The stability of a limpet-dominated community was
assessed in a experiment in which an consumer was
temporarily removed. Compared to unmanipulated plots,
the limpet-exclusion plots developed greater algal
abundance and altered species composition of both algae
and barnacles. The community was not perturbed beyond
its capacity to recover, since the...
Rockfish of the genus Sebastes are important components of Oregon reef communities. I examined patterns of age and growth in young-of-year rockfish across two nested spatial scales – local and regional – along the Oregon coast. Using otolith microstructural examination, I examined the relative importance of local versus regional factors...
The current generation of scientists will be asked to mitigate climate change, stall biodiversity loss, and protect ecological communities. These are tasks that require a knowledge of both ecological and social systems to be undertaken successfully. Therefore, my dissertation spans the fields of community ecology and social sciences in an...
Birds affected the community structure of an Oregon rocky shore by
preying upon mussels (Mytilus spp.) and limpets (Collisella spp.). The
impact of such predation is potentially great, as mussels are the
competitively dominant mid-intertidal space-occupiers, and limpets are
important herbivores in this community.
Prey selection by birds reflects differences...
Ecosystems are facing increasing threats from human related activities, such as overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction, species invasions, and diseases, among others. While oceanic islands provide natural laboratories to understand ecological and evolutionary process, they are also particularly vulnerable to these impacts, given their usual isolation from the mainland and the...
In recent years off the United States Oregon coast severe hypoxic events have resulted in areas of mass vertebrate and invertebrate species mortality known as dead zones. Creation of dead zones and alteration of community species composition in response to inner shelf hypoxic conditions have been observed annually from 2002...
Factors affecting the persistence of mussels (Mytilus californianus) and their associated epibiont species were studied along the central Oregon coast. Interactions between mussels and their algal epibionts (Endocladia
muricata) varied in sign and strength with environmental conditions. In extreme temperatures mussel—epibiont interactions determined survival of individual mussels,
and persistence of...
Most climate change predictions focus on the response of individual species to changing local conditions and ignore species interactions, largely due to the lack of a sound theoretical foundation for how interactions are expected to change with climate and how to incorporate them into climate change models. Much of the...
Recruitment of larvae from the plankton is an important determinant of
community structure in marine systems. In populations of many marine species,
recruitment determines the basic demographic parameters of immigration, emigration,
and reproduction. Moreover, the effect of recruitment as an "ecological subsidy" can
determine the strength of interactions among species...
