2024 LA/MA Section Meeting plenary descriptions

Biological Action Reaction Models – A Missing Link in the Coastal Sustainability Puzzle?

Robert Miller, University of Louisiana Lafayette

Intensification of the hydrological cycle has led to an increasing frequency of extreme events – e.g., floods and droughts – both posing a threat to water security. Coastal estuaries are at the confluence between rivers and seas and face compounding hydrological sustainability threats (e.g., sea level rise and watershed urbanization). They also provide abundant water resources which support critical human developments and some of the most productive ecosystems in the world. And while practical engineering workflows quantifying causal effects on the physical regime (e.g., hydrodynamics and estuarine transport) – and ecosystem dynamics to a lesser extent – have been well established, quantitative models of the biological reaction to various actions (e.g., flood control and river diversion effects on fish and phytoplankton populations) are severely lacking in coastal estuaries. This presentation provides an overview of current research activities to support the future development of biological action-reaction (BAR) models integrated directly within mainstream coastal hydrological analysis frameworks. The development of continuously structured population dynamic models integrated with hydrodynamic and water quality models in a realistic setting is emphasized with motivating examples. The setting is the Atchafalaya Basin Continuum (ABC) which represents the largest river swamp wetland in North America. Barriers to the establishment of practical BAR modeling frameworks will be discussed as well as specific population dynamic problems relevant to communities and stakeholders interested in coastal sustainability. The potential for the new modeling frameworks in addressing major unanswered biological questions facing coastal stakeholders will also be discussed, as well as areas requiring further research.

About the speaker:

Dr. Robert Miller is an associate professor in the department of civil engineering at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Dr. Miller is a coastal hydrologist and mathematician whose research seeks to improve our ability to model how water environments and biological systems respond to hydrological changes. In 2021 Dr. Miller was one of only 8 scholars nationally to be selected as a recipient of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Early-Career Gulf Research Fellowship in Environmental Stewardship. Miller is also a recipient of the Louisiana Engineering Foundation (LEF) Faculty Professionalism Award. In 2022 Dr. Miller was appointed by the President of the United States of America and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be one of seven members to serve on the Mississippi River Commission (MRC). The MRC provides water resources engineering direction and policy advice on the Mississippi River System to the Administration, Congress, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Prior to joining the engineering faculty at ULL, Dr. Miller worked for more than a decade in private industry as a senior engineer and project manager for numerous projects ranging from FEMA flood map development, stormwater master plans, and coastal restoration projects. Dr. Miller obtained his PhD in computational and applied mathematics in 2015 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Louisiana.