[LTER-sbc_all] Fwd: [seminars] Nicholas Schooler PhD Seminar

[Jenny Dugan]

Hi everyone,

Nick Schooler is presenting his PhD seminar tomorrow.  Details below.

Cheers,

Jenny


*Nicholas K. Schooler*
Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science

*Biodiversity of coastal ecosystems: exploring spatial and temporal
patterns in intertidal macroinvertebrate communities of sandy beaches*

*Tuesday, December 4th at 10am*
MSI Auditorium

*Committee members: *Steve Gaines, Jenny Dugan, Hunter Lenihan, Bob Miller,
Mark Page

*Abstract*:
   Biodiversity plays a vital role in the function, stability, and
resilience of ecosystems. Concern about biodiversity loss and the
alteration of ecological communities has driven major efforts to catalog
and monitor species in ecosystems across the globe and to quantify
relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function. Evaluating
responses of biodiversity and community structure to abiotic and biotic
drivers, such as climate, disturbance, and species interactions requires
comparisons across relevant spatial and temporal scales.
   Located at the boundary between land and sea, sandy beach ecosystems and
the biodiversity they support are subject to increasing threats from
escalating anthropogenic and climatic impacts. To gain insights on
mechanisms influencing ecological communities and functioning, I explored
questions concerning responses of biodiversity, community structure, and
composition of sandy beach ecosystems to environmental and anthropogenic
factors operating over a range of temporal and spatial scales for my
dissertation research. To evaluate these questions, we conducted 60
intertidal macroinvertebrate surveys at 41 study beaches spanning >1800 km
of California coastline (~9 degrees of latitude) from 2009-2015. These were
the first quantitative surveys ever conducted at many of these beaches.
   Overall, findings from my dissertation suggest sandy beaches are more
diverse and biogeographically complex than generally acknowledged. My
results highlight the importance of connectivity to donor ecosystems and
the strong influence of subsidies on intertidal macroinvertebrate
communities of sandy beaches, particularly that of drift macroalgae on
wrack-associated species.

-- 
Nick Schooler
Marine Science Institute
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150
emails: nschooler at gmail.com & n <nick.schooler at lifesci.ucsb.edu>
schooler at ucsb.edu


-- 
*Jenny Dugan*
Marine Science Institute
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150
Phone: 805-893-2675
email: j_dugan at lifesci.ucsb.edu
http://msi.ucsb.edu/people/research-scientists/jenny-dugan
SBC LTER:  http://sbc.lternet.edu/index.html
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