Kelly Dorgan

Our lab focuses on animal-sediment interactions, and is at the interface of sediment ecology, invertebrate biology, and sediment processes. Burrowing animals are numerically abundant and ecologically important, dramatically altering their physical and chemical environments. Because the opacity of sediments (muds and sands) limits direct observation, we use tools from engineering and physics to develop new methods, and we integrate theory and experiments. We are specifically interested in how infauna modify geoacoustic and geotechnical properties of sediments, and in developing a mechanistic understanding of bioturbation.