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<\/a><\/h2>\nIn SDSU’s Marine Conservation Ecology Lab, our primary goal is to investigate the processes that control the abundance and diversity of animal life in nearshore habitats.\u00a0 Using field experiments, lab experiments, and mathematical modeling, we explore a number of ecologically based issues in the coastal oceans, including:<\/p>\n
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- the role of habitat structure in dictating biodiversity, animal behavior, and ecosystem function in marine seascapes;<\/li>\n
- the factors that dictate the effectiveness of coastal nursery habitats like seagrasses and rocky reefs;<\/li>\n
- the ecological relationships among organisms in kelp forests, such as spiny lobsters, sea urchins, and abalone;<\/li>\n
- processes that control the abundance and distribution of invasive species.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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[et_pb_slide heading=”People in the lab” button_text=”More about people in the lab” background_color=”#ffffff” image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ErinMallarie.jpg” alignment=”center” background_layout=”dark” allow_player_pause=”off” background_image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kelp-forest-diver-2.jpg” button_link=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/people-in-the-lab\/”]In our lab, PhD, MS, and undergraduate students work together to investigate ecological issues ranging from the ecology of individual species to entire communities.\u00a0 Click below to find out more about Dr. Hovel and the students doing research in the lab.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_slide][et_pb_slide heading=”Seagrass ecology” button_text=”More about seagrass research” background_color=”#4fd6d6″ image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/eelgrass-epiphytes-at-Coronado-summer-2015.jpg” alignment=”center” background_layout=”dark” allow_player_pause=”off” background_image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kelp-forest-diver-2.jpg” button_link=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/research-in-the-hovel-lab\/”]Seagrass habitat provides an excellent experimental model system for research on a variety of ecological levels, from behavioral ecology to the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_slide][et_pb_slide heading=”Spiny lobster ecology” button_text=”More about spiny lobster research” background_color=”#2c7154″ image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/newly-settled-CA-spiny-lobster.jpg” alignment=”center” background_layout=”dark” allow_player_pause=”off” background_image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kelp-forest-diver-2.jpg” button_link=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/research-in-the-hovel-lab\/”]The California spiny lobster is an understudied but economically valuable fishery species in California and Mexico.\u00a0 Our research on spiny lobsters involves testing hypotheses about predator avoidance, lobster habitat use and movement, and the top-down effects of lobsters on benthic communities.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_slide][et_pb_slide heading=”Invasive species research” background_color=”#ffffff” image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/anemones-on-zostera-1.jpg” alignment=”center” image_alt=”Eelgrass blades colonized by anemones” background_layout=”dark” allow_player_pause=”off” background_image=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kelp-forest-diver-2.jpg” button_text=”More about research on invasive species” button_link=”https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/research-in-the-hovel-lab\/”]Bays and estuaries are prime environments for new species to be introduced to marine ecosystems.\u00a0 The eelgrass habitat of Mission Bay and San Diego Bay has been invaded by numerous species, which may alter the benthic environment and create fundamental changes to the estuarine ecosystem.<\/p>\n
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Welcome to the Marine Conservation Ecology Lab In SDSU’s Marine Conservation Ecology Lab, our primary goal is to investigate the processes that control the abundance and diversity of animal life in nearshore habitats.\u00a0 Using field experiments, lab experiments, and mathematical modeling, we explore a number of ecologically based issues in the coastal oceans, including: the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-46","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482,"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions\/482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sci.sdsu.edu\/hovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}