This award will provide travel support for a six-month visit by Dr. Jon Witman of the Marine Science Center, Northeastern University to New Zealand. The fjords of southwestern New Zealand represent a unique and scientifically important marine environment which contains fragile communities dominated by many rare and unusual species. Present understanding of the environmental processes that support the biological communities in the fjords is very limited and is hindering the ability to manage the area. The University of Otago's Department of Marine Science has made a long-term commitment to participation in, and facilitating marine research in the fjords. Prof. Philip Mladenov from Otago University will serve as the New Zealand collaborator. The subtidal rock walls of the fjords provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the relative roles of physical and biotic processes in maintaining community structure due to the conspicuous zonation of sessile invertebrates and the highly stratified fjord water column. Two primary zones have been identified, a shallow mussel-serpulid polychaete zone and a deep suspension feeding zone. Specifically, this collaborative research project will investigate if the limits of these zones are determined by larval supply and/or sea star predation.
