JMU faculty, students taking advantage of Chesapeake Bay access
News
JMU is known for providing excellent undergraduate research opportunities in well-equipped laboratories, but sometimes the best facilities can be found in the great outdoors.
"Getting out there and taking data is different than collecting it in the classroom because there are so many variables you can't control," said Shane Showalter, a junior geology major who is researching the effects of sea level rise on the evolution of a salt marsh along the Chesapeake Bay. Showalter is one of several students who have had the chance to do some of their research at Bluff Point, a vast wilderness area along the bay in the Northern Neck. The property includes an 860-acre conservation easement created by Tom Dingledine, a longtime friend and benefactor of JMU, and another 37-acre parcel that Dingledine donated to JMU in the past year.
Showalter's research is supervised by Dr. Shelley Whitmeyer, an instructor in the department of geology and environmental science who started doing research at Bluff Point in 2012. "Bluff point offers students the opportunity to study a real complex system that can't be reproduced in a lab," Whitmeyer said.
Whitmeyer and her students take the four-hour drive to Bluff Point one to two times a semester to collect data that they bring back to JMU to analyze in the lab. Their research attempts to quantify the effect sea level rise is having on the marsh and the shoreline.
"We have an instrument to measure accretion, how quickly the marsh grows vertically," Whitmeyer said. "We will look at reasons for the accretion, either sand being deposited by the tides or the contribution of organic material. Probably it's both, but to what extent is each contributing?"
So far, two years of data has been collected, but Whitmeyer said at least five years of data is needed to have statistically significant results for publishing.
Whitmeyer, Showalter and Claire Morris, a senior geology major who is part of the research team, see opportunities for other students at Bluff Point. Showalter said the site could serve as a research outlet for a variety of disciplines, including chemistry and biology. Whitmeyer said Bluff Point is a valuable resource that should be shared with more JMU students. She hopes that access can be improved to accommodate those students soon.
By Josh Kelly ('15), JMU Public Affairs
Published Oct. 8, 2014
