Growing up on Virginia’s Eastern Shore with an interest in coastal science, Cora Ann Baird was unaware she was living so close to a leading research center focused on her home’s coastline.

Decades later, she helps run it.

The University of Virginia’s Coastal Research Center in Oyster hosts the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research project that began in the mid-1980s, about the time Baird was born. She is now the research center’s site director.

Environmental sciences professors Karen McGlathery and Max Castorani lead the VCR LTER program, which investigates the ecological impacts of the world’s largest seagrass restoration effort. It has brought back vast undersea meadows that disappeared nearly a century ago. The team works to understand how the re-emergence of seagrass – successfully restored across almost 14 square miles –  shapes the coastal bay ecosystems and the organisms that live there, including many fish and shellfish species.

“Out here, there’s so much less human influence, so when we start to see patterns, it’s much easier to attribute them to regional and global phenomena,” Baird said. “Without as much local input, it’s easier to see the big picture.”

Since 2012, the research team has tracked how seagrass restoration affects fish in the region. They catch, measure and release fish that live in the seagrass to assess the effects of restoration and environmental change. Each June, the team samples the meadows, pulling large nets across the water and counting the fish they find. 

In addition to generating new discoveries, the research creates training opportunities for students at UVA and beyond. This year, UVA environmental sciences doctoral candidate Luke Groff is helping out.

Groff has spent the past four summers at UVA, living and working on the Eastern Shore and studying another potential benefit of the restored meadow – how seagrass and algae capture sedimentary blue carbon in the seafloor.

Castorani, who leads the fish project, explains that seagrass meadows serve as important nurseries for young fish, offering shelter until they grow large enough to avoid predators. The team regularly finds dozens of species in the meadow, including anchovies, perch, croaker, pipefish, sea bass and the occasional seahorse. 

“Restoration doesn’t just bring back the seagrass – it brings back the fish, too,” Castorani said. “A decade of data shows we catch six times more fish where seagrass has been restored.”

Christopher Oxley, another doctoral student in environmental sciences, is helping collect fish this summer for the first time. He is also assisting Castorani on a separate project studying oyster reefs The Nature Conservancy has restored. Before coming to UVA, Oxley worked with oysters and other invertebrates as an undergraduate at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

“It’s been a great way to spend time with other students in the department and meet people outside of UVA,” he said. “My current research also focuses on oyster reefs, so having the chance to work in the seagrass meadows has been interesting.”

McGlathery, who has led the VCR LTER project for two decades and directs UVA’s Environmental Institute, emphasized the value of long-term science in understanding and addressing coastal change. 

“Sustained research helps us see what’s changing, why it matters, and how we can respond,” she said. “These insights are key to supporting resilient communities that depend on healthy coastal environments.”

Like many people, Baird said she was eager to leave home as a teenager and spent years researching on the West Coast and in Costa Rica before finding her way back home. She said she’s grateful to be able to bring her expertise to her community.

“Growing up here was magical, which is almost certainly why I went into coastal science,” she said. “The fact that I can pursue this career that I’m really excited about at home, because there is this world-class research center here, is really cool.”

This article originally appeared on UVA Today.