Dr. Gary Allison

Recent Research

I worked as Science Coordinator for a multi-university effort to understand the dynamics of intertidal and nearshore communities of the US Pacific Coast (PISCO). As part of that effort, I supervised a 5-year, annual survey of rocky intertidal biodiversity stretching from San Diego to northern Washington.  This survey provided unprecedented documentation of multi-scale, multi-zone patterns for hundreds of invertebrates and algal species. These data have been used as to study latitudinal gradients of diversity and  community saturation, and have been the impetus for several new initiatives within PISCO.

In another Oregon State University project, we followed the disturbance dynamics of one of the largest landscape elements in rocky intertidal communities: mussel beds.   The incredible spatial and temporal variability of disturbance and recovery led us to models of oceanographic-intertidal coupling and network theory to explain the patterns. 

I’ve worked on several studies of marine reserve design and implementation. I was a participant in the working group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis on “Developing the Theory of Marine Reserves.” There, I led the effort to address the influence of ‘catastrophes’ on effectiveness of reserves.  See the special issue of Ecological Applications of the working group’s efforts.

I am currently assisting Dr. Marschall here at AEL in an effort to model the survival of young Atlantic salmon migrating down the Connecticut River using known physical and biological parameters and a spatially-explicit, individual-based model.  Click here for sample animation of temperature-based mortality for multiple tributaries.  The work has led to insights we are still exploring.

Past Research

My dissertation focused on the issue of the ecological impacts of loss of biodiversity.  I performed a diversity manipulation in a rocky intertidal community in Oregon and documented the resistance and resilience responses of the community to some stresses.  In general, I found that resistance was either idiosyncratic or highly dependent on the most abundant species.  In addition, I used computer simulations to investigate the robustness of experimental designs purporting to test biodiversity effects.  This work demonstrated that effective biodiversity manipulations are complicated and particularly susceptible to misinterpretation.

Please see my webpage for more information about my past and current work.

My primary interests are community ecology, marine biodiversity, conservation of marine systems, the interaction among science, policy and industry, and the use of computer-intensive analysis and modeling methods.