Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
School of Biological Sciences

Causes and consequences of changes in marine biodiversity

Marine Biodiversity

Visiting Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (2015)
Scientist in Residency Fellow, Sitka Sound Science Center, Alaska (2014)

Northeastern University (Associate and Assistant Professor, 2007-2013)
Bodega Marine Laboratory (Postdoctoral Scholar, 2005-2007)
University of California Davis (Postdoctoral Scholar, 2004-2005)
University of Canterbury (Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher, 2003-2004)
Oregon State University (Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2003)

The Bracken lab group uses an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate the linkages between marine communities and ecosystems. We draw from a variety of ecological sub-disciplines, including community ecology, physiological ecology, and ecosystem ecology. Current projects in the lab address two related concepts in marine ecology that merge community and ecosystem perspectives: (1) evaluating the causes and consequences of biodiversity change and (2) quantifying the relative importance of consumers’ top-down and bottom-up effects on the growth and diversity of primary producers.

(selected, from past 10 years; * indicates undergraduate co-author; † indicates grad student co-author)

Bracken, M.E.S., G. Bernatchez, A.J. Badten*, & R.A. Chatfield*. 2024. Unraveling the multiple facilitative effects of consumers on marine primary producers. Ecology 105: e4439. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4439

Lees, L.E.†, S.N.Z. Jordan*, & M.E.S. Bracken. 2024. Kelps may compensate for low nitrate availability by using regenerated forms of nitrogen, including urea and ammonium. Journal of Phycology 60:768-777. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpy.13459

Sorte, C.J.B., K.J. Kroeker, L.P. Miller, & M.E.S. Bracken. 2023. Biological modification of coastal pH depends on community composition and time. Ecology 104: e4113. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.4113

Bracken, M.E.S., L.P. Miller, S.E. Mastroni, S.M. Lira*, & C.J.B. Sorte. 2022. Accounting for variation in temperature and oxygen availability when quantifying marine ecosystem metabolism. Scientific Reports 12: 825. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-04685-8

Elsberry, L.A.† and M.E.S. Bracken. 2021. Functional redundancy buffers mobile invertebrates against the loss of foundation species on rocky shores. Marine Ecology Progress Series 673: 43-54. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13795

Roberts, E.A.† and M.E.S. Bracken. 2021. Intertidal canopy-forming seaweeds modulate understory seaweed photoprotective compounds. Journal of Phycology 57: 645-654. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jpy.13118

Bracken, M.E.S. 2020. Complementarity in spatial subsidies of carbon associated with resource partitioning along multiple niche axes. Oecologia 193:425-436. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-020-04691-z

Bedgood, S.A.†, S.E. Mastroni, and M.E.S. Bracken. 2020. Flexibility of nutritional strategies within a mutualism: food availability affects algal symbiont productivity in two congeneric sea anemone species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287: 20201860. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.1860

Bracken, M.E.S., J.M. Oates*, A.J. Badten*, and G. Bernatchez. 2018. Predicting rates of consumer-mediated nutrient cycling by a diverse herbivore assemblage. Marine Biology 165:165. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-018-3422-z

Bracken, M.E.S., J.G. Douglass, V. Perini† , and G.C. Trussell. 2017. Spatial scale mediates the effects of biodiversity on marine primary producers. Ecology 98:1434-1443. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.1812/full

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6027

Last updated
02/25/2025