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James J. Pierson, Ph.D.

Zooplankton represent a link between primary producers (algae) and higher trophic levels such as commercially and ecologically important fish species.

To study zooplankton requires incorporation of various disciplines and sampling or experimenting across time and space scales. My work focuses on biological oceanography and zooplankton ecology, specifically:

  • Elucidating the factors controlling the trophic dynamics of zooplankton.
  • Quantifying how the life histories of zooplankton respond to multiple stressors, such as environmental and climatic variability.
  • Combining in situ observations with laboratory experiments and in silico simulations, to understand how individuals’ behaviors directly and indirectly affect population dynamics and structure.

 

A short movie of copepods swimming:

 

 

A plankton tow, from the perspective of the net:

 

James J. Pierson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor



2020 Horns Point Rd.
Cambridge, MD 21613

410.221.8218
jpierson@umces.edu

Publons / ResearcherID profile

Logo for SEAS Islands Alliance with stylized circular image with three waves of different colors around the circumference of the circle and the words SEAS Islands Alliance around the outside


Logo for Centro Tortuga with stylized spiral image with a sun at the center and waves around the outside and red circles between wave crests and the words Centro Tortuga Diversity Discovery Learning


logo image of the Choptank River with the word Phytochop and stylized images of microplankton

 
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