississippi River diversions for nutrient management in Louisiana watershed (NUMAN) (PI. R.R. Twilley).

Recent Publications:
Bouillon, S., A.V. Borges, E. Castaneda-Moya, K. Diele, T. Dittmar, N.C. Duke, E. Kristenson, S.Y. Lee, C. Marchand, J.J. Middelburg, V.H. Rivera-Monroy, T.J. Smith, III., and R. R. Twilley. 2008. Mangrove production and carbon sinks: a revision of global budget estimates. Global Biogeochemistry Cycles 22:GB2013.

Habib, E., B.R. Larson, W.K. Nuttle, V.H. Rivera-Monroy, B.R. Nelson, E.A. Meselhe, and R.R. Twilley. 2008. Effect of rainfall spatial variability and sampling on salinity prediction in an estuarine system. Journal of Hydrology 350:56-67.

Simard, M., V.H. Rivera-Monroy, J.E. Mancera-Pineda, E. Castaneda-Moya, and R.R. Twilley. 2008. A systematic method for 3D mapping of mangrove forests base on Shuttle Radar Topography mission elevation data, ICEsat/GLAS waveforms and field data: application to Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta, Colombia. Remote Sensing of Environment 112:2131-2144.

Twilley, R.R., B.R. Couvillion, I. Hossain, C. Kaiser, A. Owens, G.R. Steyer, and J. Visser. In press. Coastal Louisiana ecosystem assessment and restoration program: the role of ecosystem forecasting in evaluating restoration planning in the Mississippi River deltaic plain. American Fisheries Society.

Poret, N., R.R. Twilley, V.H. Rivera-Monroy, and C. Molina. 2007. Belowground decomposition of mangrove roots in Florida coastal Everglades. Estuaries and Coasts 30:491-496.

Sundareshwar, P.V., R. Murtugudde, G. Srinivasan, S. Singh, K.J. Ramesh, D. Agarwal, D. Baldocchi, C.K. Baru, K.K. Baruah, G.R. Chowdhury, V.K. Dadhwal, C.B.S. Dutt, J. Fuentes, PlKl Gupta, W.W. Hargrove, M. Howard, C.S. Jha, S. Lal, W.K.Michener, A.P. Mitra, J.T. Morris, R.R. Myneni, M. Naja, R. Nemani, S. Raha, R. Ramesh, S.K. Santhana Vanan, M. Sharma, A. Subramaniam, R. Sukumar, R.R. Twilley, S.B. Verma, and P.R. Zimmerman. 2007. INDOFLUX: a biogeochemical monitoring network for India. Science 316:204-205.

Day, J.W. Jr., D.F. Boesch, E.J. Clairain, G.P. Kemp, S.B. Laska, W.J. Mitsch, K. Orth, H. Mashriqui, D.R. Reed, L. Shabman, C.A. Simenstad, B.J. Streever, R.R. Twilley, C.C. Watson, J.T. Wells, and D.F. Whigham. 2007. Restoration of the Mississippi Delta: lessons from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Science 315:1679-1684.

Krauss, K., J. Chambers, P. Young, and R. Twilley. 2007. Sap flow characteristics of neotropical mangroves in flooded and drained soils. Tree Physiology 27:775-783.

Castaneda-Moya, E., V.H. Rivera-Monroy, and R.R. Twilley. 2006. Mangrove zonation in the dry life zone of the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras. Estuaries and Coasts 29:750-763.

Cardona-Olarte, P., R.R. Twilley, K.W. Krauss, and V. Rivera-Monroy. 2006. Responses of neotropical mangrove seedlings grown in monoculture and mixed culture under treatments of hydroperiod and salinity. Hydrobiologia 569:325-341.

Courses Taught:
OCS 4372. Estuarine Ecology