General research interests:
benthic-pelagic coupling (the coupling of sea-floor to water-column processes), biological processes in the benthic boundary layer, organic matter transport and fluxes, deep-sea ecology, benthic ecology, development of seafloor observatories

Postdoctoral research:
I was a postdoc and visiting investigator in the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution .  My several projects involved measuring the resuspension of organic particles from the sea floor:

(1) Control of Florida red tides using phosphatic clay.
*** FIPR Project Webpage ***
A collaboration with Drs. Don Anderson and Mario Sengco (Biology Department, WHOI), funded by the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research.

(2) An in situ study of the resuspension of organic matter and associated microbiota and metals into the water column of a coastal bay.
A collaboration with Dr. Jeff Shimeta (Franklin and Marshall College), Dr. Roger Francois (WHOI), and Dr. Carl Amos (Southampton Oceanography Centre), funded by the Rinehart Coastal Research Center at WHOI.  We were interested in determining the impact of resuspension of "fluff" (i.e. unconsolidated surficial sediments) on the transport dynamics of associated biota and metals.  Click for a SYNOPSIS of the proposal.  Click for PDFs of published manuscripts: L&O, MEPS.

Photos from August 2000 field work off the Asterias in Buzzards Bay, MA

Carl Amos and Bob Murphy hang over Asterias while deploying Sea Carousel.		Jeff Shimeta and Nan Trowbridge extrude sediment cores collected by divers during slack tide.
Jeff Shimeta gives an "O.K." after completing a dive.		Nilauro Markus filters water samples for suspended particles.

(3) Resuspension of phytodetritus from the sea floor: a laboratory flume study.
From Nov 1998 to May 2000, I was a WHOI postdoctoral scholar, sponsored by Dr. John Trowbridge in the AOPE Dept. and Dr. Lauren Mullineaux in the Biology Dept.  I studied the fate of phytodetritus-- or marine snow-- that accumulates on the sea floor, especially following a diatom bloom. In my experiments I used a laboratory flume in order to quantify the critical bed shear stress for phytodetritus. I presented results from Spring and Summer 1999 in a poster at the AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting in January 2000 (read my ABSTRACT ).  Click for published manuscript: L&O.

My work at the 17-m flume at the Coastal Research Laboratory at WHOI

Here is the set-up for the phytodetritus experiments in the 17-m flume.		In this photo, I am holding a CCD video camera used to visualize the erosion of phytodetritus from a test bed.
This photo shows an LDV (Laser Doppler Velocimeter) used to profile flow velocity in the flume.		Here I am during dry suit training.  Diatoms bloom in the coastal waters near Woods Hole when the water temperature is very cold!

(4) In addition to my lab and field research, I conducted literature research at the MBL library and prepared a review paper about the accumulation and fate of phytodetritus on the sea floor.  (Contact me for PDF)