Together with my students, I am working on two major grant-supported research projects. My major research projects, which I’ve been working on since 1994-95, involve marine life throughout Southern California and particularly on Orange County shores. We’ve been interested in rocky shore plants and animals and how human activities have affected the abundances of these organisms. A subset of this problem is how can we interpret observed changes that result from natural factors, such as changes in ocean climate. This work is very complex because we are in a unique region with regard to ocean conditions, and these ocean conditions have been changing. At the same time, the region has become increasingly urbanized and affected by human activities. The challenge has been to identify how human activities – particularly, on-site shore activities – have affected the structure and organization of rocky intertidal communities.

My research mostly has been funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, through the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program. A second major supporter of my research has been the U.S. Department of Interior, through the Minerals Management Service. The Pacific Region of the service has done a very nice job of recognizing the importance of monitoring and following changes that are occurring in marine populations and communities, particularly adjacent to oil exploration. They have actively supported a series of studies to advance our under- standing of how to monitor shore organisms, how to detect change and how to look at relationships between human activities, natural ocean conditions and changing marine populations and communities. We also have been interacting strongly with officials at the County of Orange, the Ocean Institute at Dana Point, the state parks and the city of Newport Beach in efforts to identify how to improve coastal management, particularly how to best manage heavily used intertidal areas.

Most of the Orange County shoreline is placed inside what are called California Marine Life Refuges. This means there is some level of shore protection, particularly protection against collecting invertebrates and seaweeds. My sea grant research, however, showed that in reality, these shores are not very well protected. This work led to my involvement in ongoing controversial efforts to design and improve the protection of marine ecosystems. In this capacity, I have been serving as a member of science panels for the state of California and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Our task has been to develop science-based designs for improving marine protection throughout the state and in sanctuary waters.

This project involves non-native seaweeds that have invaded our coast, particularly the “killer algae” Caulerpa taxifolia. This is a green feather-like seaweed native to Australia. It is very popular in the saltwater aquarium trade because the plant is hardy and attractive; it is one of the few seaweeds that can withstand conditions in salt-water aquariums. The species was introduced into the Mediterranean Sea a few years ago. When that occurred it spread rapidly and created large changes in Mediterranean bottom communities. In summer 2000, it appeared in Agua Hedionda in San Diego and in Huntington Harbor. This was very disturbing and set off an effort to eradicate this species from these two sites. That eradication effort has been quite costly.

Our studies fall into two categories. The first is that we (researcher Susan Frisch and I) wanted to identify the availability of Caulerpa taxifolia and other Caulerpa species in retail saltwater aquarium stores. I think we identified 16 different Caulerpa taxa being sold in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Some of these species are known to be potential invaders. Our work and findings were used to help support a bill that was passed in the Legislature in 2001 that banned the sale and possession in California of several of these species. We’re now working with the Department of Fish and Game. They have brought us confiscated samples of Caulerpa for identification and we are working with their wardens to improve their understanding of Caulerpa and other aquarium seaweeds.

The second part of our work involves ecological and physiological lab experiments to determine the degree to which other Caulerpa species can tolerate local ocean conditions – information needed to determine whether a given species is indeed a threat to invade Southern California waters.