Bradley Peterson
Current Job: Professor of Marine Science
Current Project: Shinnecock Bay Restoration Project
State(s) working in: New York
Where are you from: Stony Brook University
What do you think is the main reason we should protect SAV?
Habitat complexity and nursery role.
How do you feel your research will make a difference in the SAV community?
Understanding positive plant-animal interactions and their potential for SAV resilience.
What is one of your best memories working with SAV?
Lunch breaks in Florida Bay with dolphins.
What keeps you motivated to keep caring about the future of SAV?
The incredibly important role they play in our coastal estuaries and what consequences their loss would have on these marine communities.
More about Brad’s story
Brad is currently a Professor of Marine Science at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) and the Dive Safety Officer at Stony Brook University. Brad grew up in Nebraska living in the amber waves of grain. He longed for the sea and headed to the Florida Institute of Technology to purse a BS in marine biology. He later received an MS degree in zoology from the University of Rhode Island and then took the opportunity of a lifetime to join Ken Heck’s Marine Ecology Lab at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. After completing his Phd, Brad accepted the Tropical Biology Post-doctoral scholar at Florida International University. While in south Florida, Brad investigated the role of marine sponge communities in controlling phytoplankton blooms within Florida Bay and the resulting impact on seagrass productivity. He also oversaw the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Seagrass Status and Trends Monitoring Program.
Brad’s research has primarily focused on understanding the role of organisms in changing resource availability within their communities and how these interactions affect community development and stability. He uses manipulative experiments in nearshore marine habitats to examine how “resource providers” affect other members of their communities. Much of his work has been done with plant-animal interactions within seagrass ecosystems because these habitats are an excellent model system to ask these questions. However, over the past decade, he and his lab have worked in saltmarshes, mangroves, oyster reefs, coral reefs, and offshore artificial reef systems to address their questions of interest. He has a longstanding interest in elucidating the role played by positive interactions in community organization and in incorporating these interactions into current community development models and restoration strategies. Brad’s recent attention has been focused on the impacts of climate change on marine communities, anthropogenic effects on landscape ecology, ecosystem engineering, and restoration ecology.
