Professor, Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute
Louisiana State University
Dr. Robert R. Twilley is professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Science and director of the Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute at Louisiana State University. Most of Dr. Twilley's research has focused ecosystem ecology and management of coastal wetlands both in the Gulf of Mexico (from Florida to the Yucatan Peninsula) and throughout Latin America. He works on the nutrient biogeochemistry of wetland and coastal ecosystems, and on coupled ecological models of ecosystem management.
Dr. Twilley has published more than 75 articles in peer-reviewed journals on his research. In 1999 he co-edited The Biogeochemistry of Gulf of Mexico Estuaries, in 2001 was lead author of Confronting Climate Change in the Gulf Coast Region: Prospects for Sustaining Our Ecological Heritage, and 2002 was co-author of report by the Pew Center for Global Climate Change entitled Coastal and Marine Ecosystems and Global Climate Change. Presently, Dr. Twilley is member of the Louisiana Framework Development Team that is developing a comprehensive restoration plan for the Louisiana Coastal Area. He was the recipient of the 2000 Distinguished Professor Award at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he was the director of the Center for Ecology and Environmental Technology. He is active in the Estuarine Research Federation having co-chaired the ERF’99 conference in New Orleans, and was program chair of the 2003 annual conference of the Society of Wetland Scientists. He has served on several scientific program and review panels, including the National Science Foundation, EPA, NOAA, World Wildlife Fund, Gordon Conference and US Climate Change Science Program, as well as on the editorial board of three professional journals.
Dr. Twilley received his PhD in 1982 in plant and systems ecology from the University of Florida, studying mangrove ecosystems at Rookery Bay as part of his dissertation research. His current funding includes National Science Foundation projects on Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE/LTER), USDA on watershed restoration in coastal Louisiana, and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources in support of an ecosystem model to forecast the rehabilitation of wetland ecosystems.