Professor Wins Fulbright Senior Scholarship

Erik Sotka, professor of Biology at the College of Charleston has received a  2010 Fulbright Senior Scholarship to conduct a study on marine ecosystems at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

He will spend four months looking at the effect of warming seas on the ecosystems, in particular seaweed-herbivore interactions.

“The sustainability of this ecosystem-based wealth over time is threatened by climate change which causes oceans to rise in elevation and become hotter and more acidic during the 20^th century” says Sotka.

Sotka will examine seaweed-herbivore interactions at multiple temperatures and analyze the physiological status and interaction strength.  His study will focus on whether seaweeds and herbivores are capable of genetically adapting to predicted increases in seawater temperatures.