Marine/ Aquatic Biology, Biodiversity, Ecology & Oceanography Research

Research Groups 

•    Research Experience and Education Facility (REEF) – UCSB/ Marine Science Institute: Part of the Marine Science Institute’s (MSI), REEF is a interactive aquarium facility that has Oceans-to-Classrooms (O₂C) education and outreach program, The REEF is equipped with state-of-the-art touch tanks and aquaria, from 2 to 2,000 gallons. The REEF also utilizes a high-tech life support system for the Research Tank, which highlights current, on-going research at UCSB and the Marine Science Institute.

Current Projects and Collaborations

•    Shankar Aswani, Anthropology: Ecological adaptations in island ecosystems; coastal-zone management; Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

•    Jim Boles, Earth Science: Marine hydrocarbon seeps; natural hazards; human impacts,;environmental evolution

•    Mark Brzezinski, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Marine/ Phytoplankton ecology: specific focus on the role of diatoms and their relationship to carbon dioxide in the ocean.

•    Craig Carlson, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Marine microbial ecology; dissolved organic cotton; marine biogeochemistry

•    Scott Cooper, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Research investigates factors that determine the distribution and abundances of organisms as well as climate and land use change, oil pollutants, and acidic deposition on freshwater systems.

•    Christopher Costello, Bren: Natural resource management; fisheries management; marine policy

•    Tommy Dickey, Geography: Understanding ocean domains and expanding observational networks, monitoring, and modeling with applications to coastal pollution prevention and global climate change.

•    Tom Dudley, Marine Sciences Institute: Riparian ecology.

•    Steve Gaines, Bren/ Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Population and community ecology; marine biogeography and biodiversity; carbon dioxide and the ocean.

•    Gretchen Hofmann, Marine Sciences Institute: Investigating the role of temperature and oceanographic features in setting species’ distribution in the marine environment.

•    Sally Holbrook, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Population dynamics of marine species; temporal patterns in reef communities; impact of climate change on reef communities/ marine species

•    Linda Krop, Environmental Studies: Coastal zone management

•    Hunter Lenihan, Bren: Applied marine ecology; coastal marine resources management; human impacts on marine systems; earth system science

•    Milton Love, Marine Sciences Institute: Marine ecology of around oil and gas platforms.

•    Bruce Luyendyk, Earth Research Institute: Marine hydrocarbon seeps – behavior of gas and oil plumes in the ocean; ocean plate tectonics

•    Sally MacIntyre, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Physical-biological coupling; physical limnology and oceanography; tropical, temperate and arctic lakes; flow in kelp forests and coral reefs

•    Stephen McLean, Mechanical Engineering/ Marine Science: Thermal/ fluid sciences and environmental, ocean, and risk and safety engineering.

•    John Melack, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Ecological processes in lakes, wetlands and streams; nutrient inputs and carbon dioxide uptakes by forests

•    Daniel Morse, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology: Environmentally benign new routes to synthesis of high-performance materials; biomimiciry.

•    Roger Nisbet, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Theoretical ecology; population dynamics; dynamic energy budget theory

•    Eduardo Orias, Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology: Bimolecular materials in marine organisms; environmental toxins

•    Barbara Prezelin, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Marine biology; ocean topography; climate change impacts on primary production in coastal waters

•    Ronald Rice, Communications/ Statistics: Evaluation of sustainability of fisheries.

•    Russell Schmitt, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Population dynamics of marine species, population and community responses to environmental forcing.

•    David Siegel, Geography: Investigating the physical, biological processes of the ocean as well as spatial marine ecology, and fisheries oceanography and management.

•    Ray Smith, Earth Research Institute: Remote sensing of oceans; biological oceanography; primary production and bio-optical modeling with emphasis on Antarctic ecosystems; human impacts on marine environments.

•    Susan Stonich, Anthropology: Human and environmental consequences of economic globalization; industrial shrimp farming; tourism and conservation; environmental justice

•    Robert Warner, Ecology Evolution & Marine Biology: Evolutionary ecology; population and conservation biology; ecology and behavior of reef fishes

•    Libe Washburn, Geography: Physical-biological interactions; ocean dynamics; turbulence and mixing processes; marine pollution

•    Syee Weldeab, Earth Science: Uses marine sediment cores to understand the linkages between tropical oceans and high latitude climate, and their interaction with and effect on the monsoon systems.

•    Dave Valentine, Earth Science: Biogeochemical cycling of organic material, methane, and hydrogen in microbially-dominated environments, microbially-mediated transformations of energy and organic matter in marine environments.

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