Biological Oceanography 
 

Faculty

• Dr. J. Craig Bailey: the cell biology, evolution, and systematics of marine and freshwater algae, structural genomics studies of organellar genomes (i.e., plastids and mitochondria).

• Dr. Stuart Borrett: quantitative ecology. Goals are (1) to understand the fundamental processes that create, constrain, and sustain ecological systems and (2) to develop a formal science of environment that can be used to comprehend the causes and consequences of both local and global environmental changes. Aquatic ecosystems studied to date include Lake Lanier, GA, the Neuse River Estuary, NC, and the Ross Sea, Antarctica.  

• Dr. Lawrence Cahoon: benthic microalgal production, nutrient cycling, water quality analysis and remediation

• Dr. Ileana E. Clavijo: fisheries biology, tropical and Gulf Stream fishes

• Dr. Richard M. Dillaman: biomineralization, ultrastructure of calcifying organisms

• Dr. Michael Durako: restoration, physiological ecology, reproductive biology, demographics of seagrasses

• Dr. Steve Emslie: ecology and conservation of seabirds, paleoecology, and avian paleontology and evolution

• Dr. Christopher Finelli: research at the interface of marine biology and physics. Interactions between organisms and the physical environment at a variety of spatial scales. Recent projects have examined bioirrigation of sedimentary environments by burrowing shrimp, the effects of water flow on photosynthesis by corals, chemosensory biology of blue crabs and other invertebrates, larval settlement and the effects of turbulence on the planktivory by coral reef fishes (including effects on escape responses of copepods).

• Dr. Courtney Hackney: linkages between physical, chemical and biotic components of estuaries

• Dr. Paul Hosier: plant ecology, ecology of coastal vegetation

• Dr. Donald Kapraun: characterization and quantification of nuclear genomes in commercially important species of red seaweeds

• Dr. Stephen Kinsey: biochemistry in living cells of marine organisms

• Dr. Heather Koopman: marine lipid physiology

• Dr. Tom Lankford: ichthyology

• Dr. Michael A. McCartney: molecular ecology and evolution of marine invertebrates and fishes 

• Dr. D. Ann Pabst: musculoskeletal design and thermoregulatory function in cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises); biomechanics of dolphin skin and blubber 

• Dr. Joseph R. Pawlik: ecological functions of secondary metabolites from marine invertebrates; control of settlement of marine invertebrate larvae 

• Dr. Martin H. Posey: effects of predation, competition, biological disturbance, introduced species and eutrophication on community structure 

• Dr. Robert D. Roer: animal physiology: biomineralization, osmoregulation and membrane transport; control of calcification in Crustacea 

• Dr. Richard Satterlie: Control of locomotion, and locomotory speed, in marine invertebrates, using the pteropod mollusk, Clione limacina, and a variety of hydrozoan, scyphozoan and cubozoan jellyfish as primary model systems.  Neural control of behavior and the integrative actions of the nervous system.

• Dr. Fred Scharf: ecology and population dynamics of marine and estuarine fishes

• Dr. Tom Shafer: environmental control of gene expression; developmental biochemistry and molecular biology; biomineralization; osmoregulation.

• Dr. Ronald K. Sizemore: marine bacteriology and plasmid distribution and function in marine bacteria 

• Dr. Bongkeun Song: Functional dynamics in microbial communities involved in carbon and nitrogen cycle in marine environments, including denitrifying bacteria and marine phytoplankton.  Development of genetic markers to monitor biomediation of toxic metals in contaminated sites.

• Dr. Amanda Southwood: animal physiology

• Dr. Alina M. Szmant: physiology of corals and other invertebrates, nutrient dynamics in coastal tropical/subtropical systems 

• Dr. Alison Taylor: cell biology of marine protists, including diatoms and coccolithophores. Current research includes: characterization of phytoplankton membrane transporters, transport processes that underpin cellular homeostasis in calcifying coccolithophores, diatom membrane physiology and signaling, membrane physiology of harmful algae and marine biotoxins, cellular physiology of foraminifera.

• Dr. Carmelo Tomas: marine phytoplankton and harmful algal blooms (HABs)

• Dr. W. David Webster: nesting ecology of loggerhead sea turtles; evolution, systematics, and ecology of New World mammals (rats, bats, and shrews)

• Dr. Ami E. Wilbur: population genetics of marine shellfish; bivalve aquaculture 

Affiliated faculty: 

• Dr. D. Wilson Freshwater: molecular systematics and evolution of marine organisms, especially marine plants and algae; marine floristic studies including the marine algal floras of North Carolina and Panama

• Dr. Michael A. Mallin: meteorological and physical factors that effect phytoplankton and zooplankton ecology; general water quality issues 

• Dr. Steve W. Ross: recruitment dynamics and habitats of juvenile estuarine fishes; structure of deep-sea slope fish and NC offshore reef fish communities 

• Dr. Wade Watanabe: marine finfish aquaculture (flounder, snapper, grouper, black sea bass); environmental and hormonal manipulation to control reproduction; egg, larval and juvenile quality; development of cost-effective, sustainable growout technologies.

Department of Biological Sciences Home Page

last updated 02/11/08