Rosemary Romero

(co-advised with Dr. David Lindberg)

I study how species interactions and disturbance structure marine communities. I am interested questions concerning the drivers of seaweed community assembly post-disturbance. Ulva (sea lettuce) is commonly found growing on newly-disturbed intertidal rocks and in the form of "green blooms" in coastal estuaries. The blades of this alga are annual and holocarpic, meaning that all cells within the blades can become reproductive simultaneously. This trait has led to the hypothesis that propagules are perpetually present in the water column. I am in the process of testing this hypothesis and investigating how variation in propagule availability might explain patterns of recruitment and green blooms.