Susan Williams

My research focuses on the ecology of nearshore marine ecosystems, particularly seagrass and seaweed beds and coral reefs. These ecosystems are highly productive and provide a number of ecosystem 'services' such as recycling of organic matter and providing habitat and food for numerous marine species including economically valuable ones. These ecosystems are found at the land-sea margin, a highly variable, stressful, and disturbed environment. Their component organisms are stressed from exposure to air and warming ocean waters and disturbed by anthropogenic activities including habitat destruction and invasions by non-native species. The ecosystems I study have protected status due to their value to humans, and I am committed to communicating research results to resource agencies and policy makers charged with their management (see Public Service, below). My focus on environmental stress and change has evolved from my career-long interest in how communities and ecosystems function, including how variation in resource availability influences resources acquisition and allocation and how species interactions (competition, herbivory) influence plant function and biogeochemical processes.