WiSE/Rosenberg Institute Seminar at EOS Center - Drew Harvell

The Barbara and Richard Rosenberg Institute for Marine Biology & Environmental Science and WiSE (Women in Science & Engineering) present our seminar and student lunch (see below)

Drew Harvell, Adjunct Faculty, Stanford (Hopkins Researcher); Professor Emerita, Cornell University/Stanford University   

The Ocean’s Menagerie Heating up with Climate Change 

Abstract: Climate warming heats up the web of biological interactions and accelerates community change from the base and top of oceanic food chains. Warming oceans have fueled the decade long epidemic of sea star wasting disease, causing a top-down trophic cascade and massive changes to near-shore kelps from California to British Columbia. Our recent work unveils Vibrio pectenicida as a causative agent of sea star wasting disease and the decline of the sunflower star to endangerment.  Our 12 year study of eelgrass-protist dynamics also shows a role for warming events in large decline of seagrasses. Continental scale surveys reveal that the protist L. zosterae is a damaging pathogen, characterized by diverse strains varying in virulence and likely temperature sensitivity, from San Diego to Alaska. New work highlights multiple modes of disease transmission from waterborne to herbivore- facilitated.

Bio: Drew Harvell is Professor Emerita of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University and former Science Envoy for Ocean Conservation (US State Dept). Her research on the health and sustainability of marine ecosystems has taken her from the coral reefs of Mexico, Indonesia, Palau, Australia and Hawaii to the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest. Her current research, based at Friday Harbor Laboratories focuses on continental scale impact of ocean epidemics. She is a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and the American Association for Advancement of Science. Her award-winning books include: A Sea of Glass (2016), Ocean Outbreak (2019) and The Ocean’s Menagerie (2025).