"Environmental Degradation and Food Web Responses in Coastal Ecosystems"
Ryan Woodland
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science - Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
October 31, 2025, at 12:00 PM
Cannon 202 + via Zoom in Robinson 202
Hosted by Aaron Carlisle
Abstract: The exchange of energy, nutrients and biomass among unique pathways within ecosystems (i.e., trophic pathways) plays a central role in the function of many coastal seascapes. While there is a wealth of evidence that biogeochemistry and biotic community composition can change markedly under hypoxic conditions, there are far fewer studies documenting functional changes in the relative contribution of trophic pathways to consumers in response to hypoxia. Further, there are certain conditions under which hypoxia typically does not form and there remain questions about if, and to what extent, measurable changes in food web structure will occur under these conditions. In this seminar, I will explore three case studies in which we evaluated evidence of trophic changes in response to coastal hypoxia in shallow water systems and in a deep-water, oligotrophic system. Using indicator species ranging from epibenthic mysids to mesopelagic sharks, our findings point to increasingly pelagic-dominated food webs in all instances although the mechanism appears to differ among the different ecosystem types.
Zoom Recording ID: 95312472245
UUID: U7uEDWEbQ5GrF3TZ8b4Urw==
Meeting Time: 2025-10-31 03:43:56pmGMT