About

Antonio Rodriguez is a Professor and Department Chair in the Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a Ph.D. from Rice University obtained in 1999 and a B.A. in Geology from Hamilton College earned in 1994. His research focuses on coastal depositional environments such as seagrass beds, salt marshes, oyster reefs, and barrier islands, specifically examining how these landscapes change shape, composition, location, and area in response to sea-level rise, storminess, and human activities. Dr. Rodriguez employs principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy to reconstruct coastal landscapes, utilizing radiometric dating techniques to determine rates of change and integrating this information with records of sea level, climate, and land cover to understand the forcing factors affecting these environments.

Research topics

• Geology
• Environmental science
• Oceanography
• Ecology
• Geomorphology
• Biology
• Physics
• Materials science
• Fishery

Selected publications

• Anthropogenic impacts on tidal creek sedimentation since 1900

  PLoS ONE · 2023 · 7 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Oceanography
  • Geology

  Land cover and use around the margins of estuaries has shifted since 1950 at many sites in North America due to development pressures from higher population densities. Small coastal watersheds are ubiquitous along estuarine margins and most of this coastal land-cover change occurred in these tidal creek watersheds. A change in land cover could modify the contribution of sediments from tidal creek watersheds to downstream areas and affect estuarine habitats that rely on sediments to persist or are adversely impacted by sediment loading. The resilience of wetlands to accelerating relative sea-level rise depends, in part, on the supply of lithogenic sediment to support accretion and maintain elevation; however, subtidal habitats such as oyster reefs and seagrass beds are stressed under conditions of high turbidity and sedimentation. Here we compare sediment accumulation rates before and after 1950 using 210Pb in 12 tidal creeks across two distinct regions in North Carolina, one region of low relief tidal-creek watersheds where land cover change since 1959 was dominated by fluctuations in forest, silviculture, and agriculture, and another region of relatively high relief tidal-creek watersheds where land-use change was dominated by increasing suburban development. At eight of the creeks, mass accumulation rates (g cm-2 y-1) measured at the outlet of the creeks increased contemporaneously with the largest shift in land cover, within the resolution of the land-cover data set (~5-years). All but two creek sites experienced a doubling or more in sediment accumulation rates (cm yr-1) after 1950 and most sites experienced sediment accumulation rates that exceeded the rate of local relative sea-level rise, suggesting that there is an excess of sediment being delivered to these tidal creeks and that they may slowly be infilling. After 1950, land cover within one creek watershed changed little, as did mass accumulation rates at the coring location, and another creek coring site did not record an increase in mass accumulation rates at the creek outlet despite a massive increase in development in the watershed that included the construction of retention ponds. These abundant tidal-creek watersheds have little relief, area, and flow, but they are impacted by changes in land cover more, in terms of percent area, than their larger riverine counterparts, and down-stream areas are highly connected to their associated watersheds. This work expands the scientific understanding of connectivity between lower coastal plain watersheds and estuaries and provides important information for coastal zone managers seeking to balance development pressures and environmental protections.

  PublisherDOI

• Carbon accumulation rates are highest at young and expanding salt marsh edges

  Communications Earth & Environment · 2022 · 37 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Ecology
  • Geology

  Abstract An objective of salt marsh conservation, restoration, and creation is to reduce global carbon dioxide levels and offset emissions. This strategy hinges on measurements of salt marsh carbon accumulation rates, which vary widely creating uncertainty in monetizing carbon credits. Here, we show the 14–323 g C m −2 yr −1 range of carbon accumulation rates, derived from cores collected at seven sites in North Carolina U.S.A., results from the landward or basinward trajectory of salt marsh colonization and the intertidal space available for accretion. Rates increase with accelerating sea-level rise and are highest at young and expanding marsh edges. The highest carbon densities are near the upland, highlighting the importance of this area for building a rich stock of carbon that would be prevented by upland development. Explaining variability in carbon accumulation rates clarifies appraisal of salt marsh restoration projects and landscape conversion, in terms of mitigating green-house gas emissions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Coastal squeeze on temperate reefs: Long‐term shifts in salinity, water quality, and oyster‐associated communities

  Ecological Applications · 2022 · 12 citations

  • Oceanography
  • Ecology
  • Fishery

  Foundation species, such as mangroves, saltmarshes, kelps, seagrasses, and oysters, thrive within suitable environmental envelopes as narrow ribbons along the land-sea margin. Therefore, these habitat-forming species and resident fauna are sensitive to modified environmental gradients. For oysters, many estuaries impacted by sea-level rise, channelization, and municipal infrastructure are experiencing saltwater intrusion and water-quality degradation that may alter reef distributions, functions, and services. To explore decadal-scale oyster-reef community patterns across a temperate estuary in response to environmental change, we resampled reefs in the Newport River Estuary (NRE) during 2013-2015 that had previously been studied during 1955-1956. We also coalesced historical NRE reef distribution (1880s-2015), salinity (1913-2015), and water-quality-driven shellfish closure boundary (1970s-2015) data to document environmental trends that could influence reef ecology and service delivery. Over the last 60-120 years, the entire NRE has shifted toward higher salinities. Consequently, oyster-reef communities have become less distinct across the estuary, manifest by 20%-27% lower species turnover and decreased faunal richness among NRE reefs in the 2010s relative to the 1950s. During the 2010s, NRE oyster-reef communities tended to cluster around a euhaline, intertidal-reef type more so than during the 1950s. This followed faunal expansions farther up estuary and biological degradation of subtidal reefs as NRE conditions became more marine and favorable for aggressive, reef-destroying taxa. In addition to these biological shifts, the area of suitable bottom on which subtidal reefs persist (contracting due to up-estuary intrusion of marine waters) and support human harvest (driven by water quality, eroding from up-estuary) has decreased by >75% since the natural history of NRE reefs was first explored. This "coastal squeeze" on harvestable subtidal oysters (reduced from a 4.5-km to a 0.75-km envelope along the NRE's main axis) will likely have consequences regarding the economic incentives for future oyster conservation, as well as the suite of services delivered by remaining shellfish reefs (e.g., biodiversity maintenance, seafood supply). More broadly, these findings exemplify how "squeeze" may be a pervasive concern for biogenic habitats along terrestrial or marine ecotones during an era of intense global change.

  PublisherDOI

• Sea-level rise, localized subsidence, and increased storminess promote saltmarsh transgression across low-gradient upland areas

  Quaternary Science Reviews · 2021 · 31 citations

  • Oceanography
  • Geology
  • Environmental science
  DOI

• Coastal sedimentation across North America doubled in the 20th century despite river dams

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 61 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Oceanography
  • Geology
  • Environmental science

  ) more than doubled after 1950 in coastal depocenters around North America. Sediment sources downstream of dams compensate for the river-sediment lost to impoundments. Sediment is accumulating in coastal depocenters at a rate that matches or exceeds relative sea-level rise, apart from rapidly subsiding Texas and Louisiana where water depths are increasing and intertidal areas are disappearing. Assuming no feedbacks, accelerating global sea-level rise will eventually surpass current sediment accumulation rates, underscoring the need for including coastal-sediment management in habitat-restoration projects.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• John B. Anderson

  Rice University

  60 shared

• Alexander R. Simms

  52 shared

• Davin J. Wallace

  52 shared

• Kristy T. Milliken

  Chevron (United States)

  40 shared

• Justin T. Ridge

  Duke University

  29 shared

• Ethan J. Theuerkauf

  27 shared

• Brent A. McKee

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  24 shared

• Stephen R. Fegley

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  17 shared

Labs

• Earth, Marine and Environmental SciencesPI

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