Ocean Acidification (OA) has emerged as a major threat to marine ecosystems, particularly regarding calcifying organisms. A growing body of literature describing laboratory investigations into pH stress indicates broadly deleterious effects for calcifiers, but responses vary greatly across taxa and can be influenced by variations in other environmental characteristics. Scaling...
The proliferation of efficient fishing practices has promoted the depletion of
commercial stocks around the world and caused significant collateral damage to marine
habitats. Recent empirical studies have shown that marine reserves can play an important role
in reversing these effects. Equilibrium metapopulation models predict that networks of marine
reserves...
Ecosystems are shaped by processes occurring and interacting over multiple
temporal and spatial scales. Theory suggests such complexity can be simplified by focusing on
processes sharing the same scale as the pattern of interest. This scale-dependent approach to
studying communities has been challenged by multiscale meta-ecosystem theory, which
recognizes that...
Full Text:
hierarchically? A model and test in
rocky intertidal habitats
BRUCE A. MENGE,1,4 TARIKC. GOUHIER,2 SALLY D
Ecosystems are shaped by processes occurring and interacting over multiple
temporal and spatial scales. Theory suggests such complexity can be simplified by focusing on
processes sharing the same scale as the pattern of interest. This scale-dependent approach to
studying communities has been challenged by multiscale meta-ecosystem theory, which
recognizes that...
Full Text:
taxa within these groups (MANOVA, Appendix A Table A2B, C,
Appendix B Figs. B2, B3). Results suggest
Ecosystems are shaped by processes occurring and interacting over multiple
temporal and spatial scales. Theory suggests such complexity can be simplified by focusing on
processes sharing the same scale as the pattern of interest. This scale-dependent approach to
studying communities has been challenged by multiscale meta-ecosystem theory, which
recognizes that...
Full Text:
, understory and canopy), B. abundance of most abundant
sessile invertebrate taxa, and C. abundance of most
Ecosystems are shaped by processes occurring and interacting over multiple temporal and spatial scales. Theory suggests such complexity can be simplified by focusing on processes sharing the same scale as the pattern of interest. This scale-dependent approach to studying communities has been challenged by multiscale meta-ecosystem theory, which recognizes that...
A major goal of the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) has been to understand the impacts of climate change and variability on the coastal ecosystems of the inner shelf of the California Current Large Marine System in particular, and other marine and even nonmarine systems more generally....
The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA exposure across these early-impact systems, however, is highly uncertain and limits our understanding of whether and how spatial management actions can be deployed to ameliorate...
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...
Internal waves of depression were observed propagating
along‐shelf and into northern Monterey Bay, California
(CA) on the inner shelf. These waves had amplitudes
approximately equal to the thermocline depth (∼4 m), and
were unstable to shear and mix the thermocline. Isopycnal
gradient spectra showed that the wave packets lead to...
Predicting the effects of climate change on ecological communities requires an understanding of how environmental factors influence both physiological processes and species interactions. Specifically, the net impact of temperature on community structure depends on the relative response of physiological energetic costs (metabolism) and energetic gains (ingestion of resources) that mediate...
With changing climate conditions and human impacts on ecosystems becoming a
big focus of study, it has become even more crucial to understand how our ecosystems
work. Community structure within rocky intertidal habitats is governed by a mix of
environmental conditions and species interactions. This project examined the effects of...
Climate change and other anthropogenic impacts are threatening the existence of millions of species around the globe. On western continental boundaries, the large-scale secondary process of upwelling, which brings low pH, deoxygenated, high nutrient seawater to the surface, is compounded by climate change, that together could drive some species to...
Climate change, combined with population growth, is expected to exacerbate water scarcity globally. In the Columbia River basin (CRB), streamflow is managed for multiple objectives with a network of dams and reservoirs distributed throughout the basin that may mitigate climate change effects on water scarcity. This study quantified trends in...
While there is a persistent inverse relationship between latitude and species diversity across many taxa and ecosystems, deviations from this norm offer an opportunity to understand the conditions that contribute to large-scale diversity patterns. Marine systems, in particular, provide such an opportunity, as marine diversity does not always follow a...
The high productivity of Eastern Boundary Upwelling Ecosystems (EBUE), some of the most productive ecosystems in the globe, is attributed to the nutrient rich waters brought up through upwelling. Climate change scenarios for coastal upwelling systems, predict an intensification of coastal upwelling winds. Associated with intensification in upwelling are biogeochemical...
The California Current Large Marine Ecosystem
(CCLME), a temperate marine region dominated by episodic
upwelling, is predicted to experience rapid environmental
change in the future due to ocean acidification. The aragonite
saturation state within the California Current System is
predicted to decrease in the future with near-permanent undersaturation
conditions expected...
There is increasing evidence that our planet is warming and this warming is also resulting in rising sea levels. Estuaries which are located at the interface between land and ocean are impacted by these changes. We used CE-QUAL-W2 water quality model to predict changes in water temperature as a function...
The influence of the physical environment on organisms has long been a subject of ecological research. But, the complex drivers of environmental variation, and the multiple scales at which this can occur, make studying this topic a difficult challenge. In rocky intertidal habitats, oceanographic- and climate-scale variability influence benthic communities...
The multifaceted role of the environment in regulating the structure and dynamics of biological communities has long fascinated ecologists and motivated much debate and research. Now, in a time of accelerated global changes due to human impacts, the need to understand how the environment shapes communities has gained new urgency....
Biological invasions provide a unique opportunity to study the mechanisms that regulate community composition and ecosystem function. Invasive species that are also ecosystem engineers can substantially alter physical features in an environment, and this can lead to cascading effects on the biological community. Aquatic-terrestrial interface ecosystems are excellent systems to...
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...
As global atmospheric carbon emissions continue to rise, scientists and land managers are increasingly looking to natural ecosystems to sequester and store carbon to buffer the impacts of climate change. Despite their small geographic size, many coastal ecosystems such as salt marshes, seagrass meadows, and mangroves sequester large amounts of...
This dissertation investigates the context-dependency of species interactions between seagrass and macroalgae in upwelling-influenced estuaries. In all coastal systems, nutrient loading is multidirectional, resulting from mostly freshwater and marine inputs. The directionality of nutrient inputs may affect the rate of supply of organic matter to the system. In systems where...
1. Theoretical and empirical ecology has transitioned from a focus on the role of negative interactions in species coexistence to a more pluralistic view that acknowledges that coexistence in natural communities is more complex, and depends on species interactions that vary in strength, sign, and reciprocity, and such contexts as...
Sandy beaches and dunes cover approximately one-third of the world’s ice-free coastlines and provide ecosystem services including coastal protection, recreation, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration. These dynamic interface habitats are variably shaped by wind, waves, sedimentary processes, and vegetation feedbacks. Positive biophysical feedbacks lead to the formation of vegetated coastal...
Interest is expanding for the potential role of estuaries, particularly seagrass and salt marsh habitats, to sequester carbon, mitigate ocean acidification, and support abundant fisheries. The important functions of estuaries are part of a broader set of ecosystem services, or benefits to humans, which are regulated by ocean and watershed...
Predator outbreaks are predicted to increasingly decimate economically and ecologically important prey populations because global climate change and food-web modifications frequently facilitate predators and stress prey. Natural systems are organized hierarchically, with processes operating at multiple scales giving rise to patterns of biodiversity, so predicting and managing outbreaks requires a...
An experimental packed distillation column was constructed
and data were taken to evaluate the effects of heating sections of the
column packing during the distillation operation. The experimental
column was packed with carbon Raschig rings and the heating was
accomplished using an induction coil. The carbon tetrachloride and
benzene system...
Despite advances in the understanding of rain-on-snow storms and their resulting peak flows, little is understood about the response of snowmelt to precipitation and the relative timing of the two at multiple temporal scales within such events. To address this issue, climate, snowmelt, and streamflow data were analyzed for 26...
How the direct and indirect effects of species interactions cascade to affect community structure, functioning, and stability is a fundamental question in ecology. In temperate kelp forests, species interactions, in conjunction with environmental processes, produce rich spatiotemporal dynamics.
Arguably the most dramatic of these are abrupt shifts in community state,...
Oregon Sea Grant Report - Reporting Period: May 2016-2017
n Spain, gooseneck barnacles, “percebes,” are an overfished delicacy fetching a high market price ($50/lb.). Oregon fishing communities show interest in developing a percebes market utilizing Pollicipes polymerus. The incormation compiled in this report aims to inform resource managers to avoid...
Ecological communities are connected in space and time through the transfer of energy, materials, and organisms, together known as ecological subsidies. These ecological subsidies can have substantial effects on community structure, function, and services, especially when the connections are between communities with contrasting productivity. At the ocean-land interface, low productivity...
The intermittent upwelling hypothesis (IUH) predicts that the strength of
ecological subsidies, organismal growth responses, and species interactions will vary
unimodally along a gradient of upwelling from persistent downwelling to persistent upwelling,
with maximal levels at an intermediate or ‘‘intermittent’’ state of upwelling. To test this model,
we employed the...
Understanding and predicting how regional to global scale processes affect macroalgal populations and communities requires elucidating the mechanisms underlying observed patterns. This dissertation identifies some of the underlying mechanisms that produce complex multi-scale responses of macroalgae across space and time by delineating the role of key local environmental drivers and...
Over recent decades, the marine ecosystems of Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska have experienced the concurrent effects of a major anthropogenic disturbance, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), and a dynamic atmospheric-oceanic environment. Studies of top marine consumers can provide insights into processes of ecosystem change. Using data collected...
This study tested multiple hydrologic mechanisms to explain snowpack dynamics in extreme
rain-on-snow floods, which occur widely in the temperate and polar regions. We examined 26, 10 day
large storm events over the period 1992–2012 in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in western Oregon,
using statistical analyses (regression, ANOVA, and...
Full Text:
. Wavelet analysis was performed using the biwavelet package
for R [Gouhier, 2014], with the Morlet wavelet
In eastern Washington and western Oregon, southwest-northeast striking thrust faults and folds of the Yakima Fold and Thrust Belt (YFTB) and northwest-striking dextral strike-slip faults accommodate north-south contraction resulting from clockwise rotation of the North American Plate. Though present to the east and west of the Cascade Range, the connectivity...
Hypoxia is increasing in coastal zones worldwide, with acute effects on demersal fish and benthic invertebrate communities in shallow coastal and estuarine habitats. Less studied are the effects of hypoxia on planktonic larvae of open coastal habitats. Climate change projections suggest intensified hypoxia in open coast upwelling systems, such as...
Twenty years ago, the creation of a new scientific program, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO), funded by the Packard Foundation, provided the opportunity to integrate—from the outset—research, monitoring, and outreach to the public, policymakers, and managers. PISCO’s outreach efforts were initially focused primarily on sharing scientific...
Dislodged macroalgae and seagrasses, also known as marine wrack, frequently wash into coastal ecosystems from the ocean and are potentially important ecological resources for biological communities. These!nutrient and organic matter subsidies may be especially important on sandy beaches, where little in situ primary productivity exists for higher trophic levels. To...
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...
Many marine bivalves are sensitive to ocean acidification (OA) stress and often show heightened sensitivity during brief early larval and post-larval life stages, potentially leading to population bottlenecks. Most of the evidence to date has been collected in laboratory experiments that focused on physiological responses at the organismal level under...
Long-term, large-scale studies of meta-ecosystems provide critical information about how global change influences communities. In my dissertation, I analyzed data from studies encompassing 18 years (2006 – 2023) and over 1,000 km of coastline to investigate drivers of rocky intertidal community structure and dynamics. Specifically, I explored the roles of...
Oceanic uptake of rising anthropogenic CO₂ emissions has caused the emergence of ocean acidification as a major threat to marine ecosystems worldwide. Along eastern boundary current systems, seawater is naturally acidified due to coastal upwelling of low pH seawater from depth. Compounded by ocean acidification, upwelling regions are expected to...
The question arises for fishery managers as to whether or not there are observable and measurable attributes of the skipper or vessel that fishery managers can monitor and possibly regulate to control expansions in fishing capacity from this source. This paper addresses this neglected issue of resource management through a...
Knowledge of nutrient pathways and their resulting ecological interactions can alleviate numerous environmental problems associated with nutrient increases in both natural and managed systems. Although not unique, coastal systems are particularly prone to complex ecological interactions resulting from nutrient inputs from both the land and sea. Nutrient inputs to coastal...
Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) first appeared in Oregon in April 2014, and by June had spread to most of the coast. Although delayed compared to areas to the north and south, SSWD was initially most intense in north and central Oregon and spread southward. Up to 90% of individuals...
Full Text:
Octo-
ber. Collected turfies were taken to the lab and frozen at -20°C, then processed by shaking each
Ecologists must increasingly balance the need for accurate predictions about how ecosystems will be affected by climate change, against the fact that making such predictions at the ecosystem-level may be infeasible. Although information about responses of individual species to a changing environment is increasing, scaling such information to the community...
Temuan World of Words offers tantalising glimpses into the
world of one of the indigenous Orang Asli communities of
Peninsular Malaysia.
The Temuan negotiate a way of life that sits uneasily in spaces
which have not yet been fully co-opted into the service of a
cash-based economy– spaces which still...