Christy Bowles Ph.D. student (entered 2004) Research interests: Soft-sediment communities, intertidal invertebrates, conservation Project: Alternative community states mediated by Boccardia proboscidea. cmbowles (at) ucdavis (dot) edu

I have been an ecology grad student at UC Davis since fall of 2004 and am currently the student representative for the Marine Ecology Area of Emphasis within the Ecology Graduate Group.

Current Research
I am studying the ecology of soft-sediment invertebrate communities. In Bodega Harbor, Boccardia proboscidea has been observed to form near monocultures adjacent to habitat with normal diversity and abundance. I am investigating the possibility that the patches of B. proboscidea and ‘natural’ diversity represent alternate stable states. In addition, I hope to look at the community response- return to equilibrium (resilience) or state switches- with natural and anthropogenic disturbance. Natural systems may have thresholds that allow the system to withstand disturbance (resilience) or may respond to disturbance with alternate stable states, distinct community assemblages in similar environments. This research will increase knowledge of stability, community response to disturbance, and aid in management of systems with alternate stable states.

Key words: Soft-sediments, intertidal, invertebrates, marine ecology, applied ecology, conservation

Past Education and Employment
2001-2004 Research Assistant at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
- Project: Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity
- Participant in Working Groups: Scale-Dependence in the Relationship Between Diversity and Ecosystem Function, Predicting Extinction Risk

2001 B.S. in Aquatic Biology with High Honors, University of California, Santa Barbara

1999-2001 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and Sea Center, Head of Collections, Educator, Aquatist Assistant, Naturalist

Publications:
Drake, J., E. Cleland, M. C. Horner-Devine, E. Fleishman, C. Bowles, M. Smith, K. Carney, S. Emery, J. Gramling, D. Vandermast, J. Grace. Do non-native plant species affect the shape of the productivity-diversity relationships? American Midland Naturalist (in press)

Cleland, E., M. Smith, S. Andelman, C. Bowles, K. Carney, M. C. Horner-Devine, J. Drake, S. Emery, J. Gramling, D. Vandermast. 2004. Species diversity, productivity and invasibility: Likelihood of invasion is inversely related to invasion impact. Ecology Letters 7: 947-957.

Keith, D., M. McCarthy, H. Regan, T. Regan, C. Bowles, C. Drill, C. Craig, B. Pellow, M. Burgman, L. Master, M. Ruckelshaus, B. Mackenzie, S. Andelman, P. Wade. 2004. Protocols for listing threatened species can forecast extinction. Ecology Letters 7: 1101-1108.

Andelman, S., C. Bowles, M. Willing, R. Waide. 2003. Disentangling biocomplexity through a distributed knowledge network. Bioscience 54: 240-246.

Affiliations:
Western Society of Naturalists, Ecological Society of America, Phi Beta Kappa

Contact information:

(530) 754-8994 Davis
(707) 875-1968 Bodega Marine Lab