Determining the Drivers and Consequences of Hypoxia in Nearshore Marine Ecosystems: an Integrative Engineering and Ecophysiological Approach

Funding Year: 2012

Research Areas: Oceans

Regions: North America

Hypoxia, or oxygen depletion, is an escalating threat to marine life and ocean economies. In California, the combination of direct human impact, via nutrient run-off and point-source discharges, and climate change suggests that the states coastal waters will show unprecedented susceptibility to hypoxia in the future.

Little is known about which aspects of local oceanographic conditions, such as tides and currents, transport hypoxic waters to coastal ecosystems or how these waters will specifically affect the physiology and behavior of the organisms that reside within.

This project will combine physiology, ecology and oceanography to understand how increasing climate change-related hypoxia will affect coastal marine ecosystems and fisheries. The project's data will help state and regional organizations devise better management and adaptation strategies for marine life and coastal environments.

Learn more about the Environmental Venture Projects grant program and other funded projects.

Principal Investigators:

Oliver Fringer, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fio Micheli, David and Lucile Packard Professor of Marine Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment

George Somero, David and Lucile Packard Professor in Marine Science, Emeritus