Moore Lab Research

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We focus our research on the ecology and conservation of freshwaters. Freshwaters are crucial for life, but are often heavily impacted by human activities. General interests include species interactions, subsidies, ecosystem engineers, disturbance, and global change. We aim to do research that has conservation and management implications, using a combination of field experiments, field observations, and modeling. Research projects include:
HUMAN IMPACTS ON FRESHWATERS I am generally interested in how human activities impact the freshwaters that we all depend on. For example, leaky septic systems pollute freshwaters with excess nutrients. Ongoing studies examine the diverse ways that humans impact Californian freshwaters.
	STABLE ISOTOPES IN ECOLOGY Ecologists are increasingly turning to the use of stable isotopes of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen to trace flows of nutrients through ecosystems. We use stable isotopes in our research and also work explicitly developing quantitative tools associated with stable isotope analyses. For example, in collaboration with Brice X. Semmens (NOAA), we have developed a stable isotope mixing model based on a Bayesian framework that allows for the incorporation of uncertainty. The website for this model is: http://conserver.iugo-cafe.org/view.php?id=50 .
PACIFIC SALMON ECOLOGY We do much of our work in the freshwaters that salmon call home. Pacific salmon are ecologically and culturally important. Generally, we are interested in understanding causes and consequences of salmon population dynamics. Salmon are also a wonderful study system for a variety of general ecological questions. Current and past research on Pacific salmon ecology includes:
Ecological consequences of population dynamics.—Salmon dramatically impact the freshwaters where they spawn. Their nest-digging rototills streambeds. Nutrients and energy from their carcasses and eggs can fuel stream food webs. In collaboration with Daniel Schindler and many others from the Alaska Salmon Program of the University of Washington, I examined the diverse impacts of spawning salmon in SW Alaska. I am continuing these types of studies in coastal streams in maritime SE Alaska. Through understanding how intact populations of salmon impact coastal ecosystems, we can gain insight into how salmon declines have changed these communities. Predator-prey interactions.—In collaboration with Sean Hayes (NOAA) and Scott Shaffer (California State University San Bernardino), we are investigating predator-prey dynamics between seabirds (such as cormorants, mergansers, and gulls) and juvenile salmon in coastal California watersheds. Preliminary data suggest that this predation may be an important source of mortality for outmigrating coho and steelhead. Diversity and resilience.—Salmon stocks are often composed of a diverse group of locally adapted populations. In collaboration with Michelle McClure (NOAA), we are examining patterns of this population diversity within a portfolio of salmon populations in the Columbia River. This research has got me thinking more deeply about relationships between population diversity and ecosystem function as well as community disassembly.
	ECO-EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF AN INVASIVE SNAIL The New Zealand mudsnail is a small snail that has recently started to invade Californian freshwaters, and has the potential to have widespread impacts. In collaboration with Stephanie Carlson of UC Berkeley, we are starting a project that examines the impacts of this invasive, the evolutionary dynamics of the invasion process, and potential outreach to try to prevent further spread.

We focus our research on the ecology and conservation of freshwaters. Freshwaters are crucial for life, but are often heavily impacted by human activities. General interests include species interactions, subsidies, ecosystem engineers, disturbance, and global change. We aim to do research that has conservation and management implications, using a combination of field experiments, field observations, and modeling. Research projects include:

HUMAN IMPACTS ON FRESHWATERS
I am generally interested in how human activities impact the freshwaters that we all depend on. For example, leaky septic systems pollute freshwaters with excess nutrients. Ongoing studies examine the diverse ways that humans impact Californian freshwaters.

Sculpin

STABLE ISOTOPES IN ECOLOGY
Ecologists are increasingly turning to the use of stable isotopes of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen to trace flows of nutrients through ecosystems. We use stable isotopes in our research and also work explicitly developing quantitative tools associated with stable isotope analyses. For example, in collaboration with Brice X. Semmens (NOAA), we have developed a stable isotope mixing model based on a Bayesian framework that allows for the incorporation of uncertainty. The website for this model is: http://conserver.iugo-cafe.org/view.php?id=50 .

PACIFIC SALMON ECOLOGY
We do much of our work in the freshwaters that salmon call home. Pacific salmon are ecologically and culturally important. Generally, we are interested in understanding causes and consequences of salmon population dynamics. Salmon are also a wonderful study system for a variety of general ecological questions. Current and past research on Pacific salmon ecology includes:

Ecological consequences of population dynamics.—Salmon dramatically impact the freshwaters where they spawn. Their nest-digging rototills streambeds. Nutrients and energy from their carcasses and eggs can fuel stream food webs. In collaboration with Daniel Schindler and many others from the Alaska Salmon Program of the University of Washington, I examined the diverse impacts of spawning salmon in SW Alaska. I am continuing these types of studies in coastal streams in maritime SE Alaska. Through understanding how intact populations of salmon impact coastal ecosystems, we can gain insight into how salmon declines have changed these communities.
Predator-prey interactions.—In collaboration with Sean Hayes (NOAA) and Scott Shaffer (California State University San Bernardino), we are investigating predator-prey dynamics between seabirds (such as cormorants, mergansers, and gulls) and juvenile salmon in coastal California watersheds. Preliminary data suggest that this predation may be an important source of mortality for outmigrating coho and steelhead.
Diversity and resilience.—Salmon stocks are often composed of a diverse group of locally adapted populations. In collaboration with Michelle McClure (NOAA), we are examining patterns of this population diversity within a portfolio of salmon populations in the Columbia River. This research has got me thinking more deeply about relationships between population diversity and ecosystem function as well as community disassembly.

Big Creek

ECO-EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF AN INVASIVE SNAIL
The New Zealand mudsnail is a small snail that has recently started to invade Californian freshwaters, and has the potential to have widespread impacts. In collaboration with Stephanie Carlson of UC Berkeley, we are starting a project that examines the impacts of this invasive, the evolutionary dynamics of the invasion process, and potential outreach to try to prevent further spread.