Research Interest: Marine and Estuarine Ecology Dr. Breitburg's research integrates aspects of ecology, animal behavior, and the evolution of life-history characteristics in studies of marine and estuarine communities. A major current research program examines how schooling behavior of larvae, the physical structure of oyster reefs, and hydrodynamics influence the settlement behavior of oyster reef fish. Fish larvae can be transported long distances by ocean and estuarine currents. This research should help us understand how the interplay between behavior and physics enables larvae to make the transition from the plankton to reef habitat suitable for growth and reproduction by later life-history stages. In addition, theoretical studies currently underway in Dr. Breitburg's lab examine latitudinal patterns of breeding behaviors of nearshore marine fishes, and how mobility of consumers influences the recovery of communities following physical disturbance. Dr. Breitburg also has a strong interest in research that examines the effect of human populations on marine and estuarine communities. A major area of study in her laboratory has focused on how low dissolved oxygen in the Chesapeake Bay influences recruitment, behavior, and trophic interactions of fish, their predators, and their prey. Representative Publications In press : Boynton, W.R., J.D. Hagy, and D.L. Breitburg. 2001. Issues of Scale in Land-Margin Ecosystems. In Gardner, Peterson and Kennedy, eds. Scaling Relations in Experimental Ecology. Columbia University Press. in press Breitburg, D.L. and G.F. Riedel. Multiple stressors in marine systems. In E. Norse and L. Crowder, eds. Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity. Published : Breitburg, D.L., K.H. Rose, and J.A. Cowan, Jr. 1999. Linking water quality to survival of larval fishes: predation mortality of fish larvae in an oxygen-structured water column. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 178:39-54. Breitburg, D.L., S.P. Seitzinger and J.G. Sanders (eds.). 1999. The effects of multiple stressors in marine and freshwater systems. Limnology and Oceanography (Special issue) 44 (issue 3, part 2). 233pp. Breitburg, D.L., J.G. Sanders, C.G. Gilmour, C.A. Hatfield, R.W. Osman, G.F. Riedel, S.P. Seitzinger and K.G. Sellner. 1999. Variability in responses to nutrients and trace elements, and transmission of stressor effects through an estuarine food web. Limnology and Oceanography, 44:837-863. Breitburg, D.L., J. Baxter, C. Hatfield, R.W. Howarth, C.G. Jones, G.M. Lovett and C. Wigand. 1998. Understanding effects of multiple stressors: ideas and challenges. pp 416-431. In: M. Pace and P. Groffman, eds. Successes, Limitations and Frontiers in Ecosystem Science. Springer, NY. Breitburg, D.L, T. Loher, C.A. Pacey, A. Gerstein. 1997. Varying effects of low dissolved oxygen on trophic interactions in an estuarine food web. Ecological Monographs 67:489-507. Breitburg, D.L., M.A. Palmer, and T. Loher. 1995. Effects of flow, structure and larval schooling behavior on settlement behavior of oyster reef fish. Marine Ecology Progress Series 125: 45-60. Breitburg, D. L. Episodic hypoxia in the Chesapeake Bay: interacting effects of recruitment, behavior and a physical disturbance. 1992. Ecological Monographs 62:525-546. Breitburg, D. L. 1990. Nearshore hypoxia in the Chesapeake Bay: patterns and relationships among physical factors. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 30:593-610. Breitburg, D. L. 1987. Interspecific competition and the abundance of nest sites: factors affecting sexual selection. Ecology 68:1844-1855. Breitburg, D. L. 1986. Effects of variable recruitment on protogynous sex change. The American Naturalist 128:551-560. Breitburg, D. L. 1984. Residual effects of grazing: inhibition of competitor recruitment by encrusting coralline algae. Ecology 65:1136-1143.
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