The study of marine-life habitat, populations, and interactions among organisms and their surrounding environment. Areas of current research include: population genetics, phytoplankton physiology and ecology, primary productivity, microbial community structure and function, behavioral ecology, biodiversity, human impacts on coastal ecosystems, fisheries, invasive species and food web dynamics.
I am an ecologist interested in coastal and marine ecosystems. My research applies ecological principles to questions with conservation, management and restoration applications. I co-advise graduate students through UofSC's School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment and am also the Research Coordinator at the North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Georgetown, South Carolina.
Past Director of the UofSC Genomics facility, Joe Jones's research has focused on conservation genetics, genetic connectivity, and genetics of rare populations (especially in fish and plankton); molecular phylogenetics and ecology, microbial ecology, natural history, and technology development. As the Faculty Principal of Green Quad, his most recent work connects this expertise to undergraduate and graduate hands-on learning experiences in aquaponics and heritage landrace propagation.
My general research interests are in marine ecology, particularly the influence of biological and physical factors on the community dynamics of coastal fauna and flora. I am especially interested in the influence of such factors on the distribution and movement of juvenile and adult stages of estuarine and coastal fishes and invertebrates, as well as the effects of habitat on the survival and growth of these organisms. I have pursued these interests through research efforts, often combining field and laboratory approaches, in a wide range of estuarine systems and the coastal ocean along the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
Microbes interact among themselves and with the physical world. They respond to environmental changes in ways that shape the physical world in turn. I develop, apply, and integrate novel methods in microbial ecology and geochemistry to study these intricate relationships found in marine environments.
I'm a marine ecologist who studies how marine ecosystems work, especially in terms of how they process energy derived from microscopic plants (phytoplankton and microalgae). Most of my work is conducted in estuarine and coastal waters, including the Gulf of Mexico, San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, North Inlet Estuary on the South Carolina coast, and Galveston Bay, Texas.
I study phytoplankton...the microscopic algae that give the ocean its greenish color and that photosynthesize, removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Specifically I'm interested in how light, nutrients, and temperature influence phytoplankton growth and taxonomic composition, including the development of "red tides" (harmful algal blooms).
Dr. Romero’s research focuses on uncovering geochemical signatures in the ocean as archives of how marine systems function and respond to natural and anthropogenic events. She uses organic chemistry and isotopic tracers in diverse samples from natural environments, and experiments to study the source, transformation processes, and fate of molecules in marine systems.