Oregon Sea Grant

With funding from Oregon Sea Grant, Fiona Tomas Nash is studying how nutrients from agricultural runoff and oceanic upwelling impact the growth of light-blocking algae on eelgrass in bays along the Oregon coast. She’s also studying how tiny herbivores such as sea slugs and isopods might prevent eelgrass from being snuffed out by this algae. Additionally, she is investigating whether these herbivores prefer to eat the native or invasive eelgrass in the bays. Tomas Nash is a marine ecologist in the department of fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University.