Sydney Williams
​       I am currently a second-year PhD student at the University of Florida in the Environmental Engineering Sciences Department. However, before diving into graduate school, I pursued work with The Nature Conservancy and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources – major stakeholders in Georgia that are partnering to develop coastal management strategies. During these endeavors, my interest was continually piqued by what is now my focal research topic: marine bivalves! Working with TNC and GA DNR set the stage for my graduate research by providing insight into Georgia’s cultural and historical relationship with shellfish, oyster management challenges, and the current knowledge gaps in bivalve ecosystem services. 
​        Now, I study how the ribbed mussel (Geukensia demissa) affects, and is affect by, local water quality and phytoplankton communities due to their physiological functions (i.e. suspension-feeding). Overall, a deeper understanding of the reciprocal exchanges between water quality and the regulating services of suspension-feeders achieved through this work has the capacity to guide management towards innovative, nature-based solutions to promote ecosystem health in coastal communities, especially those faced with cultural eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and other pervasive threats.

Margaret A. Davidson Fellow

Picture
Globally, anthropogenic and climatic drivers of water quality change, such as nutrient loading, dredging, and saltwater intrusion, are threatening coastal ecosystem health and functioning and the human communities that depend upon them. The Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve (SINERR) has been collecting water quality data since 2004 across their 6,100 acre domain to evaluate the seriousness of this threat in coastal Georgia, USA. The reserve has identified a pressing need for rigorous evaluation of these data to assess how water quality has been changing and to better understand how said shifts influence the composition, abundance, and persistence of estuarine communities. While prevalent worldwide, this management need is of paramount importance to SINEER as the Georgia coast faces accelerating sea level rise as well as human population growth and related coastal development. ​As the SINERR's new Davidson Fellow, my research aims to inform SINERR’s core management goals of 1) improving the abundance, composition, and persistence of intertidal and aquatic biota and 2) enhancing water quality services of local coastal systems. Specifically, this work will provide robust analyses of existing SWMP data to identify how water quality has changed in this region and how environmental conditions influence mussel population metrics (density, condition, survivorship, growth, reproductive output) and their impact on phytoplankton communities.

Undergraduate Awards - University of Georgia

  • CURO Assistantship and Travel Stipend Awards (2016)   
  • Honors International Scholarship Program  (2016)
  • Presidential Scholar Award (2014)