Bruce A. Menge
Encyclopedia
Bruce A. Menge is an ocean ecologist. He has spent over forty years studying the processes that drive the dynamics of natural communities. His fields of interest include: structure and dynamics of marine meta-ecosystems, responses of coastal ecosystems to climate change
, linking benthic
and inner shelf pelagic
communities, the relationship between scale and ecosystem dynamics, bottom-up and top-down control of community structure, recruitment dynamics, ecophysiology
and sub-organismal mechanisms in environmental stress models, larval transport and connectivity, impact of ocean acidification
on marine ecosystems, controls of productivity, population, community, and geographical ecology. He settled on two career goals: carrying out experiment-based field research to investigate the dynamics of rocky intertidal
communities, focusing on species interactions and environmental context and how this might shape a community, and using the resulting data to test and modify theories on how communities were organized.
and grew up mostly in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota
, 1961-1965. He then received his PhD from the Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, 1965–1970, working under guidance of Robert T. Paine
. Menge met Jane Lubchenco and they were married in 1971. Menge worked on his Postdoc between 1970-1971 at the University of California at Santa Barbara with Joe Connell and Bill Murdoch. Menge then accepted a position as Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in August 1971, where he remained until 1976. Menge then decided to move to Oregon
and took a job at Oregon State University
in September 1976, where he worked as an assistant, associate, and full professor. This is where he is presently.
and meta-ecosystem ecology; physiological ecology; geographical ecology; impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on coastal ecosystems. Menge has researched the dynamics of ecological communities in biologically diverse marine environments. His visiting professorships have taken him to Guam
, Sweden
, Quebec
, Chile
, Jamaica
, New Zealand
and Panama
, where he has been an associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
since 1978.
, the West Quoddy Biological Research Station, the Organization for Tropical Studies
, and the Sustainable Ecosystems Institute. He has been a reviewer for the Journal of Marine Research since 1989. Menge is also a member of the American Society of Naturalists
, the Society for the Study of Evolution
, the Ecological Society of America
, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
and the Nordic Ecological Society. He has authored 121 papers published or in press.
marine life. Over the next five years, the research goals of PISCO are to understand the impacts of climate change on large marine ecosystems, to further the theory and application of marine reserve
s, and to help inform the sustainable management of marine resources.
of Long Island University
. Menge was appointed Wayne and Gladys Valley Endowed Professor of Marine Biology. He was awarded OSU Distinguished Professor of Zoology. He has won OSU's F.A. Gilfillan Memorial Award for Excellence in Research, the George Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America, and fellowships from the American Association for the Advancement of Science
and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, linking benthic
Benthic zone
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos. They generally live in close relationship with the substrate bottom; many such...
and inner shelf pelagic
Pelagic zone
Any water in a sea or lake that is not close to the bottom or near to the shore can be said to be in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek πέλαγος or pélagos, which means "open sea". The pelagic zone can be thought of in terms of an imaginary cylinder or water column that goes...
communities, the relationship between scale and ecosystem dynamics, bottom-up and top-down control of community structure, recruitment dynamics, ecophysiology
Ecophysiology
Ecophysiology or environmental physiology is a biological discipline which studies the adaptation of organism's physiology to environmental conditions...
and sub-organismal mechanisms in environmental stress models, larval transport and connectivity, impact of ocean acidification
Ocean acidification
Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH and increase in acidity of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere....
on marine ecosystems, controls of productivity, population, community, and geographical ecology. He settled on two career goals: carrying out experiment-based field research to investigate the dynamics of rocky intertidal
Intertidal zone
The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...
communities, focusing on species interactions and environmental context and how this might shape a community, and using the resulting data to test and modify theories on how communities were organized.
Early life and schooling
Menge was born in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
and grew up mostly in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 54,901 people, 20,457 households, and 14,579 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 21,026 housing units at an average density of 649.2 per square mile...
. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, 1961-1965. He then received his PhD from the Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, 1965–1970, working under guidance of Robert T. Paine
Robert T. Paine (zoologist)
Robert T. Paine, PhD, is a zoologist and professor emeritus of the University of Washington,who coined the keystone species concept in order to explain the relationship between Pisaster ochraceus, a species of starfish, and Mytilus californianus, a species of mussel.In his classic 1966 paper, Dr...
. Menge met Jane Lubchenco and they were married in 1971. Menge worked on his Postdoc between 1970-1971 at the University of California at Santa Barbara with Joe Connell and Bill Murdoch. Menge then accepted a position as Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in August 1971, where he remained until 1976. Menge then decided to move to Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and took a job at Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
in September 1976, where he worked as an assistant, associate, and full professor. This is where he is presently.
Research
The research that Menge has been interested in includes: marine ecology, community ecology, ecosystemEcosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
and meta-ecosystem ecology; physiological ecology; geographical ecology; impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on coastal ecosystems. Menge has researched the dynamics of ecological communities in biologically diverse marine environments. His visiting professorships have taken him to Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, where he has been an associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...
since 1978.
Involvements
Menge serves on the board of directors of the Friday Harbor LaboratoriesFriday Harbor Laboratories
Friday Harbor Laboratories , is a marine biology field station of the University of Washington, located in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington, USA. FHL was founded in 1904 by University of Washington Zoology Professor Trevor Kincaid...
, the West Quoddy Biological Research Station, the Organization for Tropical Studies
Organization for Tropical Studies
The Organization for Tropical Studies is a network of ecological research stations created in Costa Rica in 1963. OTS is run by a non-profit consortium of 63 universities, based in the United States, Australia and Latin America . The corporate headquarters of OTS are at Duke University, in...
, and the Sustainable Ecosystems Institute. He has been a reviewer for the Journal of Marine Research since 1989. Menge is also a member of the American Society of Naturalists
American Society of Naturalists
The American Society of Naturalists was founded in 1883 and is one of the oldest professional societies dedicated to the biological sciences in North America...
, the Society for the Study of Evolution
Society for the Study of Evolution
The Society for the Study of Evolution is a professional organization of evolutionary biologists. It was formed in the United States in 1946 to promote evolution and the integration of various fields of science concerned with evolution and to organize the publication of a scientific journal to...
, the Ecological Society of America
Ecological Society of America
The Ecological Society of America is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States, ESA publishes a suite of publications, from peer-reviewed journals to newsletters, fact sheets and teaching resources. It holds an annual meeting at different locations in the...
, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
Initiated in 1947, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography is a scientific society with the goal of Advancing the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. With approximately 4000 members in nearly 60 different countries, ASLO is the largest scientific society, worldwide, devoted to...
and the Nordic Ecological Society. He has authored 121 papers published or in press.
Current work
Menge, along with his wife, both faculty members at Oregon State University, split a single professorship into two half-time positions. Each holds an endowed title as Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology. For the next five years, they will focus their expertise on a $17.7 million research project to study the ecology and conservation of coastal Pacific OceanPacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
marine life. Over the next five years, the research goals of PISCO are to understand the impacts of climate change on large marine ecosystems, to further the theory and application of marine reserve
Marine reserve
For the United States Marine Corps Reserve see: Marine Forces ReserveA marine reserve is an area of the sea which has legal protection against fishing or development. This is to be distinguished from a marine park, but there is some overlap in usage...
s, and to help inform the sustainable management of marine resources.
Awards and honors
Menge is a marine ecologist. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree during commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 23 at Southampton CollegeSouthampton College
Stony Brook Southampton is a campus location of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, located in Southampton, New York between the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on the eastern end of Long Island. The campus features an innovative curriculum devoted to...
of Long Island University
Long Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
. Menge was appointed Wayne and Gladys Valley Endowed Professor of Marine Biology. He was awarded OSU Distinguished Professor of Zoology. He has won OSU's F.A. Gilfillan Memorial Award for Excellence in Research, the George Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America, and fellowships from the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
Publications
- 2011e. Barshis, D. J., E. E. Sotka, R. P. Kelly, A. Sivasundar, B. A. Menge, J. A. Barth, and S. R. Palumbi. Coastal upwelling and sweepstakes recruitment in the acorn barnacle Balanus glandula. Marine Ecology Progress Series (in press).
- 2011f. Menge, B. A. Northern California Current. Pp. xxx-xxx in Encyclopedia for Climate and Weather, Second Edition. S. Schneider, editor in chief. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. (in press).
- 2011g. Menge, B. A., T. L. Freidenburg and A. Iles. Keystone species. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 2nd Edition. S. A. Levin, editor-in-chief. Academic Press, New York, NY. (in press)
- 2011h. Gouhier, T. C., B. A. Menge, and S. D. Hacker. Recruitment facilitation can promote coexistence and buffer population growth in metacommunities. Ecology Letters (in press).
- 2011i. Place, S. P., B. A. Menge, and G. E. Hofmann. Transcriptome profiling of environmental and physiological linkages in complex ecosystems. Functional Ecology (in press).
- 2012a. Menge, B. A. and E. Sanford. Ecological role of sea stars from populations to meta-ecosystems. Ch. 7 in J. M. Lawrence, ed. Asteroidea: Biology and Ecology of Starfish. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. (in press).
- 2012b. Menge, B. A. A journey towards rocky intertidal meta-ecosystem ecology. (in press). Invited essay in, C. Hurd, P. J. Harrison, C. S. Lobban and K. Bischoff, Seaweed Ecology and Physiology, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.