9802715 Nielsen The International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twentyfour months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twenty-four-month postdoctoral research visit by Dr. Karina J. Nielsen of Oregon State University to work with Drs. Sergio A. Navarrete and Juan Carlos Castilla at Catholic University in Santiago, Chile, and with Professor Bruce A. Menge and Jane Lubchenco at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Her research is on upwelling patterns and marine plant herbivore interactions. Specifically, Dr. Nielsen and her Chilean collaborators will look at several sites along the central Chilean coast which have different community composition and which have important differences in productivity and upwelling conditions to measure the nature and intensity of the link between nutrients, macroalgae and herbivory. Upon Dr. Nielsen's return to Oregon, she will compare her results with work done in New Zealand and Oregon by her U.S. collaborators. This research will provide baseline data on the structure and dynamics of rocky intertidal communities along both north and southeastern Pacific shores, allowing the evaluation of the ecological consequences of global change on coastal marine communities. Dr. Navarrete is the director of the Estacion Costera de Investigaciones Marinas of Las Cruces, which is one of the best facilities for marine research in South America. In addition to Drs. Navarrete and Castilla, Dr. Nielsen will be working closely with Drs. Bernabe Santelices and Juan Correas, who are world experts on the physiology and ecology of intertidal macroalgae. ***
