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R/PT-05
The importance of understanding ecological complexity to predicting effects of multiple stressors on coastal systems (Year one of five)
Principal Investigator:
Denise L. BreitburgStart/End Year:
1995 - 2001Institution:
Academy of Natural Sciences Estuarine Research CenterCo-Principal Investigator:
James G. Sanders, Academy of Natural Sciences Estuarine Research CenterTopic(s):
- Ecosystems and Restoration
Description:
To determine the accumulative effects of current, increased and decreased levels of multiple stressors on a representative coastal system; to determine how ecological complexity, variability, and spatial structure affect the response of a representative coastal system to multiple stressors and the ability of managers to predict that response; and to determine how a variety of management options may affect both the biota and the economic value of the system.
Funding Start Year
1995
Funding End Year
2001
Related Publications:
Breitburg, DL; Riedel, G. 2005. Multiple stressors in marine systems. Norse, EA; Crowder, LB, eds.Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity. Island Press.Chapter 10:167 -182. UM-SG-RS-2005-31.
Richmond, CE; Breitburg, DL; Rose, KA. 2005. The role of environmental generalist species in ecosystem function. Ecological Modelling188(24):279 -295. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.03.002. UM-SG-RS-2005-29.
Riedel, GF; Sanders, JG; Breitburg, DL. 2003. Seasonal variability in response of estuarine phytoplankton communities to stress: Linkages between toxic trace elements and nutrient enrichment. Estuaries26(2):323 -338. doi:10.1007/BF02695971. UM-SG-RS-2003-04.
Wiegner, TN; Seitzinger, SP; Breitburg, DL; Sanders, JG. 2003. The effects of multiple stressors on the balance between autotrophic and heterotrophic processes in an estuarine system. Estuaries26(2):352 -364. doi:10.1007/BF02695973. UM-SG-RS-2003-30.
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Featured Fellow
Nina Santos
Nina Santos is a Ph.D. student at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. For her dissertation, she is focused on small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids – an understudied yet important part of many estuarine and coastal food webs.
Featured Research Project
Developing a habitat model for mysids, an important link in Chesapeake Bay food webs
Mysids are important mesozooplankton prey for many species of fish in Chesapeake Bay and are an important link in transferring energy from lower to upper trophic levels. Mysids also serve as biological vectors for benthic-pelagic coupling due to their diel vertical migration and omnivorous prey-switching behavior, which makes mysids important regulators of food web architecture. Despite their central role in coastal food webs, surprisingly little is known about mysid ecology and dynamics in Chesapeake Bay.
