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...
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...
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...
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 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...
Fluctuations and spatial heterogeneity of habitat and resources is thought to underlie niche variation in animal populations, with intraspecific differences serving to produce or maintain population-, community-, or ecosystem-level patterns. Individual diet variation, defined as individual variation in food resource use within a population that is consistent over time, is...
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...
The effects of discharged sewage on physico-chemical conditions
and the distribution and abundance of marine benthic animals were
studied in Shilshole Bay, a part of Puget Sound, off Seattle,
Washington. For over 50 years prior to 1965, when this study was
initiated, 87,300 pounds (32,400 pounds BOD) per day of...
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...