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Chris Mayer PhD. |
My research interests center on community and ecosystem ecology in aquatic systems. My primary areas of focus are: invertebrate-fish predator-prey interactions, organism habitat modification (ecosystem engineering), spatial-scale of effects, and introduced-species effects. I address research questions using multi-trophic level and multi-taxa approaches. I use a variety of tools (e.g. behavioral observation and physiology) to understand how organisms process and transfer energy and organic material from their environment and across trophic levels. I use field and laboratory experiments to test specific hypotheses, field sampling to explore natural patterns, and long-term data analysis to understand system trajectory. Most of my current research focuses on benthic (bottom) lake communities and their function. Benthic processes are increasingly important to ecosystem function due to anthropogenic effects on lakes.