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., 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.

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.

Bracken, M.E.S., R.E. Dolecal, and J.D. Long. 2014. Community context mediates the top-down versus bottom-up effects of grazers on rocky shores. Ecology 95: 1458-1463.

Bracken, M.E.S. and S.L. Williams. 2013. Realistic changes in seaweed biodiversity affect multiple ecosystem functions on a rocky shore. Ecology 94: 1944-1954.

Bracken, M.E.S. and N.H.N. Low*. 2012. Realistic losses of rare species disproportionately impact higher trophic levels. Ecology Letters 15: 461-467.

Harpole, W.S., J.T. Ngai, E.E. Cleland, E.W. Seabloom, E.T. Borer, M.E.S. Bracken, J.J. Elser, D.S. Gruner, H. Hillebrand, J.B. Shurin, and J.E. Smith. 2011. Nutrient co-limitation of primary producer communities. Ecology Letters 9: 852-862.

Bracken, M.E.S., E. Jones, and S.L. Williams. 2011. Herbivores, tidal elevation, and species richness simultaneously mediate nitrate uptake by seaweed assemblages. Ecology 92: 1083-1093.

Hillebrand, H., E.T. Borer, M.E.S. Bracken, B.J. Cardinale, J. Cebrian, E.E. Cleland, J.J. Elser, D.S. Gruner, W.S. Harpole, J.T. Ngai, S. Sandin, E.W. Seabloom, J.B. Shurin, J.E. Smith, and M.D. Smith. 2009. Herbivore metabolism and stoichiometry each constrain herbivory at different organizational scales across ecosystems. Ecology Letters 12: 516-527.

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

Last updated
07/01/2019