Who we are
Research in the Bowen Lab takes many forms. Much of our work is focused on how salt marsh microbial communities, and in particular those microbes that are important in the nitrogen cycle, respond to global change drivers. For example, we explore how changing environmental conditions in marshes alter important geochemical processes, including carbon sequestration and nitrogen removal.
That is not all we do though! We also have people in our lab working on host associated microbial communities and the role that bacteria play in the health of marine organisms including the Eastern Oyster and the American Lobster.
Please get in touch with us if you are interested in joining the Bowen Lab!
LATEST NEWS
Check out our newest Nature Comms paper!
We collaborated with Laura Meyerson at University of Rhode Island to study how the microbes associated with the rhizosphere of the invasive plant
Phragmites australis differs from those of its native counterparts. You can learn more about the story behind the science here, read the paper here, and read the press release here!
OUR LATEST RESEARCH
We are isolating novel denitrifying and sulfate reducing bacteria from salt marshes and we are using metagenomic sequencing to assemble whole genomes from salt marsh metagenomics data. We are coupling these approaches with single cell sorting and whole genome sequencing to build a genomic database of salt marsh microbial functional potential, which will allow us to better understand salt marsh ecosystem services.
Salt marshes provide a host of critically important ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration and nutrient removal. Members of the Bowen Lab are trying to understand how different marsh restoration strategies alter the capacity of salt marshes to remove nutrients and help protect downstream water quality. We are examining multiple different restoration types including passive restoration, vegetation removal and replanting and thin layer deposition.