Sean Patrick Grace, Ph.D.

Research

My lab's current research interests (all in southern New England):

1. Restoration of kelp forests using green gravel!

2. Coral-kelp-sponge-urchin-turf algae interactions.

4. Dormancy in the coral Astrangia poculata.

Please see the lab updates tab to see the most recent lab happenings!

Current* & Past MS/Ed.D. students:

*Kaleb Boudreaux (Expected May 2025): An examination of the dominant canopy forming macroalgae in southern New England.

*Danielle Moloney (Expected May 2025): A within-site comparison of intertidal and subtidal populations of Astrangia poculata.

*Leah Hintz, MS (Expected May 2024): The effects of ocean acidification on coral skeletal density.

Sophia Kelly, MS (Completed May 2023): Defining Arbacia punctulata algal feeding preferences in Southern New England and their potential role as ecosystem shift drivers.

Nicole Woosley, MS (Completed May 2022): The effects of time, depth, and orientation on the fluorescence of the symbiont Breviolum psygmophilum in Astrangia poculata.

Rebecca Hendreen, MS (Completed December 2021): Creation of a gamefish occurrence dataset from public-focused informational newsletters. Link to data and conclusions; https://osf.io/sm8bv/

Gabriella DiPreta, MS (Completed May 2019): Successional state of benthic communities in temperate coral dominated habitats in Rhode Island.

Todd Massari, MS (In Memoriam-10-22-16): Bio-erosion of corals by the boring sponge Cliona celata.

Tanya Celadon, Ed.D. (Completed May 2016): Challenging the poverty of learning through quality mathematics education: an ethnographic study of Windtree High School.

Melissa Krisak (Completed Spring 2015): Trophic resources available to the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in the Long Island Sound estuary: a multi-method assessment.

Lauren Ventrella (Completed Spring 2013): Early successional community development in wave-swept habitats. Lauren is currently teaching middle school science in CT.

Heather Firn (Completed Spring 2013): Bacterial Survey of the scleractinian coral Astrangia poculata in Long Island Sound. Heather has moved to Texas and is currently working as a Watershed Scientist (III) at Trinity River Authority of Texas.

Callie Gecewicz (Completed Spring 2012): Effects of temperature on lipofuscin concentrations on known-ago juvenile lobsters from the Gulf of Maine. Callie is currently an educator with Project Oceanology on the Avery Point Campus in Groton, CT.

Dana Pietrosimone (Completed Spring 2011): Lipofuscin concentrations in wild-caught lobsters from the Gulf of Maine. Dana is currently working as a high school teacher in Portland, CT.

Adam Rudman (Completed Summer 2010): Behavioral responses of juvenile horseshoe crabs. Adam is currently working at Sacred Heart University in their professional Environmental Management MS program.

Beth Patrizzi (Completed Summer 2010): Distribution and diet of the temperate scleractinian coral, Astrangia poculata, in Long Island Sound. Beth is currently working as an environmental scientist for a company in Northern Virginia.

Miguel Reyes (Completed Fall 2008): Male:female ratios of the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) Populations on the Connecticut Coast. Miguel completed his PhD at Clark University in the Foster and Baker Lab examining the postglacial adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback fish and is currently an Assistant Professor at Clayton State University.

Bethann Balazsi (Completed Summer 2008): Does group living affect the attachment strength of the Northern Kelp, Laminaria saccharina. Bethann is currently working as a high school teacher in Fairfield, CT.

Michael Gilman (Completed Spring 2008): Population and diet change in a Long Island Sound subtidal community after 19 years. Mike is working as a high school teacher in Connecticut, after being the director of the Cedar Island Marine Lab in Clinton, CT and an active Oyster Farmer!

Michele Guidone (Completed Summer 2007): The G:T ratio of intertidal Chondrus crispus in the Long Island Sound, Connecticut. Michele went on and completed her PhD at URI in Dr. Carol Thornber's lab, she is currently as associate professor of Biology at Georgia Southern University (https://cosm.georgiasouthern.edu/biology/people/faculty/michele-guidone/). Michele's MS

Jennifer Adolfsen (Completed Spring 2007): The effect of low temperature on the respiratory and photosynthetic rate of Northern star coral (Astrangia poculata) with high and low densities of zooxanthellae. Jennifer is working in the education field in New Jersey.

James Reinhardt (Completed August 2006): The effects of epibiota on the attachment strength of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis. James went on and completed his PhD at UCONN in Dr. Robert Whitlatch's lab, he is currently working for NOAA in Washington DC.

GS#1 David Veilleux (Completed May 2006): Communal effects between Argopecten irradians irradians, Littorina littorea, and Ilyanassa obsolete. Dave is currently a research biologist at the National Marine Fisheries Laboratory in Milford, CT. Dave's MS

Pictures of tagged coral #167 from December 2013 (on left) and January 2014 (on right). Coral on right is exhibiting dormancy where corals pull in their tentacles, puff out their oral plates and exhibit little to no meaningful tentacular activity or behavior. Click to enlarge.