• Speaker: Katharyn Boyer, Professor of Biology at Romberg Tiburon Center, San Francisco State University.

Photo: Katharyn Boyer in the IMEDEA seminar.

Esporles, june 22, 2017. As a community ecologist, Katharyn Boyer is most interested in the ways that species interact to influence critical functions that sustain coastal ecosystems.

As a scientist heavily involved in on-the-ground restoration, she strives to determine how to use our understanding of basic ecology to establish new habitats that will persist and thrive over time.

She and her students have worked toward restoring the seagrass Zostera marina (eelgrass) over the last decade in San Francisco Bay, California, and along the way, they have discovered a number of important roles of herbivores that influence the conservation and restoration of this foundational plant species.

Further, theory and their experimental work in eelgrass beds point to promising positive interactions that might increase the success of seagrass restoration projects.

She concludes that we are “missing the boat” if we do not utilize experimentation in both natural and restored habitats to reveal ways to promote self-sustaining and highly functioning restored coastal ecosystems.

Date and Time: Thursday, june 22, 11:30h

Place: IMEDEA Seminar Room

Font: IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB)