Ruth H. Carmichael, Ph.D.

Senior Marine Scientist
Assistant Professor of Marine Science, University of South Alabama


Ph.D., Boston University, 2004

Email
Curriculum Vitae
 

Marine Ecosystem Response

Research Interests                                                           Lab website 

I use a variety of approaches to make these assessments.  I measure how perturbations affect habitat and food quality for consumers, and then determine the extent to which these effects may be transferred up coastal food webs in terms of change in growth, survival, and physiology.  I also employ natural abundance stable isotopes to trace N and C sources from consumers to their food sources and ultimately to N and C sources from land.  I use this information to discern trophic interactions, define linkages between anthropogenic factors and organism responses, assess nutritional importance of food sources, discern physiological state of organisms, and historically trace responses to environmental change.

1. Population ecology of West Indian manatees in Alabama waters
   
   a. A model for conservation management by integration of
       research and public outreach
   
   b. Use of telemetry and GPS to monitor West Indian manatee
       movements in Alabama waters
   
   c.  Use of tagging and necropsy data to define movements and
        diet of Alabama manatees
   

2. Factors affecting ecology and physiology of bivalves in nGOM waters (and elsewhere)
   
   a. Use of N stable isotope ratios in bivalve shell to trace anthropogenic
       N sources.
   
   b. Effects of N enrichment on oyster growth and survival in Mobile Bay, AL
   
   c. Use of stable isotope ratios to ink wastewater sources to effects on
       shellfish and human health:  Defining relevant and effective spatial and
       temporal scales for management
   
   

3. The trophic importance of land-driven organic matter
   

4. Using molts to evaluate fringe horseshoe crab populations in Downeast
   Maine and the northern Gulf of Mexico
   

5. Development and integration of metadata and research data retention
   at DISL

Courses

• Invertebrate Zoology
• Scientifc Communication
• Stable Isotope Ecology Seminar
• Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs

Selected Current Research Grants

Past Research Grants

Selected Publications

2010

Kovacs, C., J. Daskin, H. Patterson, and R. H. Carmichael. Crassostrea
             virginica shells record local variation in wastewater inputs to a coastal
             estuary. Aquatic Biol. 9:77-84.

Carmichael, R. H. and C. Kovacs. Comment on Watanabe et al. 2009.
             Mar. Pollut. Bull. 60: 314-315.

2009

Pabody, C., R. H. Carmichael, L. Rice, and M. Ross.  West Indian manatees in
            Mobile Bay, Alabama:  A new sighting network adds to twenty years of
            historical data on extralimital populations. Gulf Mexico Sci. 27:52-61.

Carmichael, R. H., E. Gaines, Z. Sheller, A. Tong, A. Clapp, and I. Valiela. Diet
            composition of juvenile horseshoe crabs: Implications for growth and
            survival of natural and cultured stocks, p. 521-534. In J. Tanacredi, M.
            Botton, D. Smith [eds.], Biology and conservation of horseshoe crabs.
            Springer, New York.

2008

Carmichael, R. H., T. Hattenrath, I. Valiela, R. H. Michener. Nitrogen stable
            isotopes in the shell of Mercenaria mercenaria trace wastewater inputs
            from watersheds to estuarine ecosystems. Aquatic Biol. 4:99-111. pdf

Daskin, J. H., K. Calci, W. Burkhardt, III, and R. Carmichael. Use of N stable
            isotope and alternative microbial analysis to define wastewater influence in
            Mobile Bay, AL. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 56:860-868.

2007

Bowen, J., K. Kroeger, G. Tomasky, W. J. Pabich, , M. L. Cole, R. H. Carmichael,
            I. Valiela. A review of land-estuary coupling by groundwater discharge to
            New England estuaries:  Mechanisms and effects. Applied Geochemistry.
            22: 175-191.

2005

Carmichael, R. H. and I. Valiela. Coupling of near-bottom seston and surface
            sediment composition: Changes with nutrient enrichment and implications
            for estuarine food supply and biogeochemical processing.  Limnol.
            Oceanogr. 50: 97-105.

2004

Carmichael, R. H., A. Shriver, and I. Valiela. Changes in shell and soft tissue
            growth, tissue composition, and survival of quahogs, Mercenaria
            mercenaria, and softshell clams, Mya arenaria, in response to eutrophic-
            driven changes in food supply and habitat. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 313:
            75-104.

Rutecki, D., R. H. Carmichael, and I. Valiela.  Magnitude of harvest of Atlantic
            horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus, in Pleasant Bay, MA.  Estuaries 27:
            179-187.

Carmichael, R. H., B. Annette, and I. Valiela. N loading to Pleasant Bay, Cape
            Cod:  Application of models and stable isotopes to detect incipient nutrient
            enrichment of estuaries.  Mar. Pollut. Bull. 48: 137-143.

Carmichael, R. H., D. Rutecki, B. Annett, E. Gaines, and I. Valiela.  Position of
            horseshoe crabs in estuarine food webs: N and C stable isotopic study of
            foraging ranges and diet composition. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 299:
            231-253.

2003

Carmichael, R. H., D. Rutecki, and I. Valiela.  Abundance and population structure
           of the Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, in Pleasant Bay, Cape
           Cod.  Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 246: 225-239.