Summer research on the Platte River, Nebraska

Prof. Laura Triplett, Carson Smith (’11), Todd Kremmin (’12) and Dr. Karin Kettenring (Utah State University) visited the Platte River in July to investigate how one non-native species of reed, Phragmites australis, is changing the biogeochemical cycling of silica there.  The dense stands of phragmites, seen in the photo, are causing silica-rich soils to accumulate both via physical trapping mechanisms and biological processes.  It was hard, muddy work, but we collected over 100 sediment samples along a 60-mile stretch of the river.