Coastal Research Group

The Coastal Research Group includes academics and post-graduate researchers working on different aspects of the ecology, utilization and management of the coastal environment. The main purpose of the group is to facilitate information exchange and interdisciplinary cooperation. Current focus areas are intertidal ecology, sustainable utilization of invertebrate resources and estuarine food webs.

Members

• Professor CD McQuaid
• Professor PW Froneman
• Dr F Porri

Ongoing projects

• Effects of littorinid grazing on algal biomass and biofilm productivity
• Using GIS to map the large scale distribution of mussel beds
• Colonization, growth and mortality of early settlers of the brown mussel Perna perna
• Spatial and temporal variability of larval densities and settlement of Perna perna 
• South African distribution of the invasive mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis
• Settlement and growth of the invasive mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis
• Spatial patchiness and fractal scaling of the within shore distribution of Perna perna
• Patch dynamics and aggregation in Perna perna and Mytilus galloprovincialis populations
• Coastal resource utilization in the Eastern Cape
• Population genetics of Siphonaria spp.
• Estuarine food webs
• Using stable isotopes to study the structure of marine food webs
• Within and among population synchronization of spawning in Perna perna
• Effects of small scale turbulence on growth in mussels
• Use of genetic markers to assess mussel larval dispersal

Some recent publications

• Froneman PW (2001) Seasonal changes in the zooplankton biomass and grazing in the temperate Kariega estuary (South Africa). Estuarine, coastal and Shelf Science 52:543-553.
• Froneman PW (2001) Feeding ecology of the mysid, Mesopodopsis wooldridgei, in the temperate Kariega estuary. Journal of Plankton Research 23:999-1008.
• Froneman PW (2001) Stable carbon isotope study of the food web of the Kariega estuary. African Journal of Aquatic Sciences 26(1):49-56.
• Kaehler S, Pakhomov EA (2001) Effects of storage and preservation on the d13C and d15N signatures of selected marine organisms. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 219: 299-304.
• Kostylev V, Erlandsson J (2001) A fractal approach for detecting spatial hierarchy and structure on mussel beds. Mar Biol 139: 497-506.
• Lawrie SM and McQuaid CD (2001). Scales of mussel bed complexity: structure, associated biota and recruitment. J. exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 257: 135-161.