Dept. of Biological Sciences

Sarah A. Woodin

Carolina Distinguished Professor
of Biological Sciences

Ph.D., 1972, University of Washington

803-777-5254 (office & lab)
woodin@biol.sc.edu

Marine Benthic Ecology, Recruitment, Biogenic Disturbance, Biogeography

Dr. Woodin's research is focused on the analysis of processes controlling the distribution and abundance of organisms in marine sedimentary environments. Her past work has demonstrated experimentally the relative roles of direct and indirect competition, disturbance, predation (partial and complete), biogenic structural heterogeneity, and biogenic halogenated compounds. She is particularly interested in the importance of biogenic disturbance to recruitment and roles of large infauna as community drivers. Her emphasis has been on experimental field manipulations of shallow water marine sedimentary assemblages with parallel laboratory experiments and on the development of tools with which to detect behaviors of infauna remotely.

Dr. Woodin's present research centers on the following three areas: 1. remote sensing of the frequency and intensity of biogenic disruption by ecological engineers using pressure signals generated by hydraulic activities, 2. the effect of hydraulic activities on community structure in sediments, and 3. the importance of global climate change to the biogeography of large infauna. The ability to detect activities of large infauna remotely is a major breakthrough in sediment research in that it allows one to ask questions about rates and experimental outcomes non-destructively, opening the door to an array of manipulations and allowing the determination of pore-water flux rates. In the global change project she is looking at mechanisms driving changes in range limits as well as behavioral indicators of stress in large infauna at range limits. These projects are funded by ONR and NOAA. Her field studies are currently being carried out on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America and the Atlantic coast of Europe. Collaborators include Drs. David Wethey, Jerry Hilbish, Brian Helmuth, Venkat Lakshmi, and Roberta Marinelli.

Recent Selected Publications:

Berke, S. K., and S. A. Woodin. 2009. Engergetic costs, ontogenetic shifts and sexual dimorphism in spider crab decoration. Functional Ecology 22(6): 1125-1133.

Jenkins, S., P. Moore, M. Burrows, D. Garbary, S. Hawkins, A. Ingolffson, K. Sebens, P. Snelgrove, D. Wethey, and S. Woodin. 2008. The comparative ecology of North Atlantic shores: do differences in players matter for process? Ecology 89(11): S3-S23.

Wethey, D. S., S. A. Woodin, N. Volkenborn, K. Reise. 2008. Porewater advection by hydraulic activities of lugworms, Arenicola marina: A field, laboratory and modeling study. Journal of Marine Research 66(2): 255-273.

Wethey, D. S., and S. A. Woodin. 2008. Ecological hindcasting of biogeographic responses to climate change in the European intertidal zone. Hydrobiologia 606: 139-151.

S. A. Woodin 2007. Behavioral cues, recruitment and relative mobility: rocky shores versus sediments. Bulletin of Marine Science 81: 181-189.

Richmond, C. E., D. S. Wethey, S. A. Woodin. 2007 Climate change and increased environmental variability: demographic responses in an estuarine harpacticoid copepod. Ecological Modelling 209: 189-202.

Merz, R. A., and S. A. Woodin. 2006. Setal Function, Phylogeny, and Lifestyle Revelations among the Worms. Integrative and Comparative Biology 46: 481-496.

Wethey, D.S., and S. A. Woodin (2005) Infaunal hydraulics generate porewater pressure signals Biological Bulletin 209: 139-145.

Marinelli, R. L., and S. A. Woodin (2004) Disturbance and recruitment: a test of solute and substrate specificity using Mercenaria mercenaria and Capitella sp. 1. Marine Ecology Progress Series 269: 209-221.

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