Gwen Miller's picture

Gwen Miller

Environmental Scientist
Resilient Landscapes Program
Carbon, Ecosystems & Climate
Delta Science & Management
Shoreline Resilience

Gwen Miller joined the Resilient Landscapes program at SFEI in 2022 as a Tidal Wetland Ecologist. She has a BS from UC Davis in Environmental Resource Science with a focus in hydrobiology. Her MS in Coastal and Watershed Science and Policy is from Cal State Monterey Bay where she researched how constructed wetlands can improve water quality within a polluted water body, and how this changes seasonally. She went on to get a PhD in Marine Science studying coastal wetlands in South Carolina. Her research there analyzed how wetlands have already, are, and potentially will respond to climate change. Much of her work included remote sensing, laboratory and field work, and environmental modeling. After her PhD she returned to California and worked as a postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley determining plant phenology within tidal wetlands within the SF Bay area using satellite data. 

Related Projects, News, and Events

Nature Based Solutions for Nutrient Removal (Project)

High nutrient concentrations can cause increased phytoplankton biomass, low dissolved oxygen, and increased harmful algal blooms and toxins, with detrimental effects on species and ecosystems. San Francisco Bay receives high nutrient loads mainly from discharged wastewater, but high turbidity, strong tidal mixing, and abundant filter-feeding clams have kept algal blooms in check. Following the historic algal bloom of 2022, regulators and managers recognize the Bay’s resilience to high nutrient loading is waning and nitrogen concentrations must be managed more proactively.