My interests span a wide range of intertidal and subtidal ecological questions.
Students are encouraged to work in areas related to ongoing projects but flexibility is
allowed in the selection of thesis projects. New students are encouraged to spend time in
the field because many ecological problems can be addressed only with a solid
understanding of natural history. Students are strongly encouraged to develop a strong
inference approach to ecological questions. This often involves experimental
manipulations based on sound experimental designs. My major foci at present are on
recruitment and ecology of fucoid algae, especially Ascophyllum nodosum, and on the
growth and reproductive ecology of green sea urchins. The alga is long-lived and the
dominant intertidal alga throughout much of the North Atlantic ocean. Studies are
directed towards understanding the mechanisms of attachment and the role of recruitment
and dispersal on population regulation. Sea urchins are the second major marine resource
in Maine. However, overharvesting created a boom and bust phenomenon, and understanding
growth and reproductive processes may be crucial to recovery. Aspects of algal-herbivore
interactions, including foraging behavior of invertebrates and their influence on the
structure of intertidal assemblages, continue to be a component of my work. Behavioral
studies on herbivores are an important but somewhat neglected aspect of community
studies.

Articles

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Physiological Responses to Environmental Variation in Intertidal Red Algae: Does Thallus Morphology Matter? (with S. R. Dudgeon, J. E. Kubler, and I. R. Davison), Marine Ecology-Progress Series (1995)

Morphological variation within and among many species of algae show correlated life history traits. The...

 

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Inference in Ecology: The Sea Urchin Phenomenon in the Northwestern Atlantic (with R. W. Elner), American Naturalist (1990)

We have reviewed the considerable body of research into the sea urchin phenomenon responsible for...

 

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Recruitment of Ascophyllum Nodosum: Wave Action as a Source of Mortality (with W. A. Wright and S. L. Miller), Marine Ecology-Progress Series (1990)

The brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum is a dominant rocky intertidal organism throughout much of the...