Robert C. Carpenter Professor Ph.D. University of Georgia

Phone: 818-677-3256 Fax: 818-677-2034 e-mail: robert.carpenter@csun.edu Office Location: SC4110

My research interests are focused on the ecology of marine benthic communities. Specifically, I am interested in the coupling between physical aspects of the environment and the physiology of algae, and in interactions between herbivores and algae. This is part of a larger comparison between coral reef and kelp forest communities. Currently I am working on a research project that is examining the role of hydrodynamics in controlling the rates of metabolism of coral reef algal communities in Hawaii. My students and I take a combined laboratory and field approach to test hypotheses about mass-transfer limitation of reef algae. We use a variety of sophisticated instrumentation to measure water flow at a variety of spatial scales and estimate rates of or-ganismal metabolism in flumes. We are addressing similar questions in kelp forest environments at Santa Catalina Island. In one study we are quantifying the variability in morphology within and between algal species over gradients in light and flow and how this variation relates to organism performance. Another study involves the estimation of the physiological costs to red algal species living in the understory environment and the ecological process that limit their distribution to this nonoptimal habitat. While my interests are focused on algal communities, several students in my laboratory have conducted research on benthic invertebrates living in intertidal, kelp forest, and coral reef environments.

Current Research Grants:

National Science Foundation, Biol. Oceanogr. (OCE-0417412), LTER: Long-term dynamics of a coral reef ecosystem (with P. Edmunds [CSUN] and R. Schmitt/S. Holbrook [UCSB]), $4,600,000, 9/1/04 to 8/31/09.

National Science Foundation, Biol. Oceanogr. (OCE-0241885), Scale-dependence of flow effects on coral reef community primary production, $500,288, 5/01/03-4/30/07.

Recent Publications:

Carpenter, R.C. and S.L. Williams. 2006. Mass transfer limitation of photosynthesis of coral algal turf communities. Marine Biology DOI 10.1007/s00227-006-0465-3.

Carpenter, R.C. and P.J. Edmunds. 2006. Local and regional recovery of Diadema promotes recruitment of juvenile corals. Ecology Letters 9:271-280.

Haring, R.N. and R.C. Carpenter. 2006. The effects of light and water flow on the thallus morphology of Pachydictyon coriaceum (Phaeophyta), Marine Biology. DOI 10.1007/s00227-006-0474-2.

Gamino-Padilla, J.L. and R.C. Carpenter. In press. Seasonal acclimitization of Asparagopsis taxiformis from different biogeographic regions. Limnology and Oceanography.

Gamino-Padilla, J.L. and R.C. Carpenter. In press. Thermal ecophysiology of Laurencia pacifica and Laurencia nidifica (Ceramiales) from tropical and warm-temperate regions. Journal of Phycology.

Bruno, J.F., Sarah C. Lee, Johanna S. Kertesz, Robert C. Carpenter, Zachary T. Long, and J. Emmett Duffy. 2006. Partitioning the effects of algal species identity and richness on benthic marine primary production. Oikos 115:170-178.

Stewart, H.L. and R.C. Carpenter. 2003. The effects of water flow on photosynthesis and morphology of marine macroalgae. Ecology 84:2999-3012.

Edmunds, P.J. and R.C. Carpenter. 2001. Recovery of Diadema reduces macroalgal cover and increases the abundance of juvenile corals on a Caribbean reef. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 98:5067-5071.

Koehl, M.A.R., B. Helmuth, and R.C. Carpenter. 2001. Environmentally-driven plasticity. In, The Algorithmic Beauty of Seaweeds, Sponges, and Corals, J. Kaandorp and J. Kubler (eds.). Springer-Verlag.

Cheroske, A., S.L. Williams, and R.C. Carpenter. 2000. Effects of physical and biological disturbance on coral reef algal turf communties. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 248:1-34.

Stephane Talmage (graduate student)- BS, Cornell University
Abigail Poray (graduate student)- BS, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Melissa Spitler (graduate student)- BS, Northeastern University