Professor emeritus, Department of Biological Sciences
University of Notre Dame
Bio:
Education:
B.B.A. University of Notre Dame 1972
M.F.S. Yale University 1974
Ph.D. Harvard University 1978
Post-doctoral appointments:
Harvard Society of Fellows (1976 – 1980)
University of Washington (1978-1980)
Faculty Positions:
1980 – 1992 University of Michigan
1992 – 2001 Utah State University
2001 – 2019 Gillen Director, University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center
Research at National Bison Range, MT (1978 – 2019).
Research on Great Salt Lake, UT since 1994.
Title: What-ifs: Scenarios from a Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Model
Abstract: A mathematical model for the Great Salt Lake ecosystem has been constructed. While still being improved, it permits examination of pelagic (lake water column) and benthic (lake bottom: microbialites, sediments and sands) biotic responses to salinity and nutrient availability. Expected future salinity changes with and without management action (berm between South and North Arm) can be assessed. However, recent observations that this management, while ameliorating negative effects of high salinity, also may be negatively impacting nitrogen availability, a limiting nutrient for phytoplankton and microbialite production. The linkage between salinity management and nutrient dynamics was unexpected, and the ecosystem model indicates that it may have greater impacts on biotic responses than salinity, except at the very highest salinities (> 180 ppt). This indicates that viewing ecosystem dynamics as the result of a single factor can be misleading and produce unanticipated management effects.
