Professor I am a biogeochemist and ecosystem ecologist with a research focus on dynamic coastal environments. My lab group examines processes controlling carbon transformations and fates and how those pathways are changed by natural and anthropogenic stressors. I am also the Co-Director of the NSF-supported Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research Project - which is in its 25th year! I am recruiting a postdoc to examine the causes and consequences of variability in tidal wetlands. This position is part of our recently renewed GCE LTER project which is exploring how variability can be used to predict ecosystem trajectories and/or serve as a metric of behavior. The postdoc will work primarily with me at UGA’s Athens campus but will collaborate with Drs. Steve Pennings (University of Houston) and Merryl Alber (UGA) and others on GCE’s multi-disciplinary team. Check out the full ad and apply here by Jan 14, 2026! If you are a UGA undergraduate and interested in conducting research with our lab, complete this application and send it to me. Education Ph.D.: Marine Science. 2008. College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA. A.B.: Biology, Environmental Science concentration, with honors. Minor in English. Magna Cum Laude. 2001. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA. Research Research Areas: Biogeochemistry Climate Change Chemical Oceanography Marine Microbial Ecology Research Interests: My research group focuses on coastal ecosystem ecology. I seek to develop an integrated understanding of ecological and biogeochemical processes in order to refine the role of estuaries and wetlands in the global carbon cycle and predict the likelihood of recovery from human disturbances. My group uses innovative geochemical tracer approaches, including stable isotopes and lipid biomarkers, in combination with mesocosm and landscape-scale experiments to quantify carbon pathways, transformations, and fate. Selected Publications Bowen, J.L., A.C. Spivak, A.E. Bernhard, R.W. Fulweiler, A.E. Giblin. In press. Salt marsh nitrogen cycling: Where land meets sea. Trends in Microbiology. Spivak, A.C., A. Pinsonneault, C. Hintz, J. Brandes, J. P. Megonigal. 2023. Ephemeral microbial responses to pulses of bioavailable carbon in oxic and anoxic salt marsh soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109157 Luk, S.Y., K.M. Gosselin, J. Sanderman, G. Mariotti, M. Eagle, A.C. Spivak. 2023. Peat decomposition and erosion contribute to pond deepening in a temperate salt marsh. JGR: Biogeosciences https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007063 Eagle, M. J., K. D. Kroeger, A. C. Spivak, F. Wang, J. Tang, O. I. Abdul-Aziz, K. S. Ishtiaq, J. O'Keefe Suttles, and A. G. Mann. 2022. Soil carbon consequences of historic hydrologic impairment and recent restoration in coastal wetlands, Sci. Total Environ., 848, 157682, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157682 Luk, S.Y., K. Todd-Brown, M.E. Gonneea, A.P. McNichol, J. Sanderman, K. Gosselin, and A.C. Spivak. 2021. Soil organic carbon development and decay in natural and disturbed salt marsh environments. Geophysical Research Letters https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090287 Spivak, A.C., K. Gosselin, and S.P. Sylva. 2018. Shallow ponds are biogeochemically distinct habitats in salt marsh ecosystems. Limnology and Oceanography. 63: 1622-1642 10.1002/lno.10797 Spivak, A.C., K. Gosselin, E. Howard, G. Mariotti, I. Forbrich, R. Stanley, and S.P. Sylva. 2017. Shallow ponds are heterogeneous habitats within salt marsh ecosystems. JGR Biogeosciences. 10.1002/2017JG003780 Spivak, A.C. and J. Ossolinski. 2016. Limited effects of nutrient enrichment on bacterial carbon sources in salt marsh tidal creek sediments. Marine Ecology Progress Series 544: 107-130. Spivak, A.C. and J. Reeve. 2015. Rapid cycling of recently fixed carbon in a Spartina alterniflora system: A stable isotope tracer experiment. Biogeochemistry 125: 97-114. 10.1007/s10533-015-0115-2 Spivak, A.C. 2015. Benthic biogeochemical responses to changing estuary trophic state and nutrient availability: A paired field and mesocosm experiment approach. Limnology and Oceanography. 60(1): 3-21. Courses Regularly Taught MARS 8010 MARS 8160 MARS 8130 MARS 3450
