John Heine
Jacksonville University, FL·Ecology & Evolution
Antarctic coasts are losing sea-ice days as the climate warms, which lets far more light reach the seafloor. That change opens newly ice-free rock for colonization, and a central question is who will take it: fast-spreading seaweeds, or the invertebrates such as sponges, bryozoans, tunicates and polychaete worms that dominate many Antarctic hard bottoms.
- Fields
Ecology & Evolution
Earth & Environmental Science
Biology
- Topics
Antarctica
McMurdo Sound
Ross Sea
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Quantify percent cover, biomass, blade length and reproductive characteristics of the red algae Phyllophora antarctica and Iridaea cordata across depth and light gradients at seven sites in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
- Test for long-term change in these macroalgal communities by comparing current survey results with data collected from the same McMurdo Sound region in 1980.
- Estimate genetic diversity and connectivity of both algal species using whole genome sequencing and species-specific microsatellite markers, comparing McMurdo samples with collections from the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula.
- Characterize benthic community structure on the newly discovered Dellbridge Seamount using three-dimensional photogrammetry built from underwater video, and share the models through web-based interactive applications.
More about the research
This collaborative project examines seaweed (macroalgae) communities in McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, to predict how shifting light and ice shape shallow underwater communities.
Why it matters
Reduced sea ice is already altering Antarctic coastal seafloor communities, and managers have little basis for predicting what will replace what. Documenting how these two red algae grow, reproduce and are genetically connected, and comparing directly with a 1980 survey of the same sites, gives a concrete baseline for forecasting whether seaweeds will outpace invertebrates on newly lit rock. The 3D seafloor visualizations also provide material for public education in polar ecology.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jodi Young
University of Washington, WA·Earth & Environmental Science·Early-career
Measure how different sympagic algal species adapt their growth and cell properties to seasonal sea ice formation and melt, using a laboratory ice tank modeled on Antarctic Peninsula conditions.
Marilyn Raphael
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Earth & Environmental Science
Evaluate advanced and emerging observing technologies near McMurdo to see which could join an observation network that captures key sea ice processes across the Ross Sea.
Rachel Tilling
University of Maryland, MD·Earth & Environmental Science
Evaluate advanced and emerging observing technologies for their ability to form a network that captures the atmosphere-ice-ocean processes driving sea ice variability across the Ross Sea.
The school
Jacksonville University: 1 labs on PI Pages.
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