Dr. Just Cebrian
Senior Marine Scientist, Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Assistant Professor, Department of Marine Sciences
University of South Alabama
Ph.D.,1996, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya-UPC
jcebrian@disl.org
Ecosystems Lab Web Site

Coastal Trophic Dynamics; Terrestrial-Aquatic Comparative Ecology; Anthropogenic Effects on Marine Communities...

Research Interests
My research interests are centered around the controls of the magnitude and trophic fate of primary production in ecosystems. Elucidating what controls the amount and quality of food produced in ecosystems, as well as the routes followed by that food (consumption by herbivores, decomposition, export out of the community, and storage as living or detrital mass) is essential in understanding a number of important ecological roles. These roles include the system's capacity to support secondary biomass within (consumption in the system) or off (through export) the system, carbon and nutrient accumulation or release (sink vs. source), and nutrient links with neighboring systems (i.e. the system's dependence on imported nutrients).

Our field and experimental work focuses on coastal marine communities. These include phytoplanktonic communities, sediment flats (mostly inhabited by benthic microalgae), macroalgal beds, seagrass meadows, and marshes. But we also like to compare our and other marine communities with freshwater and terrestrial communities through extensive literature compilations. We thus work at different scales of integration: across marine communities, where our field and experimental work is centered; and across aquatic and terrestrial communities, where, using published data, we intend to identify trends in how carbon and nutrients cycle.

And, finally, because we all face a serious environmental crisis and need to contribute towards finding sustainable solutions, I am also interested in ascertaining how current anthropogenic perturbations, such as coastal eutrophication and increasing UV irradiance, may alter carbon and nutrient budgets in coastal ecosystems. Such studies are needed in our quest towards an understanding of how increasing human domination of coastal ecosystems can alter local and global elemental budgets, and in elaborating effective environmental policies.

Representative Publications:
Cebrian, J. (2002). Variability and control of carbon consumption, export, and accumulation in marine communities. Limnol. Oceanogr. 47: 11-22.

Hauxwell, J., J. Cebrian, C. Furlong, and I. Valiela. 2001. Macroalgal canopies contribute to eelgrass (Zostera marina) decline in temperate estuarine ecosystems. Ecology 82: 1007-1022.

Cebrian J. 1999. Patterns in the fate of production in plant communities. Am. Nat. 154: 449-468.

Cebrian, J. and I. Valiela. 1999. Seasonal patterns in phytoplankton biomass in coastal ecosystems. J. Plankton Res. 21: 429-444

Cebrian, J., M. Williams, J. MacClelland and I. Valiela. 1998. The dependence of heterotrophy and carbon accumulation on autotrophic nutrient concentration in ecosystems. Ecology letters 1:165-170.

Cebrian, J., C. M. Duarte, N. Marbá and S. EnrÌquez. 1997. The magnitude and fate of production of four co-occurring Western Mediterranean seagrass species. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 155 : 29-44

Cebrian, J., C. M. Duarte, N. Marbá, S. EnrÌquez, M. Gallegos and B. Olesen. 1996. Herbivory on Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile: magnitude and variability in the Spanish Mediterranean. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 130: 147-155.

Cebrian, J. and C. M. DuNovember 3, 2004of detrital carbon storage in ecosystems. Science 268: 1606-1608.

Cebrian, J. and C. M. Duarte.1994. The dependence of herbivory on growth rate in natural plant communities. Funct. Ecol. 8: 518-525

Duarte, C. M., J. Cebrian and N. Marbá. 1992. Global change in the marine environment: the life-history of long-term monitoring programmes in Europe. Nature 356: 190.

Selected Current Research Grants:
ACES - (Alabama Center for Estuarine Studies) " Evaluating Trophic Processes as Indicators of Anthropogenic Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems: an Exploratory Analyses"

MASGC - (Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium) " Preliminary Evaluation of the Ecological Role of the Seagrass Halodule wrightii in Coastal Ecosystems: Towards and Assessment of the Impact of Anthropogenic Eutrophication on That Role"

ACES / MASGC -"Interactions between anthropogenic eutrophication and the black needlerush
(Juncus roemerianus) marsh in the Gulf of Mexico: how is eutrophication affecting the marsh ecological role and to what extent can the marsh palliate the impact of eutrophication on coastal waters?"


Current Graduate Students
Alina Corcoran
Adrienne Dunsmuir
Amy Hunter
Jason Stutes