Craig E. Williamson

Biographical Sketch and Publications
As an aquatic ecologist at Miami University, I run a highly integrated research and educational program that involves both graduate (M.S. and Ph.D.) and undergraduate students. The focus of this program is on advancing our understanding of the impact of regional and global environmental change on aquatic ecosystems with a particular emphasis on the role of ultraviolet radiation.

Research Program and People
The larger context for my research lies in understanding how regional and global environmental changes are altering aquatic communities and ecosystems. My primary interest and expertise is in lakes, but I also have some experience with rivers and streams as well as marine systems. I view the water column of lakes as a vertical habitat gradient, and focus primarily on the role of zooplankton and larval fish in the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. The questions that I ask deal with how solar ultraviolet radiation, climate change, predation risk, and trophic interactions influence community structure in pelagic ecosystems.

This work is centered on alpine and subalpine lakes in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and Lake Tahoe in California/Nevada, as well as lower elevation lakes in Pennsylvania and reservoirs in Ohio. Past work has also included the study of lakes in Glacier Bay, Alaska, the Southern Andes of Argentina, New Zealand, and other regions of the world. While the research questions are field-based, the approaches include laboratory and field experiments as well as comparative limnology. Students in my lab work collaboratively with other investigators at Miami University as well as at other institutions to give them opportunities to gain a broader range of skills, expertise, and perspectives on issues in aquatic ecosystems. A major emphasis in my current research is determining the beneficial as well as detrimental effects of solar ultraviolet radiation on higher trophic levels as a function of the environmental variation in the spectral composition of sunlight.

Watercolors by Molly Haines

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Last updated on December 20, 2007

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