Helping Species Thrive

This project will test and develop a new metabolic approach that can be used to map the aerobic habitable range for marine organisms. The researchers will initially focus on the purple sea urchin and red abalone, species of high economic and ecologic importance in the California Current ecosystem. Once validated, scientists, environmental and fisheries managers, fishers and aquaculture businesses will be able to use this approach to flexibly and accurately predict viable future ranges of individual species to guide management, monitoring and adaptive actions anywhere. Paleontologists and geologists will be able to utilize the approach to understand the causes of ancient mass extinctions—our best analogues for future global change outside the timescale of human experience and instrumentation.

Learn more about the Environmental Venture Projects grant program and other funded projects.

Principal Investigators:

Erik Sperling (Geological Sciences)

Fiorenza Micheli (Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Center for Ocean Solutions) 

Chris Lowe (Biology, Hopkins Marine Station)