Welcome to the Environmental Research Laboratory of Dr. Nathaniel Weston, in the Department of Geography and the Environment at Villanova University.

Research in our laboratory is focused on understanding how human activities such as climate change and land use alterations impact tidal wetland ecosystem function. We're especially interested in the response of microbial and plant communities to rising sea-levels and salt-water intrusion, changing organic matter sequestration and sediment accretion rates, and the resultant alterations to ecosystem function. We are also interested in the impacts of natural gas extraction (horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing) from the Marcellus Shale on surface and ground-water quality.  More information of research in our laboratory:

• Microbial Processes
• Tidal Marsh Ecosystems
• Land Use Change
• Marcellus Shale

Marsh Organ Simulating Sea-Level Rise in the Delaware River Estuary	Field Work
Real-Time Kinematic GPS Surveying	Measuring Gas (CO2, CH4 and N2O) Flux Rates in Marsh Plots
Surface Elevation Table (SET), Marker Horizons (White Plots at Ends of Boardwalk) and Vegetation Plots	You Can See Us From Space! Boardwalk as Seen From Google Maps
Winter Damage: Ripped Up Boardwalk and Spilled Bucket	Sampling a resident's well water in the Marcellus Shale region