Associate Professor, Biogeochemistry Wetland Biogeochemistry Laboratory The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience

Dr. Todd Z. Osborne has a diverse research program focusing on biogeochemical processes in soil and water in a variety of ecosystems throughout Florida. Currently, Dr. Osborne is highly engaged in shellfish restoration in the Indian River Lagoon as well as UF's iCoast initiative.

Dr. Osborne is also heavily involved in UF's iCoast initiative, where his personal focus is monitoring water quality and parameters along the Matanzas River Basin and region. The iCoast initiative is addressing a global problem that impacts coastal areas around the world. In deploying the iCoast science-based network, we will be able to develop the most complete understanding of a coastal ecosystem at multiple levels than anywhere else on Earth. This will help Florida act on real time mitigation strategies to coastal health threats such as hurricanes and algae blooms, and serve as a model for national and international benchmarking. iCoast brings together and connects research that otherwise has not been well coordinated to address threats facing our state and coastal regions nationally.

Research Scientist

Tracey completed her masters and PhD from the soil, water, and ecosystem sciences department at the University of Florida in aquatic biogeochemistry. During her degrees, she studied the impacts of hurricanes on dissolved organic matter across brackish and freshwater environments. She then moved onto a postdoc in the Osborne lab where she managed a project examining biogeochemical restoration success of restored wetlands. Additionally, she had a large role in a benthic mapping project of Lake Okeechobee. Currently, she is primarily researching internal nutrient cycling in the Upper St. John’s River Basin to help determine sources eutrophication and algal blooms. However, she is also working on a large variety of projects involving greenhouse gas sampling, soil mapping in the Everglades, and many other aquatic biogeochemical projects.​

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Graduate Student

Taryn is pursuing her PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology through the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Her dissertation research focuses on characterizing the soil and water quality of managed mosquito impoundments in the Indian River Lagoon, with the aim of optimizing their nutrient removing potential. Taryn first joined the Osborne Lab in 2019 to complete her M.Sc. degree in Soil and Water Sciences, where she studied how water quality varies along the Matanzas River aquatic continuum. In the interim between her graduate degrees, she lived in southwest Colorado to work as a Water Quality Specialist for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. In her free time, Taryn enjoys movies and games in the fantasy genre, making things, and being outside!

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Graduate Student

Lexis Massey is a masters student at the University of Florida pursuing a degree in Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences. She resides in the Osborne lab where she is working as a chemist and studying Equilibrium Phosphorus Concentration of soils from ranches with a history of biosolids application.

Laboratory Technician

Intern

​Taylor Burgess, a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, recently graduated with highest honors (summa cum laude) from the University of Florida, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Management. During his honors thesis, he concentrated on examining how the northern migration of mangroves impacted primary productivity, litter decomposition, and secondary consumption in the salt marshes of Northeast Florida. Currently, Taylor is continuing his graduate studies through UF's Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences. Outside of his academic pursuits, he finds joy in exploring Florida's natural springs through scuba diving and tending to his unique collection of rare plants. 

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Intern

Harrison is a research assistant and graduate student in Dr. Osborne’s lab with a passion for understanding Florida’s seagrass populations through a biogeochemical lens. His graduate program is through the IFAS Interdisciplinary Ecology unit. Harrison completed his undergraduate degree in Coastal Environmental Science at Flagler College where he found his predisposition for aquatic chemistry. He started at the Whitney Laboratory in January of 2022 when he interned at the Sea Turtle Hospital. Since then, he has been working in Dr. Osborne’s lab as a research assistant and now graduate student. Harrison enjoys diving of all sorts, surfing, hiking, climbing, and being with friends.

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Jason joined the Osborne lab in spring 2023) and is interested in investigating the influence of water quality, nutrients, and physical habitat parameters on populations of benthic infauna and fish communities (in estuarine areas) and on alligators (in aquatic habitats). He's pursuing a Ph.D. In SNRE's Interdisciplinary Ecology program.  Jason earned a B.S. in Biology from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, where he conducted research on waterfowl parasites (schistosomes), and then an M.S. in the former UF Department of Zoology while studying the relationship of alligator population density to physical, chemical, and biological parameters in Florida lakes. For the last 25 years, he has been residing in Jacksonville working as an environmental consultant, specializing in habitat restoration projects in aquatic, wetland, and marine systems for clients including USACE, FDEP, SWFWMD, and FWC. Jason has been married for 25 years (to another UF grad) and has two teenage daughters. The live in Jacksonville and in their free time,  they enjoy hiking, taekwondo, boating, music/concerts, and their cattle-dog mix Copper.