My research focus is on the biogeochemistry of surface and ground water systems and how microbial processes influence the geochemistry and quality of these waters. Recent research topics include: (1) using geochemical, thermodynamics and microbial phylogenetics to determine how treated surface waters that have been injected into anaerobic and highly reduced aquifer systems drive the changes in geochemistry and water quality during storage, recovery and discharge into receiving streams and lakes, (2) assessing the influences that bacterial processes have on ocean acidification in the coastal ecosystems using high spatial resolution data and (3) using biogeochemical and microbial ecology techniques to determine how microbial processes in coral reef and coastal sediments and associated porewater systems influence ocean acidification-related geochemistry in the overlying water column, at the sediment/water interface and carbonate sediment diagenesis.
Dr. Lisle earned his Ph.D. at the University of South Florida in the College of Public Health. Following his post-doctoral fellowship at Montana State University, Dr. Lisle was employed by NASA’s Astrobiology Institute at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX where his research focused on the microbial ecology in extreme environments, including Antarctica. Since 2002 Dr. Lisle has been employed by the USGS Center for Coastal and Watershed Research in St. Petersburg, FL, where he’s applied his experience to projects related biogeochemistry of surface and groundwater systems, ocean acidification and climate change. His expertise is in the use of non-culture based and molecular techniques and biogeochemistry to assess the survival and persistence of microorganisms in aquatic and sediment systems and the influence microorganisms have on the geochemistry within these systems.