Knauss legislative fellowships in Congress help build careers — and they're fun and educational. See our video and fact sheet for details.
R/IS-17
Quantitative analysis of spatial patterns of marine invasions for North America: establishing a national baseline and database
Principal Investigator:
Gregory M. RuizStart/End Year:
2003 - 2007Institution:
Smithsonian Environmental Research CenterCo-Principal Investigator:
Jeffrey A. Crooks, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; Anson H. Hines, Smithsonian Environmental Research CenterTopic(s):
Description:
The overall objective is to measure quantitatively the spatial and temporal patterns of coastal invasions. We propose to establish a national baseline of data that measure invasion attributes by location (including geographic region or latitude), taxonomic group, source region, vector, and date of arrival. Our specific objectives are: * To establish a standardized, quantitative baseline of survey data for all coasts of North America; * To make available extensive geographically-referenced data from the surveys, through expansion of our online information system (NEMESIS), which includes detailed information for ~400 non-native marine species; * To test for differences in the extent of invasions among coasts and by latitude; * To test for a correlation among bays in the number of invasions with (a) the number of ship arrivals, as well as other measures of vector activity, among bays and (b) environmental and biological characteristics of the bays.
Related Publications:
Chang, AL; Carlton, JT; Brown, CW; Ruiz, GM. 2020. Down the up staircase: Equatorward march of a cold-water ascidian and broader implications for invasion ecology Diversity and Distributions26(7):881 -896. doi:10.1111/ddi.13055. UM-SG-RS-2020-16.
Chang, AL; Brown, CW; Crooks, JA; Ruiz, GM. 2018. Dry and wet periods drive rapid shifts in community assembly in an estuarine ecosystem. Global Change Biology24(2):E627 -E642. doi:10.1111/gcb.13972. UM-SG-RS-2018-08.
Chang, AL; Brown, CW; Crooks, JA; Ruiz, GM. 2018. Dry and wet periods drive rapid shifts in community assembly in an estuarine ecosystem Global Change Biology24(2):627 -642. doi:10.1111/gcb.13972. UM-SG-RS-2018-08.
Blum, JC; Chang, AL; Liljesthrom, M; Schenk, ME; Steinberg, MK; Ruiz, GM. 2007. The non-native solitary ascidian Ciona intestinalis (L.) depresses species richness. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology342(1):5 -14. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2006.10.010. UM-SG-RS-2007-03.
Bullard, SG; Lambert, G; Carman, MR; Byrnes, J; Whitlatch, RB; Ruiz, G; Miller, RJ; Harris, L; Valentine, PC; Collie, JS; Pederson, J; McNaught, DC; Cohen, AN; Asch, RG; Dijkstra, J; Heinonen, K. 2007. The colonial ascidian Didemnum sp A: Current distribution, basic biology and potential threat to marine communities of the northeast and west coasts of North America. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology342(1):99 -108. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2006.10.020. UM-SG-RS-2007-04.
McCann, LD; Hitchcock, NG; Winston, JE; Ruiz, GM. 2007. Non-native bryozoans in coastal embayments of the Southern United States: New records for the western Atlantic. Bulletin of Marine Science80(2):319 -342. UM-SG-RS-2007-19.
Lambert, G. 2005. First North American record of the ascidian Perophora japonica. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom85(4):1011 -1012. doi:10.1017/S002531540501204X. UM-SG-RS-2005-11.
Program Announcements
News and Blogs
Featured Fellow
Leone Yisrael is a cephalopod-loving scuba diver, cook, and loves to try new activities. She conducts genetic analysis and fieldwork at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center through the Coastal Disease Ecology Lab.
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.
Chesapeake Quarterly Magazine
Complicated Contaminants: Finding PFAS in the Chesapeake Bay
