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Christopher Craft

Janet Duey Professor of Rural Land Policy; Director, Wetlands Laboratory

Phone:: (812) 856-1837
Email:: ccraft@indiana.edu

Research areas:: Biogeochemistry and Environmental Microbiology; Ecology and Conservation; Hydrology and Water Resources
Areas of Interest:: Wetland restoration and ecosystem development; Wetlands and water quality; Wetlands and climate change, including carbon sequestration and peat accretion; Urban wetlands and wetland restoration

Curriculum Vitae

MSBII 408

Education

Ph.D., Soil Science, North Carolina State University, 1987
M.S., Ecology, University of Tennessee, 1983
B.A., Biology, University of North Carolina-Asheville, 1980

Courses

Applied Ecology
Environment & People
Restoration Ecology
Wetlands Ecology

Biography

Print-quality photo

Dr. Christopher Craft, a professional wetland scientist, has been with O'Neill since 1999 and is the Duey Professor of Rural Land Policy. For the past 30 years, Craft has studied the effects of climate change, eutrophication, and other human activities on estuarine and freshwater wetlands and the restoration of those ecosystems. In 2012, he received the National Wetlands Award for Science Research. Craft has been a visiting professor with senior international scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2010.

Craft's research projects span North America, Europe, and China. He focuses his work on the linkages between vegetation, soils, and soil fauna and the effects of human activities on these linkages. Craft also studies the effects of climate change on U.S. wetlands, the natural carbon sequestering capabilities of wetlands, and the ability and importance of wetlands restoration for maintenance and enhancement of water quality.

Craft's current work on carbon storage rates in wetlands has made an important contribution to the study of the global carbon cycle, while many of his long-term restoration studies in salt marshes are considered some of the best research to date in the field of restoration science.

Highlights

Research grant from the Ecosystem Studies Program at the National Science Foundation (2000-present)
Society of Wetland Scientists Fellow (2015)
National Wetlands Award for Science Research (2012), sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute
Professional Wetland Scientist
Visiting Professor, Senior International Scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
President, Society of Wetland Scientists (2008-2009)
Hugh Hammond Bennett Award in Soil Conservation and Environmental Quality, North Carolina Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, 1987

In the News

"Georgia’s Vanishing Coast: With stronger storms, higher tides, and rising sea levels, how high will the water go?" - Atlanta, July 5, 2018
“Sea Level Rise is Unlocking Decades-Old Pollution” – Hakai Magazine, January 10, 2018
"Take a look inside a sea level rise time machine" - PBS Newshour, September 18, 2015
"IU environmental scientist part of team awarded NSF grant for tidal marsh study" - IUB Newsroom, Sept. 2, 2015
"Net gain? Indiana University Researchers Answer Thorny Question About Wetlands Management" - The Compleat Wetlander, July 30, 2015
"IU researchers: Isolated wetlands have significant impact on water quality" - IUB Newsroom, Feb. 25, 2015

Selected Works

Creating and Restoring Wetlands: From Theory to Practice, Second Edition, Elsevier (2022)
“Urban-soil pedogenesis drives contrasting legacies of lead from pain and gasoline in city soil,” (with A. Wade, D. Richter, N. Bao, P. Heine, M. Ostein, and K. Tan), Environmental Science and Technology, 55:7981-7989 (2021)
“Microbial community composition is affected by press, but not pulse, seawater intrusion,” (with C. Mobilian, N.I. Wisnoski, J.T. Lennon, M. Alber, S. Widney), Limnology and Oceanography Letters, (2020)
“Declines in plant productivity drive loss of soil elevation in a tidal freshwater marsh exposed to saltwater intrusion,” (with E. Solohin, S. Widney), Ecology (2020)
“Sea level rise and the emergence of a keystone grazer drive rapid ecological change and geomorphic evolution of southeast US salt marshes,” (with S.M. Crotty, C. Ortals, T.M. Pettengill, E. Morrison, T.S. Bianchi, M.D. Bertness, A.H. Altieri, and C. Angelini), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (2020)
“Effects of ten years of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization in tidal freshwater marshes,” (with E.R. Herbert, J. Schubauer-berigan), Limnology and Oceanography (2020)
“A comparison of coastal habitat restoration projects in China and the United States,” (with S. Li, T. Xie, S.C. Pennings, Y. Wang, and M Hu), Scientific Reports, 9:14388, (2019)
“Chronic but not acute saltwater intrusion leads to large release of inorganic N in a tidal freshwater marsh,” (with S. Widney, D. Smith, E. Herbert, J. Schubauer-berigan, F. Li, S.C. Pennings), Science of the Total Environment, (2019)
“Differential effects of chronic and acute seawater intrusion on tidal freshwater marsh carbon cycling,” (with E.R. Herbert, J. Schubauer-berigan), Biogeochemistry 138:137-154 (2018)
Wetland Soils: Genesis, Hydrology, Landscapes, and Classification, Second Edition, 2016. ed. (with Michael J. Vepraskas), CRC Press
“Differential effects of chronic and acute seawater intrusion on tidal freshwater marsh carbon cycling,” (with E.R. Herbert, J. Schubauer-berigan), Biogeochemistry 138:137-154 (2018)

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School of Public and Environmental Affairs