Kennesaw State professor research moves ahead

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KENNESAW, Georgia (Sep 27, 2021) – Whether in the shallows along Florida’s Gulf Coast or in a creek near Atlanta, the Kennesaw State Assistant Professor biology Troy Mutchler often finds himself on his knees in his research.

“It’s one of the fun parts of my job – I go out there and spend time outside,” he said. “I have the chance to do what I do and help the environment in the process.”

Mutchler is studying human effects on underwater plant ecosystems, and he has sought to find out why some coastal plants are dying at an increasing rate. His research revealed high metabolic rates of bacteria in the water which led to the decline of seagrass communities. He traced these levels back to estuaries that drained into his research sites on Georgia’s Atlantic Coast and Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Now Mutchler and his research team have a grant through KSU’s Creative activities and research experiences for teams (CARET) to reduce the amount of bacteria in the water. In collaboration with Associate Professor of Biology Thomas McElroy, the group will achieve this by addressing urbanization issues further upstream, limiting the impacts of growing urban areas on these estuaries.

“One of my research interests is to examine how humans impact aquatic food webs and how urbanization affects stream communities,” he said. “Historically, I’ve done most of this in marine environments along the coasts of Florida and Georgia, but recently I’ve also been doing research on stream environments. ”

This decision helped Mutchler to become more engaged undergraduates in his research, as the Atlanta-area streams provide a rich nearby environment for study. He said he teamed up with the Georgia Aquarium for a study in which Mutchler and his undergraduate researchers collect and sort waste from Peachtree Creek about every two weeks.

“We categorize the waste according to the types of material we find and try to determine the amount of waste in a certain area of the creek,” Mutchler said. “Hopefully this will serve as baseline data for implementing something like a waste disposal system for these streams.”

Troy mutchler Human impacts have human solutions, and Mutchler’s research offers insight into how people can reduce their impact on the environment. Along with the increase in the amounts of waste in stream beds well upstream from the coast, there is evidence that fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals are seeping into critical estuaries before they find their way into the ocean. coastal ecosystems, causing problems such as toxic algal blooms. Mutchler says that means people have to change the way they use the land.

As a teacher, Mutchler said he believes he has the opportunity to make changes.

“Through education, we can help people understand science and how it can be used to solve problems in their daily lives,” Mutchler said. “It is this knowledge that will help us find solutions to environmental problems.

Ultimately, Mutchler said he would like his research to inform environmental policy and conservation at the government level while preserving aquatic ecosystems for future generations.

“I would like to get into that applied aspect more to make this research useful for everyone,” he said. “So these are long term goals for my research lab, and I hope we can accomplish some of them. These are not easy problems to fix, so it can take a long time to get there, but that is the goal.

– Dave Shelles

Photos of David Caselli

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