Aquatic resources are threatened worldwide. More intensive land use, growing populations requiring water for drinking and irrigation, and pollution from urban, industrial and agricultural activities have disrupted the water cycle and transformed ecosystems. In addition, the quality and security of aquatic resources are stressed by extreme events such as hurricanes, monsoonal flooding, and droughts that may be intensified by climate change. These threats are particularly evident in Florida where aquatic systems provide significant commercial and recreational opportunities. In fact, stakeholders have raised serious concerns about our water and associated resources.

The overarching goals of my individual and collaborative research efforts are to develop and transfer into management a mechanistic understanding of the effects of nutrient enrichment in aquatic systems, with a major focus on spring-fed rivers and associated estuaries along Florida’s central Gulf coast. Achieving these goals involves attaining several inter-related objectives that stem from long-term, large-scale sampling programs implemented by my colleagues and me a decade ago. The patterns documented by these regional programs that regularly sample over 100 stations spanning more than 100 kilometers of coastline provide a spatial and temporal context for designing, implementing and interpreting interdisciplinary experiments that elucidate ecological processes shaping the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems.

Degrees:

1995 Ph.D. Biological Science University of California, Santa Barbara
1990 M.S. Fisheries University of Florida
1986 B.S. Fisheries, Humbolt State University

Courses:

FAS 6932 Marine Ecological Processes, Fall Semester, 3credit hours

This course provides graduate students with an overview of ecological processes operating in estuarine, nearshore coastal and open ocean systems. Initially, students are introduced to important primary producers and secondary consumers in each of these systems. Insights into physiological and population levels of organization build on these basics. Environmental factors that influence species-specific and population level interactions are discussed subsequently as a transition to the concepts of community organization. The major chemical cycles in marine systems (e.g., carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus) are then discussed. All of this material forms a foundation for explaining how the structure and function of communities are maintained over different scales in both time and space.

Cirriculum Vitae:

Contact Info:

Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
7922 NW 71st Street, Gainesville, FL 32653
352-273-3644

email: frazer@ufl.edu