My research interests include processes associated with the productivity and nutrient cycling of coastal ecosystems. I am particularly interested in the role of biological communities on the recycling of nutrients in estuaries and their foodplains. Studies of aquatic plant and wetland communities are very exciting with emergence of new principles concerning nutrient cycling patterns along gradients in hydrology and fertility. Of particular interest is the modification of redox conditions in otherwise anaerobic sediments due to the metabolism of rooted plants and benthic communities. I am presently studying the role of benthic nutrient recycling on the productivity of Fourleague Bay and Gulf of Mexico funded by Louisiana sea Grant and Board of Regents. I am also involved with a variety of studies of mangroves to understand their function in coastal ecosystems. Mangrove research is fifteen years behind marsh ecology and considering the present exploitation of this natural resource in the tropics, there is a critical need for a clear understanding of the ecology of these wetlands. There are mangrove projects in south Florida at the Everglades National Park and at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, in Belize at Twin Cays, in Mexico at Laguna de Terminos, and in Ecuador at the Churute Ecological Preserve.