Tracy Quirk

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences

Phone: 225-578-6426

E-mail: tquirk@lsu.edu 

Office: 3173 Energy, Coast & Environment Building, Baton Rouge LA 70803

Bachelor's Degree(s): University of Vermont, 1998

Master's Degrees(s): University of Louisiana Lafayette, 2005

Ph.D.(s): University of Delaware, 2009

Research Website 

Research Interests

Wetland ecology and restoration including plant and microbial processes, nutrient and carbon cycling and accretion dynamics, human impact on wetland ecosystems, and organic matter and nutrient linkages between coastal wetlands and rivers, estuaries, and submerged aquatic ecosystems.

Classes Taught

OCS 4006 Wetland Field Experience: Florida Everglades, Mangroves, and Seagrasses

OCS/BIO 4308 Plants in Coastal Environments

OCS 7124 Applied Coastal Plant Ecology

Recent Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Hurley, O., A. Lynn, A. DeVries, C. Reid, and T. Elsey-Quirk. 2024. Return of the Phrag-i: Evaluating sexual reproduction mechanisms amenable to dieback recovery and potential invasiveness across Phragmites australis haplotypes. Wetland Ecology and Management 32: 621-635. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11273-024-10001-8

Groseclose, G. and T. Elsey-Quirk. 2024. Plant and soil responses to sediment deposition and nutrient-enrichment in healthy, deteriorating, and newly created coastal marshes of the Mississippi River Delta. Restoration Ecology 33: e14310. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.14310

Muench, A., T. Elsey-Quirk, J. White, R. DeLaune. 2024. Carbon dioxide fluxes and the dominant role of vegetation in recently created and natural Gulf coast marshes. Ecosphere 15: e70079. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70079

Day, J.W. et al.  2024. Coastal Wetlands in the Anthropocene. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 49: 105-135. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-121922-041109

Elsey-Quirk, T., A. Lynn, M.D. Jacobs, R. Diaz, J. Cronin, L. Wang, H. Huang. D. Justic. 2024. Vegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta triggered by acute drought and chronic relative sea-level rise. Nature Communications 15: 3518. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47828-x

Lynn A, Elsey-Quirk T. 2024. Salt Water Exposure Exacerbates the Negative Response of Phragmites australis Haplotypes to Sea-Level Rise. Plants. 2024; 13(6):906. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13060906 https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/13/6/906

Kelsall, M., T. Quirk, C. Wilson, G.A. Snedden. 2023. Sources and chemical stability of soil organic carbon in natural and created marshes of Louisiana. Science of the Total Environment 867: 161415. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896972300030X

Elsey-Quirk, T., E.B. Watson, K. Raper, D. Kreeger, B. Paudel, L.A. Haaf, M. Maxwell-Doyle, A. Padeletti, E. Reilly, and D.J. Velinsky. 2022. Relationships between ecosystem properties and sea-level rise vulnerability of tidal wetlands of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 194: 292. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10661-022-09949-y

Mariotti, G., T. Elsey-Quirk, G. Bruno, and K. Valentine. 2020. Mud-associated organic matter and its direct and indirect role in marsh organic matter accumulation and accretion.  Limnology and Oceanography 9999, 1 – 15.

Wasson, K., Ganju, N.K., Defne, Z. Endris, C., Elsey-Quirk, T., Thorne, K.M., Freeman, C., Guntenspergen, G., Nowacki, D.J., and K. B. Raposa. 2019. Understanding tidal marsh trajectories: evaluating multiple indicators of marsh persistence. Environmental Research Letters 14: 124073.

Guan, B., Chen, M., Elsey-Quirk, T., Yang, S., Shang, W., Li, Y., X. Tian, and G. Han. 2019. Soil seed bank persistence and vegetation shifts following channel diversion in the Yellow River Delta. Science of the Total Environment 693: 133600 doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133660.

*Abbott, K.M., T. Elsey-Quirk, and R.D. DeLaune. 2019. Factors influencing blue carbon accumulation across a 32-year chronosequence of created coastal marshes. Ecosphere 10: e02828.

*Muench, A. and T. Elsey-Quirk. 2019. Competitive reversal between plant species is driven by species-specific tolerance to flooding stress and nutrient acquisition during early marsh succession. Journal of Applied Ecology doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13458.

Bao, F., T. Elsey-Quirk, M.A. de Assis, E.B. de Souza, and A. Pott. 2019. Do aquatic macrophytes limit the invasion potential of exotic species in Pantanal grasslands? Wetlands doi:10.1007/s13157-019-01168-5.

Ganju, N., Z. Defne, T. Elsey-Quirk, and J. Moriarty. 2019. Role of tidal wetland stability in lateral fluxes of particulate organic matter. Journal of Geophysical Research- Biogeosciences 124: 1265-1277. doi:10.1029/2018JG004920.

Elsey-Quirk, T., G. Mariotti, K. Valentine, and K. Raper. 2019. Retreating marsh shorelines create hotspots of high-marsh plant diversity. Nature Scientific Reports 9: 5795.

Elsey-Quirk, T., S.A. Graham, I.A. Mendelssohn, G. Snedden, J.W. Day, G. Shaffer, L.A. Sharp, R.R. Twilley, J. Pahl, and R.R. Lane. 2019. Mississippi River sediment diversions and coastal wetland sustainability: Synthesis of responses to freshwater, sediment and nutrient inputs. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 221:170-183.

DeLaune, R.D., J.R. White, T. Elsey-Quirk, H.H. Roberts, and D. Wang. 2018. Differences in long-term vs short-term carbon sequestration in a coastal river delta wetland: implications for global budgets. Organic Geochemistry 123: 67-73.

Middleton, B.A., E. Anemaet, T. Elsey-Quirk, and N.P. Tippery. 2018. Nymphoides humboltiana (Menyanthaeceae) in Florida, U.S.A. verified by DNA data. Journal of Botanical Research Institute of Texas 12: 257-263.

**Matzke, S. and T. Elsey-Quirk. 2018. Spartina patens productivity and soil organic matter response to sediment deposition and nutrient enrichment. Wetlands. DOI: 10.1007/s13157-018-1030-9.

Bao, F., T. Elsey-Quirk, M.A. de Assis, R. Arruda, and A. Pott. 2018. Seasonal flooding, topography and organic debris on seedling emergence and distribution in a tropical grassland. Biotropica DOI: 10.1111/btp.12550.

Elsey-Quirk, T. and V. Unger. 2018. Geomorphic influences on the contribution of vegetation to soil carbon accumulation and accretion in Spartina alterniflora marshes. Biogeosciences 15: 379-397.

Bao, F., T. Elsey-Quirk, M. Antonio de Assis, and A. Pott. 2017. Seed bank of seasonally flooded grassland: experimental simulation of flood and post-flood. Aquatic Ecology 52:  doi: 10.1007/s10452-017-9646-y

Velinsky, D.J., B. Paudel, T. Elsey-Quirk, M. Piehler, and A. Smyth. 2017. Salt marsh denitrification provides a significant nitrogen sink in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Edition 78: 70 -78. doi:10.2112/SI78-007.1         

Boyd, B., C.K. Sommerfield, and T. Elsey-Quirk. 2017. Hydrogeomorphic influences on salt marsh sediment accumulation and accretion in two estuaries of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic coast. Marine Geology 132-145.

Elsey-Quirk, T. 2016. Impact of Hurricane Sandy on salt marshes of New Jersey. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 183: 235-248.

*Unger, V., T. Elsey-Quirk, C. Sommerfield, and D.J. Velinsky. 2016 Stability of organic carbon accumulating in Spartina alterniflora-dominated marshes of the mid-Atlantic U.S.A. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 182: 179-189.