2011 Distinguished Scientist Seminar Semester in Environmental Science The Ecosystems Center, MBL

SCOTT C. DONEY Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

"Rising Atmospheric CO2 and Ocean Acidification"

September 16, 3:00 PM Speck Auditorium, Rowe Building, MBL

Scott Doney’s science interests broadly span oceano-graphy, climate and biogeochemistry – but he has focused most strongly on the global carbon cycle and the response of ocean ecology to natural and human-

driven climate change. During the past century, humans have increased the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere by >30% as a result of fossil fuel burning. One of the less appreciated unintended consequences of this anthropogenic increase in carbon dioxide emissions is ocean acidification. Scott Doney's research has helped reveal the extent and potential impacts of this fundamental change to the chemistry of the oceans. His work addresses how these changes may feedback to either damp or accelerate climate trends.

Dr. Doney is currently Senior Scientist in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He graduated with a B.A. (magna cum laude) in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, in 1986 and a Ph.D. in chemical ocean-ography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography in 1991. He was a postdoctoral fellow and later a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, before returning to Woods Hole in 2002. He was awarded the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union in 2000, named an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow in 2004, and awarded the WHOI W. Van Alan Clark Senior Chair in 2007, and a fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science in 2010.

He currently the chair of the U.S. Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program, which was formed as a joint effort of jointly by NSF, NASA and NOAA in 2006 to identify research priorities and promote, plan, and coordinate collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities in ocean biogeochemistry. He serves on a number of other scientific advisory panels related to climate change and the carbon cycle. The Obama administration recently appointed him to the position of Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Suggested Readings:

Doney, S. C., V. J. Fabry, R. A. Feely, and J. A. Kleypas. 2008. Ocean acidification: The other CO2 Problem. Annual Review of Marine Science 1:169-92.

Doney, S.C. 2010. The growing human footprint on coastal and open-ocean biogeochemistry. Science 328: 1512-1516.

2011 Distinguished Scientist Seminar Semester in Environmental Science The Ecosystems Center, MBL

EDWARD F. DeLONG Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Biological Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Exploring Marine Microbial Diversity, from Genomes to Biomes"

September 30, 3:00 PM - Speck Auditorium, Rowe Building, MBL Ed DeLong is considered a pioneer in the field of metagenomics. Metagenomics applies the latest molecular methods of cell biologists and biochemists to understand the genetic composition and biogeochemical capabilities of natural communities of microorganisms present in ecosystems. This is important because >99% of microorganisms present in nature cannot be isolated and characterized in pure culture. Yet these microbes, through their metabolic activities, are the primary engines of Earth’s biosphere, driving the biogeochemical processes responsible for regulating the composition of the atmosphere, oceans and lakes as well as the fertility of soils. Determining the presence, diversity, and abundance of microorganisms and their genes in the environment is essential to understanding the controls on biogeochemical functions responsible for cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements in ecosystems. Dr. DeLong is perhaps best known for his discovery in 2000 that oceanic bacteria can make use of a rhodopsin protein to convert sunlight into biochemical energy, revealing a previously unknown component in the Earth’s carbon and energy cycles.

He holds the Morton and Claire Goulder Professorship in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Biological Engineering, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his A. S. in biology from Santa Rosa Junior College, his B. S. in bacteriology from the University of California, Davis, and his Ph.D. in marine biology from Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1986. Before joining MIT in 2004, he held positions at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. DeLong is an elected fellow of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the American Society for Microbiology D. C. White Research and Mentoring Award.

Suggested Readings:

DeLong, E. F. 2009. The microbial ocean from genomes to biomes. Nature 459:200-206.

DeLong E. F. and O. Béjà. 2010. The light-driven proton pump proteorhodopsin enhances bacterial survival during tough times. PLoS Biol 8(4): e1000359.

2011 Distinguished Scientist Seminar Semester in Environmental Science The Ecosystems Center, MBL

BRIDGET EMMETT Deputy Director, Biogeochemistry Programme Centre for Ecology and Hydrology-Bangor, Wales

How Are Soils Changing and What Are the Impacts for Ecosystem Services?

October 14, 3 PM Redfield Auditorium, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Originally a botanist, Dr. Emmett’s interests include plant-soil interactions, biogeochemistry and ecosystem experimentation. Her research focuses on the impacts of nitrogen pollution, largely from acid-rain, in forested and non-forest ecosystems. She also studies how land-use change alters biogeochemical cycling. At the landscape scale, her work explores the links between soil characteristics and surface water quality.

Her current projects include studies of soil nitrogen transformations in semi-natural soils, carbon and nitrogen sequestration in forest systems, the consequences of and interactions between nitrogen deposition and grazing pressure on upland grasslands, and the effects of climate change in heathlands. She is a principle investigator of the United Kingdom’s National Environment Research Council (NERC) funded GANE (Global Nitrogen Enrichment) roof project, a ground-braking experimental study in which retractable roofs placed over soil warming plots in a grassland are used to investigate the interaction between climate change and reductions in N and S deposition (http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/7545/). She is also exploring how various land management strategies affect soils and hydrology (Pontbren study), and modeling the effects of nitrogen and acidity on plant species cover.

She received her B.Sc. (first class honors) in plant science from University of Aberdeen in 1985 and her Ph.D. in soil ecology from the University of Exeter in 1990. From 1994-2001, she was research scientist at the Center for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and served as director of CEH from 2001-4. She is currently Deputy Director of the Biogeochemistry Programme, Head of Site and Section Head at CEH. She holds an honorary professorship at Bangor University, is a fellow of the Society of Biology.

Suggested Readings: TBA

2011 Distinguished Scientist Seminar Semester in Environmental Science The Ecosystems Center, MBL

KEVIN S. McCANN Associate Professor, University of Guelph

Lake Food Web Expansion and Contraction: Nature Flexes its Muscles

October 28, 3 PM Speck Auditorium, Rowe Building, MBL

Kevin McCann's work focuses on the role biodiversity plays in structuring and governing ecological systems. He employs a range of approaches (theory, lab and field) and although his focus is on aquatic systems (currently lakes and seagrass food webs), his approach is quite broad and includes collaborative work with soil, forest and desert food web ecologists.

His research seeks to address three major scientific questions:

What is the structure that underlies the biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems?

Does this structure influence the stability, function and maintenance of diverse assemblages of species?

Does this structure influence the way we manage biological resources?

Developing the answers to these important questions should help policy makers and society as a whole to interpret how large-scale human perturbations alter the biodiversity and function of ecological systems, as well as how to manage ecosystems to optimize biological resources.

Dr. McCann graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in mathematics, then received his Ph.D. in 1996 at Guelph, pursuing his interest in applying math to ecology. After postdoctoral research at University of California, Davis, Dr. McCann took a faculty position at McGill University, then in 2003, returned to Guelph. Dr. McCann holds a Canadian Research Chair in Biodiversity, and has received an Accelerator Award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and a Premiers Research Excellence Award. Suggested Readings:

McCann, K. 2007. Protecting biostructure. Nature 446:29

McCann, K.S. and N. Rooney. 2009. The more food webs change, the more they stay the same. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2009 364, 1789-1801, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0273

2011 Distinguished Scientist Seminar Semester in Environmental Science The Ecosystems Center, MBL

ROBERT TWILLEY Vice President for Research, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Risks, Reorganization and Restoration of Deltaic Coasts as Landscapes on the Edge: Perspectives from the Mississippi River Delta

November 18, 3:00 PM Speck Auditorium, Rowe Building, MBL The Gulf Coast has experienced numerous environmental assaults in recent years — the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, pollution from the BP Horizon oil spill and, more generally, the degradation of wetlands due to river channelization and eutrophication. The Gulf of Mexico is not unique, however, wetlands around the globe face multiple environmental challenges – from sea level rise, over enrichment with nutrients and filling and dredging. Dr. Twilley's research has focused on coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico, throughout Latin America, and in the Pacific Islands. He has published more than 100 articles including several documents on global climate change, coastal restoration, and ecosystem ecology. He has been involved in developing ecosystem models coupled with engineering designs to forecast the rehabilitation of coastal and wetland ecosystems. Dr. Twilley is currently professor in the department of oceanography and coastal science and also Vice President of Research at University of Louisiana, Lafayette. In that capacity, he oversees the University of Louisiana Research Park that includes federal, state and private institutions focused on restoration and protection of coastal Louisiana. He has served as Director of the Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute at Louisiana State University, 2004 to 2007, was founding Director of the Center for Ecology and Environmental Technology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette 1999 to 2004, and has served on numerous state and federal scientific advisory panels. He received his B.S. and M. S. in biology from East Carolina University, and his Ph.D. in plant ecology/systems ecology from the University of Florida in 1982. Dr. Twilley was a Postdoctoral scientist in coastal oceanography at the University of Maryland, Horn Point Laboratory from 1982-1985. Suggested Readings:

Paola, C., R. R. Twilley, D. A. Edmonds, K. Wonsuck, D. Mohrig, G. Parker, E. Viparelli, and V. R. Voller. 2011.Natural Processes in Delta Restoration: Application to the Mississippi Delta. Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 3:67–91

Twilley, R.R., and V. Rivera-Monroy. 2009. Sediment and Nutrient Tradeoffs in Restoring Mississippi River Delta: Restoration vs. Eutrophication. Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education 141:39-44.