Pamela Reynolds

I am a marine ecologist, naturalist, and postdoctoral researcher diving into the causes and consequencesof biodiversity. I seek to inform scientific theory and ecological restoration,to enhance public appreciation and appropriate utilization of the naturalworld. Read on for specifics about my research program.

How do pollution andchanges to coastal food webs affect marine communities?

Working with the ZosteraExperimental Network (ZEN), a global collaborative network of scientists, weaim to quantify how bottom-up (resources) and top-down (grazing) forcinginteractively affect biomass, production, and trophic transfer in eelgrass(Zostera marina) beds along natural gradients in biodiversity and environmentalgradients. The world’s most widespread marine plant, eelgrass provides manyecologic and economic services from nursery habitat for fishes and crustaceans,to sediment stabilization and carbon sequestration. In 2011 we completedidentical factorial experiments manipulating grazers and nutrient loading at eachof 15 sites spanning the sub-global range of eelgrass, across concomitantgradients in community diversity and abiotic forcing variables. We found thatthe biodiversity of small herbivores (mesograzers) was just as important as, ifnot more than, large environmental gradients and may serve to buffer theseimportant ecosystems. This work continued into 2012, and was re-funded in 2013to encompass 50 sites worldwide, further exploring the role of functionaldiversity, habitat complexity, and predation in this critical coastal habitat.As the postdoc and project manager, I establish experimental protocols,coordinate the dynamic international research team, analyze and synthesizeresults, and engage in undergraduate education and outreach. ZEN is supportedby the US National Science Foundation via a grant to Emmett Duffy. Learn moreabout ZEN and view project photos and videos at zenscience.org.

Boyer, K., S.Kirikopolis, P.L. Reynolds, J.E. Duffy. Interactive effects of invertebrate andbird herbivory on eelgrass in San Francisco Bay. In prep.

Duffy, J.E., P.L.Reynolds, C. Boström, J. Coyer, M. Cusson, J. Douglass, J. Eklöf, A. Engelen,K. Eriksson, S. Fredriksen, Lars Gamfeldt, C. Gustafsson, Masakazu Hori, KevinHovel, K. Iken, J. Lefcheck, P. Moksnes, M. Nakaoka, M. O’Connor, J. Olsen,J.P. Richardson, J. Ruesink, E. Sotka, J. Stachowicz, J. Thormar, and M.Whalen. 2015. Gradients in biodiversity and eutrophication: a collaborativefield expe