BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES - College of Arts and Sciences

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Warren J.S. Currie
Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, University of Guelph, 2001
B.A. Speech Communication, University of Waterloo, 1994
B.Sc. Honours Biology, University of Waterloo, 1992

Phone: (740) 597-1924
Email: curriew@ohiou.edu

Research Interests:
Scaling Ecology: The complexity of ecosystems complicates experimental design. Ecosystem data is dependant on the scale at which it is measured (the tyranny of scale), but often needs to be applied to scales much greater than or less than that it was collected. To understand the temporal and spatial scales of actual ecosystems, new frameworks such as multifractal analysis must be employed to account for heterogeneity in continous measurements.
Ecological Modeling: Computer simulations provide a valuable tool to investigate systems that are difficult or impossible to manipulate. Oceanic systems are particular cases where the environment is very complex, with many factor affecting species composition and distribution (salinity, temperature, tides, currents etc). I use models to answer questions on ecological dynamics of primarily plankton ecology. These range in scale from small-scale individual-based simulations of feeding ecology in complex food environments to large-scale finite-difference coastal ocean ecosystem models. Most recently, this involves NPZD (Nutrient-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton-Detritus) modules embedded into a physical circulation model such as ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System).
Aquatic Biomonitoring: The streams and lakes within Ohio are some of the nations most impacted. Point and non-point source pollutants including toxic spills, fertilizer run-off or acid-mine drainage have significantly changed the water quality and associated biota. Monitoring continues on a variety of sites, but due to the nature of sampling, they are difficult to compare across scales or set "baseline" standards. Time-series analysis of appropriately collected datasets can provide these multi-scale indices.
Estuarine Ecology: I employ in-situ probes measuring plankton biomass, Chl-a fluorescence, salinity, and oxygen concentration to determine the influence of the hydrologic environment on plankton distributions. I am particularly interested in quantifying the variability of coastal measurements in order to make predictions of ecologically important events such as anoxic periods due to eutrophication.

Research Website: Aquatic and Marine Ecology

Courses:
BIOS 429/531 Marine Biology, Spring 2004
BIOS 431/531 Limnology, Winter 2005

Advisor: Marine, Freshwater and Environmental Biology Program

Departmental Service:
Webpage Committee
Strategic Priorities Committee

Link to my: Curriculum Vitae
Personal Page

 

 

 

 

 

Publications:
  • Currie WJS and JC Roff. 2006. Plankton are not Passive Tracers: Plankton in a Turbulent Environment. J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 111, No. C5, C05S07 doi:10.1029/2005JC002967
  • Currie WJS and KMD Cuddington (submitted). The Importance of Patchy Distributions for Predator Foraging Success: Foragers in a Multifractal Field
  • Currie WJS, S Lovejoy, and JC Roff. (submitted). A multifractal analysis of coastal zooplankton distributions.
  • Currie WJS and JN Kremer (submitted). The CLUE model: A generalized model for the investigation and management of shallow estuarine eutrophication
  • Currie WJS and JN Kremer. (submitted). An empirical A6 relationship to account for macroalgae patchiness.
  • Ruhl N, McRobert, SP, and Currie WJS. (submitted). Female zebrafish (Danio rerio) do not prefer familiar shoalmates
  • Currie WJS. (available). The tyranny of scale: problems with measurement in aquatic ecosystems.
  • Currie WJS. 2001. Scale invariance and patchiness in the plankton. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Guelph.
  • Lovejoy S, Currie WJS, Y Tessier, MR Claereboudt, E Bourget, JC Roff, and D Schertzer. 2001. Universal multifractals and ocean patchiness: Phytoplankton, physical fields and coastal heterogeneity. J. Plankton Res 23:117-141
  • Currie WJS. 2001. Plankton: Uncharismatic Microfauna. Science's NextWave. April 6, 2001.
  • Currie WJS, Claereboudt MR, and JC Roff. 1998. Gaps and patches in the ocean: a one-dimensional analysis of plankton distributions. Marine Ecology Progress Series. Vol. 171 p. 15-21.
  • Claereboudt MR, Currie WJS, Y Tessier and JC Roff.. 1996. Electronic Poster: Multifractal Modelling of Plankton Abundance in Coastal Waters. International Liège Colloquium on Ocean Hydrodynamics, Belgium.