Research

Population dynamics and environmental change

With collaborators from multiple institutions across the southeastern US, our group will be studying the effects of environmental variability on penaeid shrimp (white and brown shrimps) during their estuarine residency as well as how changes to conditions within estuaries may affect this economically important fishery. We will synthesize multiple long-term fishery-independent time series, characterize the abiotic conditions within these estuaries using data from the NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP), conduct regional sampling for multiple life stages of shrimp and their benthic prey, and manipulative experiments examining density-dependent interactions. This project is funded by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative from 2021-2024. See a project description here.

This project falls within the lab's general research interest focusing on the population dynamics of economically and ecologically important species.

Community ecology and predator-prey interactions

We have studied species interactions on subtidal and intertidal reefs along the U.S. Atlantic coast, on rocky reefs in southern California and Caribbean coral reefs. Specifically, we use laboratory and field experiments as well as mathematical modeling to explore the importance of prey density, habitat complexity, size-structure, fishery harvest, and other drivers on population stability, community structure, and ecological resilience.

Currently, we have ongoing research in this area in multiple estuarine habitats, including fringing oyster reefs, intertidal creeks, and salt marshes, focusing on organisms from the microscopic to large-bodied piscivorous predators and everything in between.

Photo: M. Yeager

Ecosystem-based management in the coastal zone

Much of our research is motivated by the desire to contribute to effective implementation of ecosystem-based management. Currently, we are studying natural resource use within the North Inlet-Winyah Bay NERR, with a specific focus on a key foundation species of recreational fishery interest- the eastern oyster and a key mesopredator, the blue crab.

Previously, Dunn worked on the Spiny Lobster Fishery Sustainability Project with collaborators at San Diego State University and the Autonomous University of Baja California. That group conducted collaborative sampling between researchers and commercial fishers throughout southern California, USA and Baja California, Mexico to better understand spiny lobster population biology, feeding ecology, and the effects of fishery harvest. To date, this project has caught and measured over 3,500 spiny lobsters at more than 20 locations. See a complete project description from California Sea Grant

Photo: T. Burnham

Theoretical modeling

We use dynamic models to simulate community interactions and explore hypotheses that are not amenable to manipulative experiments or feasible to sample in situ. We have built models to investigate the effects of multi-trophic level harvest within kelp forest ecosystems and to simulate the transient dynamics within kelp forests following cessation of fishery harvest.

Time series analysis and NERR System-Wide Monitoring Program

With the hard work of multiple technical staff members, Dunn coordinates the NI-WB NERR's System-Wide Monitoring Program. We are currently synthesizing trends in water quality, nutrient, and meteorological data to understand long-term change in estuarine conditions at multiple scales, from locally (ie, North Inlet and Winyah Bay) to regionally (NERRs from SC to Georgia) and ultimately, nationally across the NERR system.

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