Marine Ecology

Announcing the recipient of the Dr. Susan Lynn Williams Memorial Graduate Award

The Coastal and Marine Science Institute is pleased to announce the first-ever recipient of the Dr. Susan Lynn Williams Memorial Graduate Award: Jessica Griffin, a Ph.D. Candidate in the University of California, Davis and San Diego State University joint doctoral program in ecology. This $1,000 award will help support Jessica’s project, titled “The Importance of Environmental Context for Mediating Bivalve Effects on Eelgrass”.

Semiconductors to Seagrass: An Electrical Engineering Student’s Summer Studying Marine Ecology

Seagrasses, specifically the species Zostera marina (or eelgrass), provide vital ecosystem services, such as nursery habitat for fish, sediment stabilization, and increased water clarity by slowing down waves. Unfortunately, seagrass populations have been in severe decline over the last century. Some of this is due to seagrass wasting disease, but much is due to human influences. A type of algae called epiphytes grows on the surface of seagrasses, and normally causes their hosts no harm. But when nutrients flow into the ocean (for example, fertilizer runoff), epiphyte bloo

Marine Plant Physiology

Marine plant physiology informs ocean health and marine conservation: seaweed, cordgrass, and seagrass physiology are sensitive indicators of environmental stress. Ecosystem function depends on marine species diversity and genetic diversity. BML has one of very few labs equipped for marine macrophyte physiological studies. The Williams lab performs physiological research on marine macrophytes (seagrass, cordgrass, seaweeds) to investigate coastal marine plant response to stress.