Those of you who are fans of 80’s fast food commercials must be laughing hilariously right now…..but I digress. We checked this reef just off Eastern Shores yesterday and it is completely covered in algae, less than a year since construction. This will be a strength of our multi-site design, being able to identify specific factors that control plant/algae growth across sites. This algal growth sure suggests a lot of nutrients streaming off of the Eastern Shores peninsula.
Where’s the Reef?
About the Author: Craig Layman
My lab’s interdisciplinary pursuits provide for a multi-faceted understanding of environmental change in the coastal realm. We are ecologists, asking questions that span population, community, ecosystem and evolutionary sub-disciplines. We often use a food web based perspective, exploring top-down (e.g., predation) and bottom-up (e.g., nutrient excretion) mechanisms by which animals affect ecosystem processes. All of our efforts are framed within a broader outreach framework, directly integrating science and education, using approaches such as this website.
Nice view! Looks like in aquarium!