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Steven G. Morgan

Associate Professor

UC Davis Department of Environmental Science & Policy and
Bodega Marine Laboratory
PO Box 247
Bodega Bay, CA 94923

Ph.D. 1986 Zoology
M.S. 1977 Biological Oceanography
B.S. 1974 Biology

OFFICE PHONE: (707)875-1920

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Reproductive and larval ecology of marine invertebrates and fishes; bio-physical transport processes along coastlines; population and community ecology; behavioral ecology; evolution of life histories; conservation biology

PEEIR OBJECTIVES:
The overarching goal is to develop a suite of ecological indicators to rapidly assess the integrity and sustainability of wetlands in West Coast estuaries. We are developing an integrated suite of indicators to evaluate impacts of stressors across levels of biological organization, trophic structure, life stage, time and space.

Four approaches are being used by teams of investigators at UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara to determine the impacts of stress from nutrient loading, pollution and exotic species on wetlands from northern California to Mexico:

1) physiochemical monitoring;
2) biological monitoring;
3) toxicity biomarkers; and
4) statistical analysis and modeling.

Research is being conducted in concert with the BBC team to monitor the physicochemical environment, the BRCC team to conduct toxicity biomarkers, the RSC team to ground-truth measurements taken at the ecosystem level, and ongoing monitoring programs. Indicators are being developed by contrasting conditions at previously characterized reference and impacted sites following contamination gradients where available.

Study sites are located in Tomales Bay, San Francisco Bay, Morro Bay, Carpinteria Marsh and Mugu Lagoon. Additional sites are planned for later years. Sites will span several biogeographic boundaries and the estuaries vary morphologically, which provides a good test of the reliability of the indicators to assess wetland integrity across diverse environments.

We are studying the full spectrum of wetland communities, including microbes, plants, invertebrates, fishes, birds and parasites. We will take the indicators that we have used successfully in the first two years and determine how they perform at new sites during the second two years. Sophisticated statistics and modeling will be used to determine whether our indicators responded significantly to measured stressors, the ability of indicators to distinguish between reference and impacted sites, and the effects of contaminants on individuals, populations and ecosystems across space and time.

HIGHLIGHTS OF RESEARCH TO DATE:
Delivery of ecological indicators of wetland integrity and sustainability:
· Quantitative assessments of agricultural and urban contaminants for every study site
· Quantitative estimates of nitrogen sources in the water column and of nitrogen and carbon in tissues of selected taxa
· Sensitive indicators of contamination in microbial communities using fingerprints
· Sensitive indicators of contamination of seagrass and marsh plants using physiological and integrative measures
· Sensitive indicators of contamination of wetland invertebrates, fishes, birds and parasites
· Sensitive indicators of contamination for individual fishes and invertebrates that integrate measures of growth, reproduction, development and behavior
· Indicator of stress based on the abundance and diversity of exotic species
· Dynamic mass-energy budget models that link contaminant effects with changes in growth and reproduction of individual organisms
· Population models that project known contaminant effects on individuals to populations
· Ecosystem models that link contaminant effects with changes in carbon and nitrogen flow
· Suites of indicators that can be incorporated into EMAP style monitoring programs
· A prioritized list of the most sensitive indicators that will guide monitoring and database development for coastal area managers concerned with monitoring estuarine change
· A list of potential surrogate indicators that provide an early warning of changes in threatened estuarine vertebrates for which direct monitoring may not be possible
· An indicator list to assess relative impacts of stressor types that can be used by local and state agencies to prioritize cleanup activities.