In the second video podcast dedicated to the highly commended papers of the Harper Prize 2015, Courtney Stepien is presenting the research findings of her paper entitled: “Impacts of geography, taxonomy and functional group on inorganic carbon use patterns in marine macrophytes”. The video is available below and can also be found on the Journal of Ecology YouTube channel (english subtitles available).

Courtney Stepien recently obtained her PhD from the University of Chicago with the project entitled “The role of evolutionary history and ecological interactions in the maintenance of a high-diversity algal assemblage”, supervised by Dr. Catherine Pfister. Courtney’s research explores the roles of evolutionary history and functional diversity in coastal communities, and the response of such communities to disturbance along environmental gradients. More particularly, she is studying carbon uptake by seaweeds, which are the principal actors of carbon cycling in the nearshore coastal areas. This was the research topic of her paper published in Journal of Ecology, in which she highlights the impacts of geography, taxonomy and functional group of marine macrophytes on carbon use patterns. Courtney is currently expanding her study of inorganic carbon usage in marine macrophytes to investigate the evolutionary history of carbon uptake patterns in seaweed and how these patterns may have evolved in response to historic atmospheric changes. 

Pierre Mariotte
Blog Editor, Journal of Ecology