Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Cheryl L Doughty

(POST DOC)

Cheryl L Doughty's Contact Card & Information.
Email: cheryl.l.doughty@nasa.gov
Org Code: 618
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 618
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: UNIV OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK

Brief Bio


Cheryl is currently a visiting assistant research scientist through UMD's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center where she uses remote sensing to study how coastal salt marsh and mangrove ecosystems are responding to climate change. Her research pairs field ecology with earth observation across spatial scales to monitor the impacts of climate change on coastal habitat distributions, structure, and carbon storage dynamics.

For her MS in Biology from Villanova University, she studied how mangrove expansion into saltmarshes driven by a warming climate increased carbon storage and coastal protection in the wetlands surrounding NASA's Kennedy Space Center in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. For her PhD in Geography from UCLA, she used optical imagery from drones and satellites to map saltmarsh biomass and monitor the past 35 years of change in the urban, and SLR-threatened, wetlands of Southern California. During this project, she also worked directly with regional management efforts to develop a SLR response model to predict future habitat losses and provide quantifiable objectives for regional adaptation planning. Her NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellowship through the Goddard Space Flight Center working with Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo focused on high-resolution mapping in dynamic, climate-sensitive ecotones where tropical mangroves meet temperate salt marshes in order to capture changes in mangrove extent that have implications for Blue Carbon.

Current Projects


Cheryl is currently assisting NASA CMS and LCLUC projects to update understanding of historical mangrove losses and future mangrove greenhouse gas emissions.

Positions/Employment


NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow

USRA/ORAU - Goddard Space Flight Center

January 2021 - January 2023


Assistant Research Scientist

UMD Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center - College Park, MD

January 2023 - Present

Education


PhD in Geography, University of California, Los Angeles CA

MS in Biology, Villanova University, Villanova PA

BS in Biology with Distinction and Honors, Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Publications


Refereed

2024. "Uncovering mangrove range limits using very high resolution satellite imagery to detect fine‐scale mangrove and saltmarsh habitats in dynamic coastal ecotones." Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation [10.1002/rse2.394] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Climate drivers and human impacts shape 35‐year trends of coastal wetland health and composition in an urban region." Ecosphere 15 (4): [10.1002/ecs2.4832] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Multi-scale observations of mangrove blue carbon ecosystem fluxes: The NASA Carbon Monitoring System BlueFlux field campaign." Environmental Research Letters 18 075009 [10.1088/1748-9326/acdae6] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Characterizing spatial variability in coastal wetland biomass across multiple scales using UAV and satellite imagery." Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation [10.1002/rse2.198] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Establishing Targets for Regional Coastal Wetland Restoration Planning Using Historical Ecology and Future Scenario Analysis: The Past, Present, Future Approach." Estuaries and Coasts 43 (2): 207-222 [10.1007/s12237-019-00681-4] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Climate-driven regime shifts in a mangrove–salt marsh ecotone over the past 250 years." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (43): 21602-21608 [10.1073/pnas.1902181116] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Mapping Coastal Wetland Biomass from High Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Imagery." Remote Sensing 11 (5): 540 [10.3390/rs11050540] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Evaluating regional resiliency of coastal wetlands to sea level rise through hypsometry‐based modeling." Global Change Biology 25 (1): 78-92 [10.1111/gcb.14429] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Review of the ecosystem service implications of mangrove encroachment into salt marshes." Global Change Biology 23 (10): 3967-3983 [10.1111/gcb.13727] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Impacts of mangrove encroachment and mosquito impoundment management on coastal protection services." Hydrobiologia 803 (1): 105-120 [10.1007/s10750-017-3225-0] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Mangrove Range Expansion Rapidly Increases Coastal Wetland Carbon Storage." Estuaries and Coasts 39 (2): 385-396 [10.1007/s12237-015-9993-8] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "A phylogenetic approach to octocoral community structure in the deep Gulf of Mexico." Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 99 92-102 [10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.05.027] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Insights into the population dynamics of the deep-sea coral genus Paramuricea in the Gulf of Mexico." Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 99 71-82 [10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.05.023] [Journal Article/Letter]

Awards


The Wetland Foundation Travel Grant, 2018

Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society Field Study Grant, 2017

Student Travel Award, Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation, 2015

USC Sea Grant Traineeship, University of Southern California, Dornsife, 2015 - 2017

Link Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution, 2014

Rachel Carson Memorial Award, Temple University, 2013

Teaching Experience


Teaching Assistant. Advanced Remote Sensing (GEOG 174). Spring 2020, UCLA

Teaching Assistant. World Vegetation (GEOG 108). Winter 2020, UCLA

Teaching Assistant. World Vegetation (GEOG 108). Winter 2019, UCLA

Mentor. Undergraduate Directed Study (GEOG 199). Spring 2018, UCLA

Teaching Assistant. People, Places & the Environment (GEOG 5). Spring 2017, UCLA

Teaching Assistant. People, Places & the Environment (GEOG 5). Fall 2016, UCLA

Teaching Assistant. General Biology I Lab (BIO 2102). Fall 2013, Villanova University

Teaching Assistant. General Biology II Lab (BIO 2104). Spring 2013, Villanova University

Professional Societies


Ecological Society of America

2013 - Present


Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation

2015 - Present