Research:

Ecosystems & Habitats

Current projects (2008-2010)

• Integrating Invasion Ecology and Dune Geomorphology to Project Coastal Vulnerability in Oregon and Washington
• Effects of Hypoxia on Ichthyoplankton and Micronekton Communities off the Oregon Coast
• Fishermen in Ocean Observing Research

Integrating Invasion Ecology and Dune Geomorphology to Project Coastal Vulnerability in Oregon and Washington (R/CNH-15)

Sally Hacker
Department of Zoology
Oregon State University
3029 Cordley Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-3707
Fax: 541-737-0501
E-mail: hackers@science.oregonstate.edu

Over the past century, coastal dunes in the Pacific Northwest have changed dramatically due to the intentional planting of two nonnative beach grass species, Ammophila arenaria (European) and A. breviligulata (American). These grasses have created large continuous dunes, which stabilize sand and promote wetland and forest expansion. Long-term data show that European beach grass has rapidly displaced the American beach grass throughout Washington and northern Oregon, but that American beach grass still dominates in southern Oregon. Because European beach grass accumulates less sand than American beach grass, its presence could have important implications for dune structure. The long, uninterrupted nature of the dunes suggests they may provide protection to coastal communities from storm waves and the rare but catastrophic threat of tsunamis. Although the protection may limit loss of human life and economic damage, surprisingly little is known about the relationships between the two beach grass invasions, dune structure, and coastal vulnerability.

Dr. Hacker's team aims to improve our understanding of the role of dunes created and maintained by invasive grasses as protection from coastal waves. Moreover, they hope to use this information to forecast future vulnerabilities, such as dune erosion and tidal inundation, under future climate change and invasion scenarios.

Effects of Hypoxia on Ichthyoplankton and Micronekton Communities off the Oregon Coast (R/ECO-23)

Lorenzo Ciannelli
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences
Oregon State University
104 COAS Administration Bldg.
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-3142
Fax: 541-737-2064
E-mail: lciannelli@coas.oregonstate.edu

This project aims to understand how hypoxia, known commonly as dead zones, affects fish in early life stages. Dr. Ciannelli's team will research the effect of coastal hypoxia on fish distribution, feeding, growth, and reaction behavior. The study will observe three fish communities: plankton, pelagic, and benthic. For each, the team will investigate patterns in vertical and horizontal distribution, diet, feeding level and body condition, and escape response, in relation to oxygen concentration as well as other environmental variables such as depth, temperature, salinity, and sediment type. The research effort will be focused on the most common and abundant taxa of fish early-life stages (for example, English, butter, and slender sole; sanddab; rockfishes; anchovies; and sculpins), representative of the range of life-history characteristics of the majority of fish species found off the Oregon coast.

This will be the first study to explicitly address the impact of nearshore hypoxia on larval and juvenile fish-stages off the U.S. west coast. Ciannelli hopes the study will increase our understanding of how hypoxic events affect coastal renewable resources, which in turn may lead to improved decision-making among resource managers, government agencies, and coastal communities.

Fishermen in Ocean Observing Research (R/HBT-11)

R. Kipp Shearman
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences
Oregon State University
104 COAS Administration Bldg.
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-1866
Fax: 541-737-2064
E-mail: shearman@coas.oregonstate.edu

Commercial crab fishermen spend many days at sea each year. Their crab pots, each clearly positioned using GPS, cover much of Oregon's coastal ocean from the near shore to the shelf break. Incorporating ocean observation gathered from instruments attached to crab pots has the potential to substantially increase the data available to the Oregon Coastal Ocean Observing System (OrCOOS) program and ocean researchers.

This project will investigate the use of environmental sensors on crab pots for ocean research and monitoring applications, to determine whether variability in crab catches can be related to observed variations in ocean conditions such as water temperature, stratification, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. The project will also help determine whether sensors deployed on crab pots can provide fine-scale oceanographic data that can be integrated formally into the OrCOOS program.

In collaboration with commercial crab fishermen, Dr. Shearman's team will make observations of near-surface and bottom temperatures throughout Oregon's coastal ocean. Approximately 60 crab pots, deployed by commercial fishermen, will be equipped with temperature sensors.

Spatial coverage will be determined by the distribution of crab pots and fishing strategies, but in general, observations will cover from the near shore (5 m depth) to the shelf break (200 m depth) and on the order of hundreds of kilometers along shore. Several sensors are currently deployed by crab fishermen from Newport, Oregon. Dr. Shearman's team will expand the participation to other ports along the Oregon coast, such as Coos Bay, Port Orford, Garibaldi, and Astoria. The temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen data will be compared with supplementary data sources, such as surface wind stress, sea surface temperature, surface heat flux products, and nearby current measurements, to better understand physical processes influencing the coastal ocean. The combined environmental and crab harvest data will be used to examine the relationships between the crab fishery and the shelf environment.

Former Sea Grant researchers: What they're doing now

• Dan Bottom (Salmon River Estuary Project)
• Resilience emerges as key concept for salmon, human communities (2007)
• Salmon and Estuaries: Vital linkages learned at Salmon River (2007) [.pdf] [HTML]
• Katherine Field (Genetic markers for fecal coliform pollution): Genetically pinpointing pollution sources Oregon's Agricultural Progress, Fall 2006).

Next topic: Coastal Hazards