Research of our current graduate students & fellows:

Darryl's CV >>

Darryl Hondorp, Post-doctoral Researcher  My research is focused on understanding the effects of low dissolved oxygen (hypoxia) on estuarine communities.  In one project, I am examining global trends in fisheries and water quality to test if patterns in landings composition are consistent with expected hypoxia-related shifts towards landings dominated by pelagic and lower trophic level speices.  A second project focuses on the disease dynamics of eastern oyster exposed to diel-cycling hypoxia (early morning periods of low dissolved oxygen that occur when nighttime biological oxygen demand exceeds photosynthetic oxygen production the previous day).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kristen Rathjen, M.S. student at UMD-College Park I am investigating physiological responses of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi to ultraviolet radiation.  Primarily, I am looking at how exposure to ultraviolet radiation affects the fecundity of M. leidyi in the Chesapeake Bay as well as at Fort Pierce, Florida and Carrie Bow Caye, Belize.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jennafer Malek, M.S. Student at UMD-College Park I am interested in the relationship between the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, and the oyster parasite, Perkinsus marinus which causes Dermo disease. My research will compare acquisition and progression of P. marinus between intertidally and subtidally located C. virginica at different sites around Chesapeake Bay. I also hope to apply my results to how effects of climate change, especially increasing water temperature, may influence C. virginica in the future in terms of disease and tidal habitat.

 

 

 

 

 

Other Current Projects:

A risk-based decision support system for managing coastal systems exposed to multiple stressors. Denise L. Breitburg, Steven M. Bartell, Donald Weller, Thomas Jordan, Gerhardt Riedel, Wu-Seng Lung, Dennis King and Lisa Wainger. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program. 

Predicting effects of changing oyster abundance on managed finfish and their prey through retrospective analysis and ecosystem modeling. EPA Chesapeake Bay Program. Denise L. Breitburg, Roger Newell, W. Michael Kemp, Mark Luckenbach, and James Hagy. US-EPA/Chesapeake Bay Program.

The role of small inlets as potential reactor vessels for gelatinous zooplankton in Chesapeake Bay . Denise L. Breitburg. Maryland Sea Grant.

The role of small inlets as potential reactor vessels for gelatinous zooplankton: comparing sites with intraguild predation and competitive food webs. Denise Breitburg. Smithsonian Institution Marine Science Network.

Food-web monitoring for adaptive multi-species management. US-EPA/Chesapeake Bay Program. Richard Lacouture, Denise Breitburg, Stella Sellner, William Burton and Kris Sillet.

Quantifying under spatially realistic conditions the response of Crassostrea ariakensis larvae to environmental change. Roger Newell, Vic Kennedy, Don Meritt, Joan Manuel, Mark Luckenbach , Denise Breitburg, and Mario Tamburi. Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Competitive interactions between Eastern and suminoe oyster from diploid larval settlement through to development of reefs and the assessment of the habitat value of such reefs. Roger Newell, Vic Kennedy, Mark Luckenbach , and Denise Breitburg. Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Potomac River Fisheries Commission.