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Research Interests

My research is aimed at elucidating how abiotic factors and biotic processes influence aquatic and wetland plant growth and production, and to understand how they affect ecosystem processes. I am fascinated by the many ways in which wetland plants affect the structure and function of wetland ecosystems, and am most interested in understanding their role in wetland population, community, and ecosystem dynamics.

I have conducted research in a variety of aquatic and wetland habitats, including freshwater wetlands in the southeastern US, coastal marshes of the northern Gulf of Mexico, riparian wetlands in New Mexico, and tidal creeks in the Bahamas. Regardless of the location, I am focused on understanding ecological patterns from the population to ecosystem levels through a combination of field and greenhouse experiments.

I enjoy advising both graduate and undergraduate students and am always looking for motivated students.

Current Graduate Students

My research program fits into one of two primary areas:

Global Change Effects on Coastal Wetlands

The goal of my coastal wetland research is to understand the linkages and feedbacks that control habitat stability in coastal marshes, specifically how marshes maintain surface elevations relative to sea-level and how external forcing factors (elevated CO2, sea-level rise, fire) affect ecosystem stability. This research includes examination of porewater physicochemistry, above- and below-ground plant production, organic matter accumulation, sedimentation, vertical accretion, and surface elevation change. My collaborators and I combine greenhouse experiments with field experiments to identify physical and biological processes involved in maintaining marsh surface elevations, to elucidate the effects of fire on biogenic accretion, and to develop Structural Equation Models (SEM) that can inform adaptive management strategies. Results from these studies can be used by natural resource managers who are attempting to conserve and restore coastal wetlands.

Link to MASGC fire study

Population and Community Dynamics in Temperate Freshwater Wetlands

The goal of my freshwater wetland research is to understand how plant communties respond to changes in their environment, interact with each other, and influence ecosystem processes. For example, I have investigated how the white water lily (Nymphaea odorata) responds to invertebrate grazing, competition with other plant species, and water level fluctuations caused by temporary floating island formation. I am also conducting research in a local emergent wetland that was formerly impounded by beaver activity. Since the draining of the former beaver pond in 1996, hazel alder, a nitrogen fixer, has been colonizing an area formerly dominated by Juncus effusus and Nymphaea odorata, and my collaborators and I are documenting changes in the plant community and the role that alder plays in nutrient dynamics.

I have also applied the tools of this research to solving environmental problems such as the control of invasive plant species and the restoration of degraded or fragmented ecosystems.

Other Research Interests

In the past, I have collaborated on projects investigating the importance of overbank flooding for the successful restoration of native riparian communities along the middle Rio Grande, the impact of habitat fragmentation on plant, invertebrate, and fish communities in Bahamian tidal creeks, and the biological control of waterhyacinth by weevils in the genus Neochetina.

Select Publications

Woodrey, MS, Rush, SA, Cherry, JA, Nuse, BL, Cooper, RJ, Lehmicke AJJ (2012) Understanding the potential impacts of global climate change on marsh birds in the Gulf of Mexico region. Wetlands 32:35-49.

Cherry, JA (2011) Ecology of wetland ecosystems: water, substrate, and life. Nature Education Knowledge 2(1):3.

Cherry JA, Gough, L. (2009) Trade-offs in plant responses to herbivory influence trophic routes of production in a freshwater wetland. Oecologia 161:549-557.

Cherry JA, McKee KL, Grace JB (2009) Elevated CO2 enhances biological contributions to elevation change in coastal wetlands by offsetting stressors associated with sea-level rise. Journal of Ecology 97:67-77.

Langley JA, McKee KL, Cahoon DR, Cherry JA, Megonigal JP (2009) Elevated CO2 stimulates marsh elevation gain, counterbalancing sea-level rise. PNAS doi:10.1073/pnas.0807695106.

McKee KL, Cherry JA (2009) Hurricane Katrina sediment slowed elevation loss in subsiding brackish marshes of the Mississippi River Delta. Wetlands 29:2-15.

Cherry JA, Ward AK, Ward GM (2009) The dynamic nature of land-water interfaces: changes in structure and productivity along a water depth gradient in the Talladega Wetland Ecosystem. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 30:977-980.

Valentine-Rose LM, Cherry JA, Culp JJ, Perez KE, Pollock JB, Arrington DA, Layman CA (2007) Floral and faunal differences between fragmented and unfragmented Bahamian tidal creeks. Wetlands 27:702-718.

Cherry JA, Gough L (2006) Temporary floating island formation maintains wetland plant species richness: the role of the seed bank. Aquatic Botany 85:29-36.