Judith P. Grassle

email:
phone: 732-932-6555 x. 351

Education: Ph.D., Duke University

Research Interests:  Research in my lab focuses on factors affecting patterns of benthic community structure (species composition and abundance) on the inner continental shelf at the LEO-15 research site. These factors include the relationships between physical circulation and larval dispersal, how flow and sediment characteristics affect larval settlement (using both field experiments and laboratory flumes), and how environmental characteristics and biological factors affect early recruitment. Ongoing work is chiefly on the abundant commercial bivalve, Spisula solidissima (surfclam) and its predators, and on sibling species of opportunistic polychaetes in the genus Capitella.