Wet Ecosystem Research Group
Biological Sciences, Dept. 2715, North Dakota State University
PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050 Office 701-231-8708, Mobile 701-526-6971, marinus.otte@ndsu.edu www.ndsu.edu/werg
Editor-in-Chief, WETLANDS
Education/Professional
- MSc (1986) and PhD (1991), Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 1991-1992 Research Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina
- 1992-2006, University College Dublin, Ireland, Full Professor 2002
- 2006-present, NDSU, Fargo, ND, USA
- Trained 30 MSc and 30 PhD students in The Netherlands, Ireland, USA, UK, Sweden, Italy, India, China
- Invited/Keynote speaker, 80 times, including Regional/National: EPA, Duluth, MN, September 2007; Fifth Annual Mayor’s Big Sioux River Water Summit, Watertown, SD, 2017; and International: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Changchun, China, 2016, 2021; Korean Wetland Society, S. Korea, 2019 and 2023, Colombia 2023, Algeria 2023
- Published about 100 research articles in peer-reviewed international scientific journals and about 230 conference presentations
- Fulbright Specialist, 2020-2025
Wetland Community Service / Collaborators / Funding
- Member, ND Water Quality Monitoring Council since 2009; ND State K-12 Science Standards Committee, Department of Public Instruction, 2013-2019
- Professional memberships: Society of Wetland Scientists, Life-time member
- Editor-in-Chief of the international scientific journal ‘WETLANDS’ since 2012
- Funding: USEPA, North Dakota Department of Health/Environmental Quality, Chinese Academy of Sciences, NIH, USDA, Irish EPA, EU Cost, Irish Science Foundation, INTAS
Research Interests and Projects
- Wetland ecology, biogeochemistry, restoration, pollution, and ecotoxicology, watersheds.
- Past work focused on pollution of water and sediments in wetlands, nanoparticles in the environment, uptake in wetland plants and animals, vegetation surveys, and on how wetlands can be used for improvement of water quality, including constructed wetlands, also for industrial and mine wastewater.
- Current projects include:
- Success of restoration of wetlands in North Dakota (USEPA,2019-2024). Intact and restored Prairie Pothole wetlands are compared regarding biodiversity, soil element composition, and carbon sequestration.
- Wetlands for improvement of water quality in small watersheds (USEPA, 2021-2025)
- ‘Capacitación en gestión del agua y humedales en diferentes sectores sociales: comunidades rurales, gobierno y academia - Water management in a karstic rural impoverished environment’. This project led to the production of short videos, a documentary in Spanish and English, see: https://uaqfulbrightspecialist.weebly.com/, and exhibions (Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND, from September 2024).
Recent invited seminars and presentations
- 2021 Wetland Restoration and Creation in the Anthropocene - A framework for China and beyond. Chinese Academy of Sciences PIFI Award Workshop: Workshop 1. Oct 28, 2021, Workshop 2. Nov 23, 2021
- 2022 An outsider’s perspective of China’s Wetland Conservation Law. 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP14), Nov 5-14, online. Organized by the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology (IGA), Changchun, Jilin, China.
- 2022 Integrating wetlands in urban- and agriculture-dominated watersheds, International Conference “Circular Bioeconomy Systems for Urban-Rural Co-Prosperity”, FEWSUS, Nov 30-Dec 2, 2022, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Invited.
- 2023, How much wetland does it take to clean a watershed? Meeting of the Korean Wetland Society, Suncheong, S. Korea, Aug 27-Sep 1, 2023
- 2023, La Revista WETLANDS. First meeting of the International Chapter/Latin America of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Medellín, Colombia, Nov 7-11, 2023
- 2023, International Collaboration – A Fulbright Project in the Sierra Gorda. First meeting of the International Chapter/Latin America of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Medellín, Colombia, Nov 7-11, 2023
- 2023, Wetlands in the Anthropocene – Changing land uses and a changing climate. Presentation to the members of the Algerian Academy of Sciences and Technologies, Algiers, Algeria, Dec 7, 2023, and at the Conference on Environmental Health, Food Security, and Human Health, Badji Mokhtar University, Annaba, Dec 17, 2023
- 2023, Wetlands restoration and protection. Presentation at Chadli Bendjedi University, El Tarf, Algeria, Dec 13, 2023
- 2023, Wetlands legislation and the Rights of Wetlands. Presentation at Chadli Bendjedi University, El Tarf, Algeria, December 15, 2023
Recent Publications
- Lobato-de Magalhães T, Otte ML, Rocha Mier L (2022). Water and Wetlands Outreach Project in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Wetland Science and Practice, January 2022: 82-87
- Qin L, Freeman C, Zou Y, Wang G, Fenner N, Yang L, Otte ML, Jiang M (2022). An iron-reduction-mediated cascade mechanism increases the risk of carbon loss from mineral-rich peatlands. Applied Soil Ecology 172: 104361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104361
- Wang G, Wang M, Xue Z, Ren Z, Jiang M, Otte ML (2022) Vegetation Regulates Element Composition of Soils by Enhancing Organic Matter Accumulation in the Salt Marshes of Liao River Delta, China . Frontiers in Marine Science 9: 888605. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2022.888605, DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2022.888605
- Yuan Y, Ding C, Wu H, Tian X, Luo M, Chang W, Qin L, Yang L, Zou Y, Dong K, Zhu X, Jiang M, Otte ML (in press) Dissimilatory iron reduction contributes to anaerobic mineralization of sediment in a shallow transboundary lake. Fundamental Research . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fmre.2022.12.002.
- Lobato de Magalhães T, Otte ML, Martínez M, Plata Ramos JE, Rocha Mier AL, Padrón IS (2022) Insights into Sustainable Management of Water and Wetlands in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Fondo Editorial Universitario, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, QRO, Mexico, 2022 M12 12 – 121pp. English version: ISBN 6075136398, 9786075136394, https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=XPmhEAAAQBAJ
- Lobato de Magalhães T, Otte ML, Martínez M, Plata Ramos JE, Rocha Mier AL, Padrón IS (2022) Perspectivas sobre la gestión sostenible del agua y los humedales en la Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra Gorda, México. Fondo Editorial Universitario, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, QRO, Mexico, 2022 M12 12 – 121pp. Spanish version: 6075136401, 9786075136400, https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=XPmhEAAAQBAJ
- Otte, M.L. (2023). A Brief History of Phytoremediation Using Wetlands. In: Lobato de Magalhães, T., Otte, M.L. (eds) Wetlands for Remediation in the Tropics. Wetlands: Ecology, Conservation and Management, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23665-5_1
- Lobato de Magalhães, T., Otte, M.L. (eds) Wetlands for Remediation in the Tropics. Wetlands: Ecology, Conservation and Management, vol 9. Springer, Cham., ISBN 978-3-031-23665-5 (e-book), DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-23665-5
- Qi T, Khanaum MM, Boutin K, Otte ML, Lin Z, Chu X. (2023) Incorporating Wetland Delineation and Impacts in Watershed-Scale Hydrologic Modeling. Water 15:2518. DOI:10.3390/w15142518
- Khanaum MM, Qi T, Boutin KD, Otte ML, Lin Z, Chu X (2023). Assessing the impacts of wetlands on discharge and nutrient loading: insights from restoring past wetlands with GIS-based analysis and modeling. WETLANDS 43:103. DOI:10.1007/s13157-023-01752-w
- Lobato-de Magalhães T, Murphy K, Otte ML, Molina-Navarro E (in press). World Atlas of Aquatic Macrophytes, Vol. 1. (Acanthaceae – Menyanthaceae) Wetlands: Ecology, Conservation and Management Series, Springer, ISBN: 978-3-031-52748-7