Dr. Lisa Levin

Position
Professor, Biological Oceanography

Scientific Interests
The population and community ecology of deep-sea and wetland assemblages with emphasis on methane seeps, oxygen minimum zones and salt marshes, ecology of polychaetes and large agglutinating protozoans, life-history evolution, function of restored and invaded ecosystems, biodiversity, species invasions

Deep-Sea Experience
Participation in 35 cruises (over 465 da at sea)- as Chief Scientist on 15, Co Chief Scientist on 11. Use of submersibles (Alvin, SeaLink, Pices, Seacliff and Delta) and ROVs (Jason I, Jason II, Tiburon, Oceanic Explorer, Scorpio, Phantom). Research in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans at depths from the shelf to 4500 m focusing on continental margins and seamounts. Leader of multi investigator programs (SLOPEX - NC Slope, TOPO - seamounts, BIVCON - bivalve connectivity, (PacificSEEP - Pacific methane seeps, co leader – INSPIRE, RENEWZ - S Pacific Investigations). Extensive collaborations with investigators in the UK, Chile, Peru and Mexico including participation in 7 international cruises. Working Group Steering Committees: SCOR (Coastal Hypoxia), COML (ChESS, COMARGE).

Other Professional Activities
Associate Editor Limnology and Oceanography (1993-6), SContributing Editor Marine Ecol. Progr. Ser (1996 - present), co Editof Marine Ecology (2005 - Present), AGU Books Board Coastal Series editor (2001-Present), Co-Editor "Deep-Sea Biodiversity" Deep-Sea Research 45 (no.1-3) 2000, Co-Editor "Benthic Processes in the Deep Arabian Sea" Deep-Sea Research 47 (no.1-2) 1998, San Diego Wetlands Advisory Board - Mayoral Appointment (1998 - Present), Past Vice Chair - SIO Graduate Dept., Past Chair - SIO Biological Oceanography Curricular Group, NRC National Academy Panel on Louisiana Wetland Restoration, Faculty manager - UCSD Marsh Reserve, SCOR working group on coastal hypoxia, ChESS Steering Committee member, SIO CMBC Steering Committee member, Participant in numerous working groups and workshops related to the deep sea, biodiversity and population connectivity.

Supervision
6 post dotoral, 14 PhD, 5 masters and 30 undergraduate students. Author on more than 120 publications in peer reviewed journals.

5 representative publications

• Levin, L.A. Ecology of cold seep sediments: Interaction of fauna with flow, chemistry and microbes. Oceanography and Marine Biology, An Annual Review. (2005)
• Levin, L.A. Oxygen minimum zone benthos: Adaptation and community response to hypoxia. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 41: 1-45. (2003)
• Levin, L., D. Gutiérrez, A. Rathburn, C. Neira, J. Sellanes , P. Muñoz, V.M. Gallardo. Benthic processes on the Peru Margin: A transect across the oxygen minimum zone during the 1997-98 El Niño. Progr. Oceanogr. 53: 1-27. (2002).
• Levin, L.A. R.J. Etter, M.A. Rex, A.J. Gooday, C.R. Smith, J. Pineda, C.T. Stuart, R.R. Hessler, and D. Pawson. Environmental influences on regional deep-sea species diversity. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 132: 51-93 (2001).
• Levin, L.A., and J.D. Gage. Relationships between oxygen, organic matter and the diversity of bathyal macrofauna. Deep-Sea Research, 45:129-163. (1998)

Other Recent, Relevant Publications

• Andersson, J.H., C. Woulds, M. Schwartz, G. Cowie, L. Levin, K. Soetart, J. J. Middelburg. 2008. Short-term fate of phytodetritus across the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone. Biogeosciences 5: 43-53
• Clare Woulds, Greg L. Cowie, Lisa A. Levin, Henrik Andersson, Sandra Vandewiele, Peter A. Lamont, Kate Larkin, Andy Gooday, Stephanie Schumacher . 2007. Oxygen and food quality as controls on the biological cycling of organic matter. Limnology and Oceanography. 52: 1698-1709.
• Blankenship, L.E. and L.A. Levin. 2007. Extreme food webs: foraging strategies and diets of scavenging amphipods from the ocean's deepest 5 km. Limnology and Oceanograph 52: 1685-1697.
• Levin,L.A. and G. Mendoza. 2007. Community structure and nutrition of deep methane seep macroinfauna from the Aleutian Margin and Florida Escarpment, Gulf of Mexico. Marine Ecology 28: 131-151.
• Levin, L.A., G.F. Mendoza, W. Ziebis, V. Growney - Cannon, S. Walther. Recruitment response of methane-seep macrofauna to sulfide and surrounding habitat J. Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 330: 132-150 (2006)
• Levin, L.A. Recent progress in understanding larval dispersal: New directions and digressions. Integrative and Comparative Biology. Integrative and Comparative Biology (2006)
• Arntz, W.E., V.A. Gallardo, D. Guteierrez, E. Isla, L.A. Levin, J. Mendo, C. Neira, G. Rowe, J. Tarazona and M. Wolff. ENSO and similar perturbation effects on the benthos of the Humboldt, California and Benguela Current upwelling ecosystems. In: Advances in Geosciences. J. Santos ed. Copernicus Publications, (2006)
• Blankenship L. , Yayanos, A., Cadien, D., Levin, L. 2006. Vertical zonation patterns of scavenging amphipods from the hadal zone of the Tonga and Kermadec trenches. Deep-sea Research: 53:49-61 (2006)
• Helly, J. and L.A. Levin. Quantification of Permanent Natural Hypoxia on Continental Margins. Deep Sea Research. 51: 1159-1168. (2004)
• Levin, L.A., W. Ziebis, G. F. Mendoza, V.A. Growney, C. Mahn, J.M. Gieskes, M. D. Tryon, K.M. Brown, A. E. Rathburn. Spatial heterogeneity of macrofauna at northern California methane seeps Influence of fluid flow and sulfide concentration. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 265: 123-139 (2003)
• Levin, L.A. and R. Michener. Isotopic evidence of chemosynthesis-based nutrition of macrobenthos: The lightness of being at Pacific methane seeps. L &O. 47: 1336-1345. (2002)