Skip to content

Matthew Edwards

Biology / San Diego State University
: 619-594-7049 / : edwards@sciences@example.com @example.com @example.com.sdsu.edu

About me

My research focuses on the population and community dynamics of eastern Pacific kelp forests. My students and I focus primarily on studying the factors that regulate kelp forest ecosystems across numerous temporal and spatial scales (from Alaska to Chile), with emphasis on the importance of macroalgal alternate life stages in establishing patterns of adult biogeography. Such life stages have been found to be the most important life stage in setting species range limits. Further, we have begun an ambitious long-term study of the effects of climate change on the ecology, demography and physiology of the dominant habitat-forming kelps, with special attention to understanding how high and low latitude species differ. This work has involved the integration of broad-scale field monitoring with lab-based mesocosm experiments. A final area of focus of my lab involves understanding how changes in ocean chemistry (carbon, nitrogen, trace metals and anthropogenic pollutants) affect seaweed chemistry though cross disciplinary involvement of SDSU faculty from Biology, Chemistry and Public Health.

Areas of interest / keywords

marine ecology

kelp forest ecology

eastern pacific

alaska, biogeography, california, climate change, kelp, scale

Publications

1. Edwards, M. 2008. The effects of high irradiance on the settlement competency and viability of kelp zoospores. Journal of Phycology 44: 495. (article)

2. Edwards, M. 2007. Effects of ocean temperature on the southern range limits of two understory kelps, Pterygophora californica and Eisenia arborea, at multiple life-stages. Marine Biology 151: 1941. (article)

3. Edwards, M. 2006. Stipe hollowing in Eisenia arborea (Phaeophyta: Laminariales): variation across a latitudinal gradient. {hycologia 45: 343. (article)

4. Edwards, M. 2006. Cryptic processes in the sea: a review of delayed development in the microscopic stages of marine macroalgae. Algae 21: 161. (article)

5. Edwards, M., M.S. Foster, D.C. Reed, and D.R. Schiel. 2006. Top-down vs. bottom-up effects in kelp forests. Science 313: 1737. (article)

6. Edwards, M. 2006. Catastrophe, recovery, and range limitation in NE Pacific kelp forests: a large-scale perspective. Marine Ecology Progress Series 320: 79. (article)

7. Edwards, M. and G. Hernandez-Carmona. 2005. Delayed recovery of giant kelp near its southern range limit in the Northeast Pacific following El Nino. Marine Biology 147: 273-279. (article)

8. Edwards, M. 2004. Estimating scale-dependency in disturbance impacts: El Ninos and giant kelp forests in the northeast Pacific. Oecologia 138: 436-447. (article)

9. Clark, R., M. Edwards, and M. Foster. 2004. Effects of shade from multiple kelp canopies on an understory algal assemblage. Marine Ecology Progress Series 267: 107-119. (article)

10. Edwards, M. 2004. Delayed recovery of giant kelp near its southern range limit in the North Pacific Ocean following El Niño. Oecologia 138: 436. (article)

11. Edwards, M. and R.P. Clark. 2004. Effects of shade from multiple kelp canopies on an understory algal assemblage. Marine Ecology Progress Series 267: 107. (article)

12. Graham, M. and M. Edwards. 2001. Statistical significance versus fit: estimating the importance of indivisual factors in ecological analysis of variance. Oikos 93: 505-513. (article)

13. Edwards, M. 2000. The role of alternate life-history stages of a marine macroalga: a seed bank analogue? Ecology 81: 2404-2415. (article)

14. Edwards, M. 2000. The role of microscopic life-history stages in the persistence of marine macroalgae in seasonally variable environments. Ecology 81: 2404. (article)

15. Edwards, M. 1999. Using in situ substratum sterilization and fluorescence microscopy in studies of microscopic stages of marine macroalgae. Hydrobiologia 398/399: 253-259. (article)

16. Edwards, M. 1998. Effects of long-term kelp canopy exclusion on the abundance of the annual alga Desmarestia ligulata (Light F). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 228: 309-326. (article)

17. Edwards, M. 1998. Effects of long-term kelp canopy exclusion on the abundance of the annual alga Desmarestia ligulata. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 228: 309. (article)

Grants

1. Flow dynamics in kelp forests: implications for condition and survival.

2. Kelp forest interaction webs in the Aleutian archipelago: patterns and mechanisms of change following the collapse of an apex predator

3. Latitudinal variation in physiology, demography, and resilience of subtidal kelp populations in the Northeast Pacific

4. Monitoring of Global Change in Temperate Reef Communities Using Satellite Remote Sensing Technologies

Groups

I am a member of:

Related faculty