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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). 

Drew Harvell

Student Lunch

Students from EOS Center and main campus are invited to join Dr. Harvell for lunch at the Bay Conference Center, Romberg Tiburon Campus at noon. 

If interested, please email Dorhkas Ramos, dramos13@mail.sfsu.edu, by October 20 to reserve your spot.

 

Sea star image Neil McDaniel. 

Fall 2025 Seminar Series Schedule

W+iSE Seminar - Dianna Padilla

Co-sponsored by the Barbara & Richard Rosenberg Institute for Marine Biology & Environmental Science at the Estuary & Ocean Science Center, Women in Science and Engineering, and SF State’s College of Science and Engineering and Department of Biology

Dianna Padilla, Professor, Stony Brook University

Marine Invertebrate Responses to Changing Environments

Wednesday, March 16 @ 3:40 |  EOS Center and Zoom

Marine environments are not uniform or constant, and animals have a variety of responses to such change. Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of a single genotype to produce different phenotypes, and local adaptation, differences among populations under different conditions, are important responses for a variety of animals that live in changing conditions. But, at present, we do not know which of these is more likely when animals are faced with new anthropogenically induced changes, like species introductions or ocean acidification, and whether past experience with variable environments affects responses to new change. I will present work we have done with molluscs regarding environmental change, including responses to different food environments and the presence or absence of predators. We have also been exploring plasticity and the potential for local adaptation in response to introduced predators for gastropods and in response to ocean acidification for bivalves.

Dr. Padilla is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. She is an AAAS Science Fellow, an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow in conservation (ESA) and served as a Program Director in Biology at the National Science Foundation. She works on marine and freshwater invertebrates and algae, including ecology, conservation biology and restoration, functional ecology, phenotypic plasticity, invasion biology, and impacts of environmental change, including ocean acidification. Recent work includes collaborations with engineers, architects, terrestrial and marine ecologists to develop new designs for urban infrastructure.

 

Please email Sarah Cohen, sarahcoh@sfsu.edu for meetings with Dr. Padilla on Wednesday at EOS Center before the seminar, or meetings on main campus on Thursday or Friday. We additionally are planning a local intertidal excursion on Friday, so please contact Sarah if you are interested in further information.

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