Currently, the Seagrass Ecology Research Program at Southampton Graduate Campus is examining the role of biotic processes, and human perturbations, in controlling the flow of energy among trophic levels both within and between marine habitats, with emphasis on the seagrass and adjacent coral reef communities. This research is being conducted in diverse locations within the Florida Keys National Marine Sancturay.

Much of the emphasis of this work is on 1) experimental assessments of grazing intensity in seagrass habitats, 2) responses of seagrasses to this grazing, and 3) the role of omnivory in controlling trophic cascades in marine systems. Newly funded work will examine the indirect effects of the removal of large predatory fishes on the base of seagrass food webs in the Florida Keys.

The overall significance of this research lies in its attempt to understand the processes that control the distribution and productivity of submerged vegetated habitats throughout the western Atlantic Ocean. Because of the widespread occurrence of these habitats, the extraordinary productivity and richness of their associated biota, an understanding of the factors controlling their distribution and the degree to which they subsidize the productivity of nearby less productive habitats is essential to our understanding of how the overall productivity of nearshore waters is determined.