John Rybczyk

Professor

About

I’m an applied ecologist and use an integrated field and modeling approach to study the effects of climate change, in general, and rising sea-levels specifically, on coastal systems. I’m especially interested in modeling the non-linear feedbacks that allow coastal wetlands to maintain a dynamic equilibrium with sea-level. I use those models to predict the resiliency of estuarine systems to rising water levels and to guide the course of restoration and mitigation efforts.  This work has led to our recent efforts to quantify rates of carbon sequestration and calculate carbon budgets for coastal wetlands in the Pacific Northwest. 

Education

PhD Oceanography, Louisiana State University; MS Ecosystem Biology, Eastern Michigan University; BS Wildlife Biology, Michigan State University

Publications

Recent Publications:

Monica M. Moritsch1,, Kristin B. Byrd1, Melanie Davis2, Anthony Good3, Judith Z. Drexler4, James T. Morris5, Isa Woo6, Lisamarie Windham-Myers7, Eric Grossman8, Glynnis Nakai9, *Katrina L. Poppe10, John Rybczyk.  2022. Can coastal habitats rise to the challenge? Resilience of estuarine habitats, carbon accumulation, and its value to sea-level rise adaptation planning in a Puget Sound estuary. Estuaries and Coasts.

Poppe, K. M and J.M. Rybczyk. 2022 . Assessing the future of an intertidal seagrass meadow in response to sea level rise with a hybrid ecogeomorphic model of elevation change. Ecological Modelling, v. 469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.109975

Rybczyk, J.M., J.W. Day,  and A. Yáñez-Arancibia, and J.H. Cowan.  2022.  Global Climate Change in Estuarine Systems In: Estuarine Ecology, 3rd Edition. J.W. Day, W. Kemp and A. Yáñez-Arancibia, Eds. Wiley.

Russell, B.T., Cressman, K.A., Schmit, J.P., Shull, S., Rybczyk, J.M. and Frost, D.L., 2022. How should surface elevation table data be analyzed? A comparison of several commonly used analysis methods and one newly proposed approachEnvironmental and Ecological Statistics, pp.1-33.

Poppe, K., & Rybczyk, J. (2021). Tidal marsh restoration enhances sediment accretion and carbon accumulation in the Stillaguamish River estuary, Washington.  PLOS ONE. 6(9): e0257244. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257244.

Poppe, K., & Rybczyk, J. (2021). Climatic Impacts on Salt Marsh Vegetation. In D. FitzGerald & Z. Hughes (Eds.), Salt Marshes: Function, Dynamics, and Stresses (pp. 337-366). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316888933.016

Prentice, C., K. Poppe, M. Lutz, E. Murray, T.A Stephens, A. Spooner, M. Hessing-Lewis, R. Sanders-Smith, J.M. Rybczyk, J. Apple, F.T. Short, J. Gaeckle, A. Helms, C. Mattson, W.W. Raymond, T.Klinger. 2020. A synthesis of blue carbon stocks, sources and accumulation rates in eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows in the Northeast Pacific. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. doi.org/10.1029/2019GB006345.