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An Ecosystem Ecology Perspective

An Ecosystem Ecology Perspective

Jacob AllgeierFrom the November 2017 Water Center Newsletter

Interview with Jacob Allgeier, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Jacob Allgeier is interested in tropical marine systems such as seagrass, mangroves, and coral reefs. These systems are heavily impacted by overfishing, pollutants, improper waste disposal, mining, and other issues, and much of Allgeier’s research focuses on ways to mitigate these impacts.

From Allgeier’s perspective, an important goal of reef restoration is to put more food on people’s plates. The high population of people living along tropical coasts makes it logical to connect restoration to food sources for people in coastal communities. When restored, tropical systems have the potential to shift back to a highly productive ecosystem.

“Fish play a critical role in the nutrient budget and are possibly the largest source of nutrients [to these coastal ecosystems]. Fish eat, and the nutrients they excrete are immediately accessible to plants and coral.”

Allgeier is involved in studying the consequences of removing fish from the system, and determining how to best manage the system in the future.

Education & Community Engagement

According to Allgeier, his involvement with education and outreach has significant benefits for communities and researchers.

“I was not trained to interact with people, but my co-advisor set the standard for engaging communities.”

  • In The Bahamas, researchers installed culverts with hundreds of children to increase water flow to the tidal creeks and aid in our restoration efforts.
  • Continuing work in The Bahamas, Allgeier plans to provide funds to support students developing the optimal reef design for attracting fish.
  • In Haiti, Allgeier is working with fishers and school groups while restoring reefs because he knows community engagement is important to enhance reef production on small scales.

Local Input Drives Science

“One of the coolest questions that we’re addressing we considered because of a meeting with fishers in The Bahamas.”

Allgeier’s research has shown that if you take the fish away, fertilizer (in the form of fish excretion) for the reef is lost, which damages habitat because fish-derived nutrients encourage reef growth. When presenting these findings to local fishers in The Bahamas, this question was turned on its head, when the fishers asked why can’t human-derived nutrients (typically sewage) also be good for reefs? The input of local people has helped drive his research, and an article resulting from these discussions is in the process of being published.

He is continuing this work through a more rigorous biogeochemistry approach, his area of expertise. He hopes to find students also interested in this area.

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