PTRSCE014 - Biodiversity: Indicators of Ocean Health

Course Description

The world’s oceans are home to millions of marine species – a phenomenal diversity of organisms that have evolved to thrive in the warmth of the equator and cold of the poles. But how do we gauge the health of our oceans?

Faculty Author

Drew Harvell is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University. She received her PhD from University of Washington in 1985. Drew’s research on host-pathogen interactions and the sustainability of marine ecosystems has taken her from the reefs of Mexico, Indonesia, and Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest. The current focus of her laboratory group is on sustainable marine biodiversity and the ecology of host-pathogen interactions in a changing ocean. A sub-theme of this work includes evaluating the impacts of a warming climate on marine ecosystems. Her analyses and papers have led to the now widespread acceptance that diseases are restructuring marine ecosystems, from very climate-sensitive coral reef ecosystems to rocky temperate shores. She leads a National Science Foundation research coordination network on the ecology of infectious marine diseases. A fellow of the Ecological Society of America and the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Drew won the Society of American Naturalists Jasper Loftus-Hills Award and is a lead author of the oceans chapter in the U.S. Climate Change Assessment.  Her writing appears in The New York Times, The Hill, and in over 140 academic articles in journals such as Science, Nature, and Ecology. Her first book, A Sea of Glass, won the 2016 National Outdoor Book Award for natural history. At Cornell, Drew’s focus is teaching undergraduate courses in marine ecology and invertebrate biology. Her primary courses are Marine Ecosystem Sustainability and Invertebrate Biology, taught on campus and at Friday Harbor Labs. She co-teaches Conservation Oceanography in Hawaii. Drew's latest book, Ocean Outbreak, won the 2020 PROSE Award, the 2020 Sustainability Science Award, and is a top pick on Science Friday's summer reading list.

Benefits to the Learner

Using models from Cornell’s Blaschka Collection and work in tropical and temperate oceans, Drew Harvell takes the pulse of Earth’s marine life, discussing climate change, marine invertebrate biodiversity, disease ecology, conservation biology, and the path to a sustainable future.