Brian Cheng Ph.D. student (entered 2008) Research interests: invasion resistance, estuarine gradients, climate change, oceanography, biogeography, species interactions, community ecology, food webs, statistics, synthesis Project: Climate change effects on native and invasive species interactions bscheng@ucdavis.edu 530 754 8994 Curriculum vitae
Research Interests I am a first year Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Ecology at UC Davis. I recently finished my MS at San Diego State University working with Dr. Kevin Hovel. There we examined how native predators consumed invasive Asian mussels (Musculista senhousia) using sub-tidal mensurative and field experiments in Mission Bay (an estuary just north of San Diego Bay). We measured strong consumptive effects by California spiny lobsters (Panulirus interruptus) on the distribution of mussels within the bay. Since spiny lobsters are a fished species, this has important implications for predator losses at higher trophic levels and increases in invasive species. The over-extraction of predators may actually perpetuate "trophic skew" (sensu Duffy 2003, Byrnes et al. 2007). I'm still in the beginning phase of research here at UC Davis but I am interested in working on climate change issues, particularly with respect to invasive species. Right now I am working with the National Marine Sanctuary on writing a synthesis of existing climate change information and how it will affect the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. Combined, these sanctuaries encompass approximately 1,800 square miles of coastal marine habitat in Central California and will undoubtedly be affected by climate change. I will also be looking at how climate change (e.g. thermal and acidification stressors) will affect native and invasive species interactions. I am particularly interested in linking oceanographic measurements to benthic estuarine systems. I'll expand on this section as I get these projects off the ground. Prior to my M.S. at SDSU I worked with Dr. Danielle Zacherl at the University of California, Santa Barbara on Kellet's Whelk (Kelletia kelletii). I have also spent some time working with Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) on the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Project (LTER) with Dr. Robin Ross and Dr. Langdon Quetin. If you go way far back, I was also an aquarist for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA and also the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA. Feel free to shoot me an email if you are interested in collaborative research or if you just want to chat about all things nerdy (e.g. statistics, ecology, and academia). Contact Brian: bscheng@ucdavis.edu, (530) 754-8994 Duffy, J. E. 2003. Biodiversity loss, trophic skew and ecosystem functioning. Ecology Letters 6:680-687. Byrnes, J. E., P. L. Reynolds, and J. J. Stachowicz. 2007. Invasions and Extinctions Reshape Coastal Marine Food Webs. PLoS ONE 2:e295.
I am a first year Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Ecology at UC Davis. I recently finished my MS at San Diego State University working with Dr. Kevin Hovel. There we examined how native predators consumed invasive Asian mussels (Musculista senhousia) using sub-tidal mensurative and field experiments in Mission Bay (an estuary just north of San Diego Bay). We measured strong consumptive effects by California spiny lobsters (Panulirus interruptus) on the distribution of mussels within the bay. Since spiny lobsters are a fished species, this has important implications for predator losses at higher trophic levels and increases in invasive species. The over-extraction of predators may actually perpetuate "trophic skew" (sensu Duffy 2003, Byrnes et al. 2007). I'm still in the beginning phase of research here at UC Davis but I am interested in working on climate change issues, particularly with respect to invasive species. Right now I am working with the National Marine Sanctuary on writing a synthesis of existing climate change information and how it will affect the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. Combined, these sanctuaries encompass approximately 1,800 square miles of coastal marine habitat in Central California and will undoubtedly be affected by climate change. I will also be looking at how climate change (e.g. thermal and acidification stressors) will affect native and invasive species interactions. I am particularly interested in linking oceanographic measurements to benthic estuarine systems. I'll expand on this section as I get these projects off the ground. Prior to my M.S. at SDSU I worked with Dr. Danielle Zacherl at the University of California, Santa Barbara on Kellet's Whelk (Kelletia kelletii). I have also spent some time working with Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) on the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Project (LTER) with Dr. Robin Ross and Dr. Langdon Quetin. If you go way far back, I was also an aquarist for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA and also the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA. Feel free to shoot me an email if you are interested in collaborative research or if you just want to chat about all things nerdy (e.g. statistics, ecology, and academia). Contact Brian: bscheng@ucdavis.edu, (530) 754-8994 Duffy, J. E. 2003. Biodiversity loss, trophic skew and ecosystem functioning. Ecology Letters 6:680-687. Byrnes, J. E., P. L. Reynolds, and J. J. Stachowicz. 2007. Invasions and Extinctions Reshape Coastal Marine Food Webs. PLoS ONE 2:e295.
I'm still in the beginning phase of research here at UC Davis but I am interested in working on climate change issues, particularly with respect to invasive species. Right now I am working with the National Marine Sanctuary on writing a synthesis of existing climate change information and how it will affect the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. Combined, these sanctuaries encompass approximately 1,800 square miles of coastal marine habitat in Central California and will undoubtedly be affected by climate change. I will also be looking at how climate change (e.g. thermal and acidification stressors) will affect native and invasive species interactions. I am particularly interested in linking oceanographic measurements to benthic estuarine systems. I'll expand on this section as I get these projects off the ground. Prior to my M.S. at SDSU I worked with Dr. Danielle Zacherl at the University of California, Santa Barbara on Kellet's Whelk (Kelletia kelletii). I have also spent some time working with Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) on the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Project (LTER) with Dr. Robin Ross and Dr. Langdon Quetin. If you go way far back, I was also an aquarist for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA and also the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA. Feel free to shoot me an email if you are interested in collaborative research or if you just want to chat about all things nerdy (e.g. statistics, ecology, and academia). Contact Brian: bscheng@ucdavis.edu, (530) 754-8994 Duffy, J. E. 2003. Biodiversity loss, trophic skew and ecosystem functioning. Ecology Letters 6:680-687. Byrnes, J. E., P. L. Reynolds, and J. J. Stachowicz. 2007. Invasions and Extinctions Reshape Coastal Marine Food Webs. PLoS ONE 2:e295.
Prior to my M.S. at SDSU I worked with Dr. Danielle Zacherl at the University of California, Santa Barbara on Kellet's Whelk (Kelletia kelletii). I have also spent some time working with Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) on the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Project (LTER) with Dr. Robin Ross and Dr. Langdon Quetin. If you go way far back, I was also an aquarist for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA and also the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA. Feel free to shoot me an email if you are interested in collaborative research or if you just want to chat about all things nerdy (e.g. statistics, ecology, and academia). Contact Brian: bscheng@ucdavis.edu, (530) 754-8994
