Main Content
A model of the seagrass Zostera marina, designed to be geometrically—and dynamically—similar to the real macrophyte, but at reduced scale. Photo by Eduardo Infantes.
Patches of aquatic vegetation influence the flow and sediment retention in rivers. Photo by Sofia Licci, University of Lyon.
Nepf Environmental Fluid Mechanics Lab
The Nepf Lab studies the interaction of flow with aquatic vegetation and the feedbacks to sediment transport, chemical flux and ecosystem function. We develop models for physical processes that determine how vegetated habitats (green infrastructure), such as seagrasses, salt marsh, and mangroves, provide coastal protection, mitigate anthropogenic nutrient and pollutant loads, and provide blue carbon reservoirs, with the goal of applying these models to improve the management of natural resources and the design of green infrastructure.