Nate is a biogeochemist with a focus on coastal carbon and nutrient cycling and hydrology, investigating the transition of agricultural land to marsh as sea levels rise and work at sites spanning the Delmarva Peninsula. His research examines how agricultural practices influence nutrient and carbon fluxes in adjacent tidal creeks. His other primary focus is determining how plant species and sea level rise will influence greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in tidal marshes. This work integrates agroecology and coastal biogeochemistry, two fields that are often studied independently, to better understand coupled land–water processes in coastal landscapes.

Nate Spicer earned his B.S. in Earth Science and Conservation Biology at the University of Toronto, where he researched plant uptake of gaseous mercury and the deposition of this mercury into soil through litterfall. Afterwards he became an intern and then a research technician at Archbold Biological Station’s Agroecology lab, studying the impact that conversion of cattle pasture to sugarcane for biofuel production would have on greenhouse gas emissions. He moved on to become a lab manager working with Dr. Lisa Chambers at the University of Central Florida, studying carbon sequestration in wetland soils. He joined the AgroEcology Lab at the University of Maryland in Oct 2022