World-renowned Wetlands Ecologist Robert Twilley to Deliver Opening Talk at National Conference
Ecological Society of America convenes in New Orleans Aug. 5
07/17/2018BATON ROUGE – Robert Twilley, a distinguished professor in the LSU Department of Oceanography
& Coastal Sciences in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment and the executive
director of the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, is a leading national expert
in coastal deltaic science and sustainability. He has worked on some of the largest
ecosystem restoration efforts in the world, including the Mississippi River Delta,
Chesapeake Bay, Florida Everglades and mangrove conservation and restoration throughout
the neotropics of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico. Twilley will give the opening
plenary talk at the Ecological Society of America, or ESA, annual meeting at the Ernest
Morial Convention Center in New Orleans on Sunday, Aug. 5.
He will discuss how natural systems in large dynamic landscapes, such as coastal deltas,
are not typically considered important services to society until after a major natural
disaster or catastrophe hits. He and colleagues propose a more holistic and longer-term
approach to planning called ecosystem design, which would transform flood control
approaches of river management to controlled floods that provide the sediment supply
necessary for wetland restoration. This shift will help reduce coastal flood risk
and meet the multipurpose needs of the diverse services and stakeholders in a large
river system and delta network.
“This team of scientists is working to understand how sediments from the Mississippi
River Delta are deposited, how floods from storm surges are amplified by land loss,
and how humans interact with this constantly changing region,” said Dena Smith, a
director of the National Science Foundation’s Coastal SEES, or Science, Engineering
and Education for Sustainability, program, which funds Twilley and colleagues’ research.
“Their work will lead to new coastal plans and policies in this economically important
region.”
River management projects, including those designed to promote navigation and reduce
flooding, have in some cases accelerated land loss and increased the threat of hurricane
flooding. Testing the connections between river management, wetland loss and flood
risks will improve coastal system predictions, produce guidelines for how to sustainably
manage sediment supply and maintain human settlement in coastal areas.
“Dr. Twilley’s expertise at the intersection of ecosystems, economies and people will
help frame this year’s ESA annual meeting’s theme of ‘Extreme events, ecosystem resilience
and human well-being’ that will be held in one of the most ecologically dynamic places
in the world,” said Ecological Society of America President Richard Pouyat.
Twilley’s plenary talk will be live streamed on Sunday, Aug. 5, at 5 p.m. He will also be presenting his research, The resilience of coastal deltaic floodplains, on Thursday, Aug. 9, at 10:10 a.m.
Additional Links:
Complimentary registration for journalists: https://esa.org/neworleans/newsroom/press-registration/
NSF-supported researchers to present new results on hurricanes and other extreme events:
https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=295997&org=NSF&from=news
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Contact Alison Satake
LSU Media Relations
225-578-3870
asatake@lsu.edu
Roy Kron
Louisiana Sea Grant College Program
225-578-6564
rkron@lsu.edu