Marine Biology

Professor
Ph.D. University of Southern California
Email: larry.allen@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-3340
Office: Magnolia Hall 4112
Website

I have extensive experience working on the community ecology of California coastal marine fishes particularly those that occur in the bays, estuaries and harbors of Southern California. In addition, recent efforts have dealt with fish assemblages in kelp bed and rock reefs in Southern California. Past research has also included investigations into biogeography of bay/estuarine and coastal marine fishes. My experience in the field of systematics has centered on the development and classification of clingfishes (Gobiesociformes) and wreckfishes (Polyprionidae). Currently, my students and I are investigating life history, ecology, population genetics, and recruitment mechanisms of several important commercial species of fishes including giant sea bass, soupfin sharks, white seabass, California halibut, kelp bass, barred sand bass, and spotted sand bass.

Professor
PhD University of Georgia
Email: robert.carpenter@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-3256
Fax: (818) 677-2034
Office: Magnolia Hall 4110
Website

My research interests are focused on the ecology of marine benthic communities. Specifically, I am interested in the coupling between physical aspects of the environment (primarily light and water flow) and the physiology of algae and algal communities, and in interactions between herbivores and algae, and how these processes cascade upward to the community level. One current research project is examining the role of hydrodynamics in controlling the rates of metabolism of coral reef algal communities in Hawaii and Moorea, French Polynesia. My students and I take a combined laboratory and field approach to test hypotheses about mass-transfer limitation of reef algae across spatial scales. We use a variety of sophisticated instrumentation to measure water flow at a variety of spatial scales and estimate rates of organismal metabolism in flumes. We have addressed similar questions in kelp forest environments at Santa Catalina Island. Another major research thrust in my lab is associated with the NSF LTER coral reef site in Moorea. As one of 4 PIs on this project, I am involved in quantifying long-term changes in coral reef community structure and function. Additionally, we are interested in how coral reef metabolism is driven by both large- and small-scale hydrodynamic processes and how this also might influence distributions and abundances of reef organisms and trophic dynamics. My most recent research focus has been on the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef calcifying organisms and communities. We are addressing these effects on organismal physiology, ecological interactions, and at the whole reef scale in Moorea. Lastly, I have a NASA-funded project (CORAL) that is connecting high-resolution remotely sensed images of coral reefs with high resolution measurements of reef community structure and function for reefs acrosss the Pacific Ocean. More details can be found at the CORAL website. While the majority of my interests are focused on coral reefs and other algal-dominated marine communities, several students in my laboratory have conducted research on benthic invertebrates living in intertidal, kelp forest, and coral reef environments.

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. Oregon State University

Email: alexandra.davis@csun.edu

Phone: (818) 677-6147

Office: Magnolia Hall 4200

Website: www.alexandracddavis.com

BWEEMS: https://www.bweems.org/

I am a marine spatial ecologist and an advocate for equity and diversity in conservation sciences. My work involves developing conservation strategies for managing marine resources in temperate and tropical marine systems, focusing on working with partners and management agencies to understand valued marine resources. My work ranges from creating species distribution models, studying species behavior and species-habitat interactions, to developing interventions for the management of marine/ aquatic invasive species.  I also currently serve on multiple EDJI committees and am a member of the board of directors for Black Women in Ecology Evolution and Marine Science (BWEEMS). My work within these groups is to elevate marginalized voices in STEM and provide mentorship, professional development, and opportunities for success in the field(s).  

If you are interested in doing research in my lab as an undergraduate or a master's student, please send me an e-mail and we can discuss current opportunities in my lab.

Professor
Ph.D. University of Maine
Email: steve.dudgeon@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-7322
Fax: (818) 677-2034
Office: Magnolia Hall 4105
Website

My research interests lie in two areas. One is the different levels of integration exhibited among individual organisms aggregated in a group, clone or colony and how this variation impacts both, their population ecology, and the evolution of their life histories. The second is the scale- and context-dependence of ecological processes in community development. I study both benthic marine invertebrates and seaweeds for three reasons: (1) both taxa are easily manipulated in field and laboratory experiments; (2) interactions between these taxa are often central features of community organization; (3) a great diversity of unitary and clonal lifestyles (often in a single lineage) coexist in one ecosystem.

Professor
Ph.D. Glasgow University
Email: peter.edmunds@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-2502
Fax: (818) 677-2034
Office: Magnolia Hall 4113
Website

https://coralreefs.csun.edu/

https://mcr.lternet.edu/people/peter-edmunds

Research in my lab focuses on the ecology and ecophysiology of tropical reef corals, and I work at the organismic, population, and community levels.  My research program is structured into two thematic areas.

First, I study the ecology and long-term dynamics of coral reefs to identify temporal trends and provide an ecological context within which mechanistic research can be designed. Over the last 38 years, most of my ecological research has taken place on the shallow reefs along the south coast of St. John, US Virgin Islands, and on the coral reefs around Moorea, French Polynesia. In St. John, the coral reefs are protected within the VI National Park, and there I work closely with biologists and resource managers to study long-term changes in coral reef communities and test hypotheses that shed light on the processes driving these changes. Since 2013, I have been collaborating with Dr. Howard Lasker (U of Buffalo) to evaluate how the octocoral communities have changed in concert with changes affecting stony corals and macroalgae. Nearly four decades of coral decline in St. John have brough the reefs to a persistent state of low abundance and my work now is placing more emphasis on the ecological implications of rarity.

In Moorea, I serve as a co-PI on the Moorea Coral Reef LTER which has the objective of quantifying long-term changes in coral communities within a multidisciplinary context created by the large team of scientists associated with the project. My research in Moorea provides a rich context describing the dynamics of coral reefs that are strongly affected by routine physical forces (e.g., storm waves), and periodic disturbances such as outbreaks of the crown of the thorns seastar, Acanthaster planci, cyclones, and coral bleaching. Unlike the Caribbean, the outer reefs of Moorea have staged several major recoveries from large coral mortality events, and currently we are studying whether a similar recovery will occur following the severe 2019 bleaching event.

Second, I study the biology and physiology of individual corals to better understand their basic functionality and establish mechanistic links between organism performance and community dynamics. My work in this area continues to be strongly influenced by the patterns emerging from my time-series research, but recent studies have focused on evaluating the response of corals to ocean acidification (increasing seawater pCO2) and climate change (rising seawater temperature), particularly with regards to their impacts on the coral recruitment bottleneck. This bottleneck prevents baby corals from becoming adult corals, and it appears to be a key factor determining whether coral communities recover following disturbances.

Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Hawaii, Manoa
Email: ritson.williams@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-4427
Office: Magnolia Hall 4109
Website: www.raphswall.com
 

I work on a variety of marine organisms (mostly invertebrates and algae) in temperate and tropical locations. I am very interested in using multiple skills to determine the ecological roles of organisms and those processes that determine biodiversity. I use genetics to identify among organisms and to test evolutionary relationships. I use field, chemical, and experimental ecology to test the outcome of different interactions among different life history stages. I am also very interested in how climate change will impact the physiology of these organisms giving us insight into their conservation status now and in the future.

If you are interested in doing research in my lab as an undergraduate or a master's student, please send me an e-mail and we can discuss current opportunities in my lab.  

Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa
Email: nyssa.silbiger@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-4427
Fax: (818) 677-2034
Office: Magnolia Hall 4109A
Website: http://nyssasilbiger.com/

In my research program, I use a diverse set of laboratory, field, and quantitative techniques to understand the impact of climate stressors on organisms, communities, and ecosystem processes in the context of natural variability. The main foci of my research are: 1) assessing the impacts of anthropogenic stressors (temperature, ocean acidification [OA], and eutrophication) on organismal to ecosystem processes, 2) quantifying how interactions between climate stressors and natural variability drive communities interactions and ecosystems processes across multiple spatial scales, and 3) characterizing feedbacks between global climate change stressors and ecosystem functioning. To date, I have worked mostly in coastal ecosystems including coral reefs and temperate rocky shores. Examples of a few ongoing research projects include: investigating drivers of coral reef accretion and bioerosion processes using natural gradients and manipulative lab experiments, assessing the role of temperate seaweeds as “ecological buffers” for ocean acidification along the US West Coast, and the scaling of individual to ecosystem responses to nutrient stress on Hawaiian coral reefs.

For more information about my lab please see my website: www.nyssasilbiger.com

Professor
Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara
Email: msteele@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-4270
Fax: (818) 677-2034
Office: Magnolia Hall 4100
Website

The main goal of my research is to elucidate the causes of variation in abundance of organisms that live in open populations in order to understand and predict their dynamics and spatial patterns. I place particular emphasis on evaluating the relative importance of the various processes that determine patterns of abundance, population dynamics, and community structure. I have worked on reef fishes in temperate (southern California), subtropical (Gulf of California, Mexico), and tropical (Bahamas) systems, and also on estuarine fishes in southern California. A major focus of research in my lab is testing for equivalence of yield in biomass and reproductive output of reef fishes between artificial and natural reefs in Southern California. Other aspects of my lab's research program include: population dynamics and community structure of non-exploited reef fishes; density dependence in commercially-exploited reef fishes and implications for fisheries management using marine protected areas; and the ecology of estuarine fishes, particularly as related to wetland restoration projects.

Mia Adreani
Chris Chabot
Michael Franklin
Janet Kübler
Casey terHorst