Melissa Foley

Melissa is a science early career fellow working with the Center for Ocean Solutions’ Marine Spatial Planning Initiative. She recently finished her PhD in marine ecology at the University of California Santa Cruz where her research focused on how the movement of subsidies across the land-sea interface influences ecosystem structure and functioning in nearshore marine habitats. Her broader research interests include understanding how human activities on land influence the ability of marine ecosystems to function and thus provide ecosystem services that human communities depend on. Melissa is also a research associate with the Institute of Marine Science at UCSC and is currently investigating how large-scale wildfires affect the magnitude and type of subsidy exchange at the land-sea interface.

Publications

Manuscripts in progress:

Melissa M. Foley and Paul L. Koch.  Isotope values of nearshore consumers dominated by contributions from the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera in Big Sur, California.  In prep.

Matthew E.S. Bracken, Bruce A. Menge, Melissa M. Foley, Cascade J. B. Sorte, David R. Schiel, and Jane Lubchenco.  Context-dependency of species’ roles as mediators of marine ecosystem functions.  In prep.

 Melissa M. Foley.  Investigating the limitations on phytoplankton productivity in nearshore waters adjacent to a HNLC coastal upwelling region.  Submitted, Limnology and Oceanography.

Christopher Krenz, Bruce A. Menge, Tess L. Freidenburg, Jane Lubchenco, Francis Chan, Melissa M. Foley, and Karina L. Nielsen.  Ecological subsidies to rocky intertidal communities: linear or non-linear transitions along an upwelling gradient?  Submitted, Ecology.

Christopher Krenz, Bruce A. Menge, Jane Lubchenco, Francis Chan, Melissa M. Foley, and Karina L. Nielsen.  Covariation in pelagic subsidies and their relationship to rocky intertidal community structure in a coastal upwelling system.  Submitted, Ecology.

Published papers:

 

R. P. Kelly, M. M. Foley, W. S. Fisher, R. A. Feely, B. S. Halpern, G. G. Waldbusser, and M. R. Caldwell.  Mitigating Local Causes of Ocean Acidification with Existing Laws Science  27 May 2011

M.M. Foley and P. L. Koch.  Correlation between allochthonous subsidy input and isotopic variability in the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera in central California, USA.  2010.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 409 41-50.  

B. A. Menge, M. M. Foley, J. Pamplin, G. Murphy, and C. Pennington.  Supply-side ecology, barnacle recruitment, and rocky intertidal community dynamics: Do settlement surface and limpet disturbance matter?  2010.  Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 392(1-2) 160-175.

M.M. Foley, B.S. Halpern, F. Micheli, M.H. Armsby, M.R. Caldwell, C.M. Crain, E. Prahler, N. Rohr, D. Sivas, M.W. Beck, M.H. Carr, L.B. Crowder, J.E. Duffy, S.D. Hacker, K. McLeod, S.R. Palumbi, C.H. Peterson, H.M. Regan, M.H. Ruckelshaus, P.A. Sandifer, R.S. Steneck. Guiding ecological principles for marine spatial planning. 2010. Marine Policy, doi: 10.1016/j.marpol2010.02.001.

B.R. Broitman, C.A. Blanchette, B.A. Menge, J. Lubchenco, C. Krenz, M. Foley, P.T. Raimondi, D. Lohse, and S.D. Gaines.  Spatial and temporal patterns of invertebrate recruitment along the West coast of the United States.  2008.  Ecological Monographs 78(3).

C.B. Woodson, D.I. Eerkes-Medrano, A. Flores-Morales, M.M. Foley, S. Henkel, M. Hessing-Lewis, D. Jacinto, L. Needles, M. Nishizaki, J. O’Leary, C.E. Ostrander, M. Pespeni, K. Schwager, J.A. Tyburczy, K.A. Weersing, A. Kirincich, J. Barth, M. A. McManus, and L. Washburn.  Diurnal upwelling driven by sea breezes in northern Monterey Bay:  A local mechanism for larval delivery to the intertidal?  2007.  Continental Shelf Research 27(18).

Bruce A. Menge, Carol Blanchette, Pete Raimondi, Steve Gaines, Jane Lubchenco, Dave Lohse, Gregory Hudson, Melissa Foley, Jacque Pamplin.  Species interaction strength: Testing model predictions along an upwelling gradient.  2004.  Ecological Monographs 74(4).

Bruce A. Menge, Matthew Bracken, Melissa Foley, Tess Freidenburg, Gregory Hudson, Christopher Krenz, Heather Leslie, Jane Lubchenco, Roland Russell, Steven D. Gaines, and Michael Webster.  Coastal oceanography sets the pace of rocky intertidal community dynamics.  2003.  Proceedings from the National Academy of Science 100(21).