IN THIS SECTION
The Great Bay Reserve’s research program explores the Great Bay Estuary and its watershed, which encompasses 42 New Hampshire communities and 10 in Maine. With our partners, we study the bay’s many habitats, its wildlife, and the human activity that influences the health of the bay.

Featured Projects
- eDNA: We are partnering with genetics researchers to refine a technology that feels like science fiction, but provides a innovative way to assess fish populations and general biodiversity. Learn more >
- Landscape Scale Resilience: This protocol is being designed to assess tidal marsh resilience using GIS-based metrics of marsh condition, vulnerability to sea level rise, and adaptation potential. Learn more >
- Marsh Restoration: Applying thin layers of sediment is a promising approach to helping marshes keep up with sea level rise. Great Bay is one of 8 Reserves to test this approach. Learn more >
- Buffer Options for the Bay: This integrated policy assessment explored the capacity of buffers to protect water quality, guard against storm surge and sea level rise, and sustain fish and wildlife in in our region. Learn more >
- New England Sentinel Sites: Reserves across New England are monitoring local tidal marshes to see how they fare in the face of sea level rise. Learn more >
- National Sentinel Sites: Building off the New England project, Great Bay is leading a 3-year, 21 Reserve research project examining the impacts of sea-level-rise on tidal marshes across the country. Learn more>
Publications
- A Guide to Integrate Plant Cover Data from Two Different Methods
- How To Guide for Sythesizing NERRs Marsh Monitoring Data
- A Case for Restoration and Recovery of Zostera marina L. in the Great Bay Estuary
- Review of 2018 oyster data
- Rising to the challenge: will tidal marshes survive rising seas?
- Belowground biomass of Phragmites australis in coastal marshes
- Oyster reef restoration in Great Bay estuary
- Status of the eastern grasswort in Great Bay estuary
- Synthesizing monitoring data to improve coastal wetland management across New England
- Eelgrass distribution in the Great Bay estuary and Piscataqua River
- Mapping soil pore water salinity of tidal marsh habitats using electromagnetic induction in Great Bay estuary
- Viewing Great Bay from a nitrogen and watershed perspective
- Testing of Great Bay oysters for two protozoan pathogens
- Thin-layer sediment placement: evaluating an adaptation strategy to enhance coastal marsh resilience across the NERRS
- Developing DNA methods to monitor invasive species and biodiversity in estuaries
- State of Our Estuaries
- Science and Technical Report for the Coastal Hazards and Risks
- Establishing a High-Precision Tide Station in Great Bay Estuary
- How People Benefit from New
Hampshire’s Great Bay Estuary
Video Library
- Get to Know Our Research Program
- Quick Overview of Our MAD Fellow’s Research
- Power of the National Estuarine Research Reserves: Multi-Reserve Projects
- Water Quality Monitoring Overview for Teachers Workshop
- Our NOAA Hollings Scholar Highlights her 2021 Internship
- Great Bay Fellow’s Master’s Defense: Anna Lowien
- Detecting Impacts from Climate Change: Sneak Peek
- Living Shorelines & Wetland Mitigation-Grant McKown
- Applying eDNA Methods to Assessment and Management of Estuarine Systems
- Are New England Marshes Drowning?
- Lunch & Learn Lecture: Nathan Furey, Animal Movements, February 2021
- Lunch & Learn Lecture: Anna Lowien, Nutrients in Great Bay, March 2021
- Credit for Going Green: Using and Expert Panel Process to Quanitfy the Benefits of Buffers
- Davidson Graduate Student Fellowship Information Session, November 2020
- Monitoring American Eels in NH Rivers