Robert J. Diaz

• Professor of Marine Science
• B.A., La Salle College
• M.S., University of Virginia
• Ph.D., University of Virginia
• D.H.C., Göteborg University, Sweden

Research Interests

Current Projects

Selected Publications

Students

Courses

Collaborators

Research Interests

My research interests center around understanding trophic dynamics and the functional importance of production in ecosystems, benthic boundary layer processes, and organism-sediment interactions, and how perturbations of these processes influence energy flow. Recently I have investigated the effects of low dissolved oxygen on trophic transfer of benthic secondary production and developed several methods of assessing environmental impacts which incorporate the functional aspects of benthic communities and remote sensing technology (sediment profile and underwater photography). I am striving to estimate the relative resource value of all the various estuarine and marine benthic habitat types for the dual purpose of quantifying energy flow between habitats and for developing environmentally sound management strategies. This research has led me to consider a landscape ecological approach to looking within and between systems around the U.S. for how the physical and biological processes interact. In addition, I am also interested in the application of the statistical and numerical methods to biological data. I am broadly interested in the ecology and taxonomy of estuarine and marine invertebrates with specialization in oligochaetes and low salinity fauna.

Current Projects

• Assessment of the ecological and economic consequences of low dissolved oxygen to ecosystem functions at regional and global scales. Current research sites are in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware inland bays.
• Benthic habitat mapping and evaluation of living resources of near coastal bottoms from VA to NJ. Funded by MMS.. 
• Long-term benthic monitoring. Funded by State and Chesapeake Bay Program. 
• Invertebrate museum curation and collecting. State funded.

Selected Publications

Brandt, A., A.J. Gooday, S.N. Brandao, S. Brix, W. Brökeland, T. Cedhagen, M. Choudhury, N. Cornelius, B. Danis, I. De Mesel, R.J. Diaz, D.C. Gillan, B. Ebbe, J.A. Howe, D. Janussen, S. Kaiser, K. Linse, M. Malyutina, J. Pawlowski, M. Raupach, and A. Vanreusel. 2007. First insights into the biodiversity and biogeography of the Southern Ocean deep sea. Nature 447:307-311.

Diaz, R. J. and J. H. Trefry. 2006. Comparison of sediment profile image data with profiles of oxygen and Eh from sediment cores. Journal of Marine Systems 62:164-172.

Lim, H.-S., R. J. Diaz, J.-S. Hong and L. C. Schaffner. 2006. Hypoxia and benthic community recovery in Korean coastal waters. Marine Pollution Bulletin 52:1517-1526. Tenore, K.R., Zajac, R.N., Terwin, J., Andrade, F., Blanton, J., Boynton, W., Carey, D., Diaz, R., Holland, A.F., Lopez-Jamar, E., Montagna, P., Nichols, F., Rosenberg, R., Queiroga, H., Sprung, M., Whitlatch, R.B. 2006. Characterizing the Role Benthos Play in Large Coastal Seas and Estuaries: A Modular Approach. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 330:392-402.

Diaz, R. J., M. Solan, and R. M. Valente. 2004. A review of approaches for classifying benthic habitats and evaluating habitat quality. Journal of Environmental Management. 73:165–181.

Diaz, R. J. 2004. Biological and physical processes structuring deep-sea surface sediments in the Scotian and Weddell Seas, Antarctica. Deep-Sea Research II 51:1515-1532. Diaz, R. J., G. R. Cutter, Jr. and D. M. Dauer. 2003. A comparison of two methods for estimating the status of benthic habitat quality in the Virginia Chesapeake Bay. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.371-381.

Diaz, R. J., G. R. Cutter, Jr. and K. W. Able. 2003. The importance of physical and biogenic structure to juvenile fishes on the shallow inner continental shelf. Estuaries 26:12-20Diaz, R.J. 2001. Overview of Hypoxia Around the World. J. Environ. Qual. 30:275-281. Cutter, R.G. and Diaz, R.J. 2000. Biological alteration of physically structured flood deposits on the Eel margin, northern California. Continental Shelf Research. 20:235-253.

Yozzo, D.J. and R.J. Diaz. 1999. Tidal freshwater wetlands: invertebrate diversity, ecology, and functional significance.  P. 889-918. In: D.P. Batzer, R.B. Rader and S.A. Wissinger (eds.), Invertebrates in Freshwater Wetlands of North America: Ecology and management.  John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Diaz, R.J. and A. Solow. 1999. Ecological and economic consequences of hypoxia. Topic 2. Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Assessment. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series. NOAA, COP, Silver Springs, MD, 86 pp.
Published on the www at: http://www.nos.noaa.gov/Products/pubs_hypox.html#Topic2

Cutter, G.R. and R.J. Diaz. 1998. Novel optical remote sensing and ground-truthing of benthic habitat using the Burrow-Cutter-Diaz plowing sediment profile camera system (BCD sled). Journal of Shellfish Research. 17:1443-1444.

Nestlerode, J.A. and R.J. Diaz. 1998. Effects of periodic environmental hypoxia on predation of a thethered polychaete, Glycera americana: implication for trophic dynamics.  Marine Ecology Progress Series. 172:185-195.

Bonsdorff, E., R.J. Diaz, R. Rosenberg, A. Norkko and G.R. Cutter. 1996. Characterization of soft-bottom benthic habitats of the Åland Islands, northern Baltic Sea.  Marine Ecology Progress Series. 142:235-245.

Diaz, R. J. and R. Rosenberg. l995. Marine benthic hypoxia - review of ecological effects and behavioral responses on macrofauna. Oceanography and Marine Biology, Annual Review. 33:245-303.

Diaz, R. J., G. R. Cutter and D. C. Rhoads. l994. The importance of bioturbation to continental slope sediment structure and benthic processes off Cape Hatteras, NC. Deep-Sea Research II 4l:7l9-734.

Diaz, R. J., J. A. Blake and G. R. Cutter (Eds.). l994. Input, accumulation and cycling of materials on the continental slope off Cape Hatteras. Deep-Sea Research II 4l(4-6). Includes CD-ROM Appendix.

Students

Courses Taught

MS505  Fundamentals of Experimental Design & Sampling
MS650  Analysis of Discrete Data
MS653  Marine Benthos
MS654  Secondary Production of Marine Invertebrates

Collaborators

Ken Able, Rutgers
James Blake, ENSR, Wood Hole
George Cutter, University of New Hampshire
Dan Dauer, Old Dominion University
Dom DiToro, University of Delaware
Roger Flood, SUNY, Stony Brook
Lisa Levin, Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Hans Nilsson, Gothenburg University
Mark Patterson, VIMS, College of William and Mary
Nancy Rabalais, LUMCON
Rutger Rosenberg, Gothenburg University
Sebastian Schreiber, Department of Mathematics, College of William and Mary
Rochelle Seitz, VIMS, College of William and Mary
Martin Solan, University of Aberdeen
Tim Targett, University of Delaware
Anders Tengberg, University of Copenhagen

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