About The Lab

Erin K. Peck

Assistant Professor

My research focuses on studying the drivers of salt marsh geomorphic change with implications for carbon burial.

Contact: erin.peck@uri.edu

Izzy Rico

PhD Student

Izzy is studying carbon dynamics across salt marshes, with special interest in gas flux measurements.

Lilah Saunders

Undergraduate Student

Lilah is studying sediment accretion rates in Narragansett Bay salt marshes and how they've changed over the last 4 decades.

Mitchell Starr

MS Student

Mitchell is researching salt marsh migration at the Harriet Tubman National Historic Park with a focus on characterizing the hydrology.

Kathryn Staebler

MS Student

Kathryn is studying eelgrass in Narragansett Bay with a goal of improving restoration success.

Sarah Maletta

MS Student

Sarah is studying mineral sediment sourcing to Block Island, RI salt marshes.

Tiare Sierra Rivera

MS Student

Tiare is studying salt marsh migration.

Emily Hall

Former MS Student

Emily's research used sediment stratigraphy and biogeochemical proxies of salt marsh zonation to reconstruct elevation changes over the last 300 years in a tectonically active estuary.

Taylor Leitch

Former MO Student

Taylor studied changes in vegetation assemblages at a Maine salt marsh.

Selected Publications from the Lab

Peck, E.K., Goñi, M., & Wheatcroft, R.A. (2025). Spatiotemporal controls on organic matter sourcing to minerogenic salt marshes. Limnology and Oceanography. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12739

Peck, E.K., Walker, J.E., Ackerman, K.V., Carr, J., Correll, M.D., Defne, Z., ... & Yellen, B. (2025). Distribution and disturbances of ditches across salt marshes of the Northeast US with implications for management and restoration. Journal of Environmental Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124444

Peck, E.K., S. Inamdar, J. Kan, M. Peipoch, A.J. Gold, D.J. Merritts, & Rahman, M. (2024). Back from the past? Assessment of nitrogen removal ability of buried historic wetland soils before and after a 1‐year incubation on a restored floodplain. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14070

Ensign, S.H., J.N. Halls, & E.K. Peck. (2023). Watershed sediment cannot offset sea level rise in most US tidal wetlands. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj0513

Peck, E.K., S. Inamdar, M. Peipoch, & A. Gold. (2023). Influence of relict milldams on riparian sediment biogeochemistry. Journal of Soils and Sediments. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03507-w

Peck, E.K., T.P. Guilderson, M.H. Walczak, & R.A. Wheatcroft. (2022). Recovery rate of a salt marsh from the 1700 CE Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, Netarts Bay, Oregon. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099115

Peck, E.K., S. Inamdar, M. Sherman, J. Hripto, M. Peipoch, A. Gold, & K. Addy. (2022). Nitrogen sinks or sources? Denitrification and nitrogen removal potential in riparian legacy sediment terraces affected by milldams. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007004

Peck, E.K. & R.A. Wheatcroft. (2022). Spatiotemporal variation in Oregon salt marsh expansion and contraction. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.107908

Buser-Young, J.Z., E.K. Peck, P. Chase, L. Lapham, & F. Colwell. (2022). Biogeochemical dynamics of a changing high-latitude wetland. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006584

Ewton, E., S. Klasek, E.K. Peck, & F. Colwell. (2021). Microbial community characteristics largely unaffected by X-ray computed tomography of sediment cores. Environmental Science & Technology Letters. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.584676

Peck, E.K., R.A. Wheatcroft, & L.S. Brophy. (2020). Controls on sediment accretion and blue carbon burial in salt marshes: Insights from the Oregon coast, USA. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005464