For prospective students
Bruce Menge is the Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology and Distinguished Professor of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University. He maintains a large and very active research group, including 5 to 7 graduate students. Jane Lubchenco is the University Distinguished Professor of Marine Science, but no longer takes graduate students. This webpage will serve to tell you something about Bruce’s research and that of his students, the success his graduates have enjoyed, and the Department's admission policies and procedures.
Bruce's work
Bruce’s research aims at understanding community and ecosystem dynamics, using comparative-experimental approaches in testing models of community regulation with a major focus on the impacts of climate change. An overarching theme is meta-ecosystem dynamics, defined as the study of sets of ecosystems connected by spatial flows of energy, materials and organisms across ecosystem boundaries in a changing world. A second focus is on the ecological impacts of ocean acidification, with laboratory and field studies of OA impacts within the context of the PISCO consortium. And starting in 2013, we also focus on sea star wasting disease (SSWD) and its community and ecosystem consequences. Embedded within and extending beyond the focus on OA and SSWD are ongoing interests in top-down bottom-up control of communities, linkages between adjacent ecosystems, food web dynamics, context-dependency of community and ecosystem dynamics, stability and resilience of ecosystems, supply-side ecology, ecological role of larval transport, and how these are influenced by climate change. Units of study range from the local, population and community scale, to large, regional, inter-hemispheric and global scales. Current research focuses mostly on the northern California Current Large Marine Ecosystem, but with collaborators, we also do research in the central and southern California Current LME, Humboldt Current LME, the New Zealand Shelf LME, and the Northeast US Continental Shelf LME (i.e., New England). Studies are strongly collaborative, with expertise within a larger circle of colleagues ranging from the molecular to ecosystem levels. The lab focuses on basic research that produces understanding relevant to human issues.
Lab Research projects
1. Meta-ecosystem Dynamics in Nearshore Ecosystems - What are the relative impacts of local-scale, meso-scale and larger-scale processes in structuring the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem and LMEs in general? We study the influence of upwelling, phytoplankton productivity, particulates and organic matter, recruitment, larval abundance, biotic interactions, shore topography and environmental stress on rocky intertidal and subtidal community structure and organization.
2. Marine Community Biodiversity - What shapes the patterns of rocky intertidal biodiversity? We study patterns of distribution, abundance and diversity in rocky intertidal communities across several spatial scales, ranging from the traditional scales of m2 to much larger than traditional scales ranging to 1000s of km. Studies involve mapping, monitoring, remote sensing, field experimentation, and modelling.
3. Stability and Resilience of Coastal Ecosystems - How will coastal ecosystems be changed as the climate gradually warms? This focus has three components and overlaps in concept and research activity with projects 1 and 2 above. Two projects have focused on impacts of Ocean Acidification. The first is the OMEGAS project, and the second project examines the impact of OA and other environmental stressors on coralline algae, a key facilitator of kelp recruitment, across the Oregon and northern California coasts. The third project (the “LTREB project”) builds on long-term PISCO datasets on recruitment, phytoplankton, species interactions, and community structure, to examine how climate-related change is altering rocky intertidal communities along the Oregon coast.
4. Sub-organismal Mechanisms - How important are sublethal effects of environmental stress and subtle effects of varying food availability on growth, survival and abundance of marine intertidal organisms? In particular, what are the impacts of hypoxia and ocean acidification on marine benthic populations and their larvae? These studies are aimed at understanding the molecular, biochemical and physiological mechanisms that underlie the responses of marine organisms to climate change.
5. Marine Conservation Ecology –What is the anthropogenic impact on coastal ecosystems? How can one manage for resilience in coupled human-natural systems? What is the role of networks of marine reserves and how should they be designed? How will coastal ecological communities respond to the loss of the keystone predator Pisaster ochraceus? Will this species be able to recover from the devastation wrought by disease? These are some of the conservation-related questions being addressed within our group. Many of these activities offer students possible ways to learn about and participate in ways of connecting scientific understanding to the larger public and policy world.
To learn more about the projects our graduate students are undertaking, check out the "People" tab.
2. Marine Community Biodiversity - What shapes the patterns of rocky intertidal biodiversity? We study patterns of distribution, abundance and diversity in rocky intertidal communities across several spatial scales, ranging from the traditional scales of m2 to much larger than traditional scales ranging to 1000s of km. Studies involve mapping, monitoring, remote sensing, field experimentation, and modelling.
3. Stability and Resilience of Coastal Ecosystems - How will coastal ecosystems be changed as the climate gradually warms? This focus has three components and overlaps in concept and research activity with projects 1 and 2 above. Two projects have focused on impacts of Ocean Acidification. The first is the OMEGAS project, and the second project examines the impact of OA and other environmental stressors on coralline algae, a key facilitator of kelp recruitment, across the Oregon and northern California coasts. The third project (the “LTREB project”) builds on long-term PISCO datasets on recruitment, phytoplankton, species interactions, and community structure, to examine how climate-related change is altering rocky intertidal communities along the Oregon coast.
4. Sub-organismal Mechanisms - How important are sublethal effects of environmental stress and subtle effects of varying food availability on growth, survival and abundance of marine intertidal organisms? In particular, what are the impacts of hypoxia and ocean acidification on marine benthic populations and their larvae? These studies are aimed at understanding the molecular, biochemical and physiological mechanisms that underlie the responses of marine organisms to climate change.
5. Marine Conservation Ecology –What is the anthropogenic impact on coastal ecosystems? How can one manage for resilience in coupled human-natural systems? What is the role of networks of marine reserves and how should they be designed? How will coastal ecological communities respond to the loss of the keystone predator Pisaster ochraceus? Will this species be able to recover from the devastation wrought by disease? These are some of the conservation-related questions being addressed within our group. Many of these activities offer students possible ways to learn about and participate in ways of connecting scientific understanding to the larger public and policy world.
To learn more about the projects our graduate students are undertaking, check out the "People" tab.
Collaborations
Our research currently occurs in the context of the PISCO consortium, and in collaborations with colleagues involved in ocean acidification and biogeographic community ecology in the southern hemisphere. Please see the "Collaborators" page under the Our Network tab above for more information.
LAb Details
As of Fall Term 2020, I advise or co-advise 7 graduate students (sole advisor for five, and co-advisor of one with Sally Hacker and one with Kirsten Grorud-Colvert). I encourage independence in my students, including the design and execution of their own research projects. I do not assign research topics. My students have worked on a wide variety of subjects and have had impressive success on the job market. Besides those listed below, recent graduates or postdocs have secured positions at Northeastern University (Tarik Gouhier), Cal State at Long Beach (Jennifer Burnaford), Estuary and Ocean Science Center (Karina Nielsen), Portland State University (Elise Granek), University of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador (Luis Vinueza), the Natural Capital Project (Anne Guerry), NOAA/OSTP (Laura Petes), Marine Scotland Science (Dafne Eerkes-Medrano), California Sea Grant (Joe Tyburczy), Hakai Beach Institute (Margot Hessing-Lewis), Pew Foundation (Sarah Close), Ocean Conservancy (Elizabeth Cerny-Chipman), California Fish and Wildlife Department (Chenchen Shen), Allie Barner (Colby College), and Oregon State University (Jenna Sullivan-Stack).
Recently completed theses by my graduate students include: Allie Barner’s investigation of coralline alga-based interaction webs and their response to ocean acidification and climate change; Liz Cerny-Chipman’s studies of the whelk-mussel interaction, and how this varies with OA, temperature, and sea star loss; Chenchen Shen’s investigations of the role of turf-forming macroalgae and oceanographic conditions in maintaining meso-faunal species diversity; Jenna Sullivan’s study of the ecological role of the small six-armed sea star Leptasterias sp. and Pisaster ochraceus recruits to sea star wasting disease and ocean acidification; Alissa Rickborn’s investigation of the responses of colonial invertebrates, particularly sponges, to climate change; and Emily Boring’s study of dispersal limitation on genetic structure of the brooding sea star Leptasterias. Thesis projects underway include: Barbara Spiecker’s focus on impacts of El Niño on intertidal kelp communities and on bottom-up input effects on diversity of intertidal communities; Heather Fulton-Bennett’s investigation of the community role of encrusting coralline algae; Silke Bachhuber’s research on the potential for subordinate predators to compensate for loss of the keystone predator species Pisaster from wasting disease; Sara Hamilton’s remote-sensing studies of the persistence of bull kelp populations along the Oregon coast; and Zechariah Meunier’s investigation of intertidal community assembly post-disturbance. Maya Feezell and Kaitlyn Tonra are in the process of formulating thesis projects. I typically admit one or two students to our group each academic year.
Our group also includes several other scientists, including an associate professor/senior research faculty, Francis Chan, who investigates the biochemical and ecological patterns and impacts of ocean acidification and hypoxia, associate professor/research faculty Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, and postdoctoral fellow Sarah Gravem, who is working on the ecological impacts of sea star wasting. The group is rounded out by program staff (Cindy Kent, Gabriele HaBarad), research technicians (Brittany Poirson, Laurel Field, and Brandon Russell), a computer/data specialist (Michael Frenock), and varying numbers of undergraduate honors college students and research interns.
For lab research needing running seawater, most of our students use OSU's marine lab, the Hatfield Marine Science Center at Newport, OR, about one hour from Corvallis, and occasionally the University of Oregon’s Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, Oregon. We have access to laboratory space at HMSC when needed, and easy access to the diverse and largely unspoiled rocky shores of the stunning Oregon coast. The recent designation of five marine reserves along the Oregon coast opens the way to more research focused on the design and effectiveness of marine reserves.
Recently completed theses by my graduate students include: Allie Barner’s investigation of coralline alga-based interaction webs and their response to ocean acidification and climate change; Liz Cerny-Chipman’s studies of the whelk-mussel interaction, and how this varies with OA, temperature, and sea star loss; Chenchen Shen’s investigations of the role of turf-forming macroalgae and oceanographic conditions in maintaining meso-faunal species diversity; Jenna Sullivan’s study of the ecological role of the small six-armed sea star Leptasterias sp. and Pisaster ochraceus recruits to sea star wasting disease and ocean acidification; Alissa Rickborn’s investigation of the responses of colonial invertebrates, particularly sponges, to climate change; and Emily Boring’s study of dispersal limitation on genetic structure of the brooding sea star Leptasterias. Thesis projects underway include: Barbara Spiecker’s focus on impacts of El Niño on intertidal kelp communities and on bottom-up input effects on diversity of intertidal communities; Heather Fulton-Bennett’s investigation of the community role of encrusting coralline algae; Silke Bachhuber’s research on the potential for subordinate predators to compensate for loss of the keystone predator species Pisaster from wasting disease; Sara Hamilton’s remote-sensing studies of the persistence of bull kelp populations along the Oregon coast; and Zechariah Meunier’s investigation of intertidal community assembly post-disturbance. Maya Feezell and Kaitlyn Tonra are in the process of formulating thesis projects. I typically admit one or two students to our group each academic year.
Our group also includes several other scientists, including an associate professor/senior research faculty, Francis Chan, who investigates the biochemical and ecological patterns and impacts of ocean acidification and hypoxia, associate professor/research faculty Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, and postdoctoral fellow Sarah Gravem, who is working on the ecological impacts of sea star wasting. The group is rounded out by program staff (Cindy Kent, Gabriele HaBarad), research technicians (Brittany Poirson, Laurel Field, and Brandon Russell), a computer/data specialist (Michael Frenock), and varying numbers of undergraduate honors college students and research interns.
For lab research needing running seawater, most of our students use OSU's marine lab, the Hatfield Marine Science Center at Newport, OR, about one hour from Corvallis, and occasionally the University of Oregon’s Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, Oregon. We have access to laboratory space at HMSC when needed, and easy access to the diverse and largely unspoiled rocky shores of the stunning Oregon coast. The recent designation of five marine reserves along the Oregon coast opens the way to more research focused on the design and effectiveness of marine reserves.
Department of Integrative Biology
The former Zoology Department, renamed to Integrative Biology (IB) Department in January 2014, restricts its graduate student body to the number that can be supported on Teaching Assistantships, Research Assistantships, and Graduate Fellowships. IB presently has about 60 graduate students whose interests range from molecular genetics to cell and developmental biology to physiology to behavioral, population and community ecology. OSU IB is particularly strong in ecology, conservation biology, behavior, evolutionary biology, and marine biology, with about 2/3 of a total of 21 tenure-track faculty having affinities in these areas. Major organismal strengths include herpetology (including Andrew Blaustein and Bob Mason), insect evolutionary biology and ecology (David Maddison, Dave Lytle, Chris Marshall), disease ecology (Ben Dalziel, Andrew Blaustein, Anna Jolles) and marine biology and ecology (besides Bruce and Jane, Sally Hacker, Virginia Weis, Su Sponaugle, Sarah Henkel, Mark Novak, Felipe Barreto, Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, and Francis Chan). Ecology and conservation biology are represented by Blaustein, Lubchenco, Menge, Hacker, Novak, Sponaugle, Henkel, Grorud-Colvert, Chan [salt marsh, sand dune, rocky intertidal and coastal community and ecosystem ecology, conservation ecology, larval ecology], Lytle [stream ecology, evolutionary biology], Rebecca Terry [paleo-ecology, ecology of mammals], Anna Jolles [disease ecology], Patrick DeLeenheer [mathematical biology, control theory], Ben Dalziel [disease epidemiology, quantitative ecology], and Jamie Cornelius [avian physiological ecology]. These individuals give us expertise in a wide range of levels of organization (behavior to ecosystems), habitats (aquatic, marine, terrestrial), and approach (field, lab, empirical, modeling, experimental). In addition to the members of the IB Department, numerous faculty in other departments and colleges (including Oceanography, Statistics, Fisheries and Wildlife, Forestry, and Microbiology) are ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and environmental scientists and provide valuable resources and stimulation for IB graduate students in ecology.
Graduate Students
My graduate students are a close-knit group and interact regularly both professionally and socially among themselves and with other lab members. Students have found the facilities and intellectual climate of Oregon State University, the Integrative Biology Department, Hatfield Marine Science Center on the Oregon coast, the College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS), and my laboratory to be exceptionally favorable to the growth and development of their expertise as scientists. In turn, I consider the graduate program to be an integral and necessary part of my continued professional and personal growth. I expect and encourage considerable independence in each individual's research activities. Students are supported during their graduate careers by a combination of TA's, RA's and Fellowships. Several of our present group of students have (or had) fellowships, and sources of support include(d) NSF, NSERC, EPA, Fulbright, NERR, and Provost’s University Fellowships. Additional support comes from RAships on grants and departmental TAships.
I have mentored 40 Ph.Ds, 11 MS students, and 21 postdoctoral scholars (many graduate students have been co-advised with Jane Lubchenco or Sally Hacker). Many of these have obtained positions and/or postdocs at research universities, including Princeton, Brown, Stanford, Columbia, UC Davis, Syracuse, Auckland (New Zealand), UC at Santa Barbara, Catolica Universidad de Chile, Arizona State, Ohio State, Portland State, Florida State, Northeastern and San Francisco in Quito. Others have obtained positions at four-year undergraduate colleges, including Stetson University, University of the Virgin Islands, Colby College, Cal State at Sonoma, Cal State at San Francisco, and Cal State at Long Beach. Yet others are in the private sector (e.g., one created and led her own environmental consulting company, Sustainable Ecosystems Institute) or work for non-governmental organizations (NGOs such as OCEANA, the Natural Capital Project, Pew, Ocean Conservancy), or are with government agencies (NOAA, Sea Grant, Cal Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife).
NOTE: We are still in operation during the Covid-19 pandemic, as is graduate admissions at OSU. The pandemic has slowed progress in some cases, and added some challenges to the logistics of field work, but thesis projects are still in progress.
If you think you would be a strong applicant, I encourage you to apply. You should be aware that our graduate program is highly rated and very competitive. Preference is given to individuals who apply to our Ph.D. program and to students who have substantial research experience. Interviews by Zoom are welcome, and if follow-up interviews by the lab group seem appropriate, I will encourage a visit. I also urge you to investigate and apply for such scholarships and fellowships as may be available, such as NSF, EPA STAR, NSERC, or Fulbright Pre-doctoral Fellowships.
Please write to me if you have additional questions.
Best regards,
Bruce Menge
I have mentored 40 Ph.Ds, 11 MS students, and 21 postdoctoral scholars (many graduate students have been co-advised with Jane Lubchenco or Sally Hacker). Many of these have obtained positions and/or postdocs at research universities, including Princeton, Brown, Stanford, Columbia, UC Davis, Syracuse, Auckland (New Zealand), UC at Santa Barbara, Catolica Universidad de Chile, Arizona State, Ohio State, Portland State, Florida State, Northeastern and San Francisco in Quito. Others have obtained positions at four-year undergraduate colleges, including Stetson University, University of the Virgin Islands, Colby College, Cal State at Sonoma, Cal State at San Francisco, and Cal State at Long Beach. Yet others are in the private sector (e.g., one created and led her own environmental consulting company, Sustainable Ecosystems Institute) or work for non-governmental organizations (NGOs such as OCEANA, the Natural Capital Project, Pew, Ocean Conservancy), or are with government agencies (NOAA, Sea Grant, Cal Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife).
NOTE: We are still in operation during the Covid-19 pandemic, as is graduate admissions at OSU. The pandemic has slowed progress in some cases, and added some challenges to the logistics of field work, but thesis projects are still in progress.
If you think you would be a strong applicant, I encourage you to apply. You should be aware that our graduate program is highly rated and very competitive. Preference is given to individuals who apply to our Ph.D. program and to students who have substantial research experience. Interviews by Zoom are welcome, and if follow-up interviews by the lab group seem appropriate, I will encourage a visit. I also urge you to investigate and apply for such scholarships and fellowships as may be available, such as NSF, EPA STAR, NSERC, or Fulbright Pre-doctoral Fellowships.
Please write to me if you have additional questions.
Best regards,
Bruce Menge