Seminar: Dr. F. Joel Fodrie, UNC-CH

UNC-CH’s Department of Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences is proud to host a guest seminar by Dr. F. Joel Fodrie. This event is scheduled for Friday, February 4th, at 12:30 pm. This seminar is in person and will be broadcasted live online via Zoom (Meeting ID: 946 8266 2098, Password: EMES22).

Title: Science you can eat: the role of landscape- and basin-scale drivers in estuarine fisheries ecology

Abstract: Relationships between fauna and their habitats can be explored at micro (< 1 m) through global scales. At landscape (10s – 1000s m) and regional (< 10000s m) scales, the anticipated roles of habitat amount and configuration in regulating community ecology often underpin the primary rationale for applied conservation approaches designed to maintain faunal diversity and productivity. As human activities continue to alter habitat mosaics, the need to document quantitative relationships between fauna and habitat at large-and-difficult-to-study scales only intensifies. This is true in both terrestrial and marine systems – and particularly in estuaries where seagrass, saltmarsh, mangrove, mudflat, and oyster reef habitat mosaics are changing rapidly due to both natural and anthropogenic drivers. The major goals of this talk are to familiarize EMES colleagues with the habitats and fauna that the estuarine ecology group at UNC-IMS routinely studies. Using seagrass meadows as a focal system, the role of habitat amount, orientation (e.g., contiguous or patchy), and proximity to alternative biogenic habitats in determining the diversity, abundance, composition, and food-web interactions of fishes will also be explored. Particular attention will be given to the putative role of habitat “edge effects” in driving the ecology of seagrass meadows. Finally, patterns and processes within NC seagrass meadows will be placed in a biogeographic context using the findings of a global network of seagrass researchers focused on biodiversity and predator-prey dynamics. This global perspective will help highlight the unique estuarine resources that drive coastal ecosystems and communities in our state.