Email: g.trussell@neu.edu

Phone: 781.581.7370 x300
Fax: 781.581.6076

Location: Marine Science Center
Mail: NU/Marine Science Center
          430 Nahant Road
          Nahant, MA 01908

Web Page

Research Description

My research interests encompass a broad variety of issues in evolutionary and community ecology. Although my work is principally conducted on temperate rocky intertidal shores, I must emphasize that important conceptual issues in ecology and evolutionary biology drive my research. Hence, I am particularly in students that are motivated to use empirical approaches to address theory. I also should point out that research in my lab is often highly collaborative and currently involves scientists from Brown University, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of South Carolina. Below, I provide a brief description of the major areas of research in my lab.

The Evolution of Inducible Defenses and the Role of Life History Trade-offs:

This work has examined how chemical risk cues from a common crab predator (the green crab, Carcinus maenas) induce plastic changes in the shell morphology of intertidal snails (Littorina obtusata, Littorina littorea, Nucella lapillus). Our work in this area is unique because we have examined this issue over very broad spatial scales and across several taxa. For example, recent data demonstrate that such inducible defenses may partly explain patterns of significant morphological change in space and time. Currently, I am particularly interested in obtaining a better understanding of the role that life history trade-offs play in the evolution of inducible defenses in marine snails and how the variability in the risk of predation shapes the evolution of reaction norms in snail shell morphology.

Trait-mediated Indirect Interactions (TMIIs) and Algal Diversity on Rocky Intertidal Shores:

This work examines how predator effects on prey traits influence rocky intertidal community structure. The classical view of community dynamics on rocky shores is that they are strongly influenced by the density-based consequences of species interactions. While we agree that such processes are certainly operating, we think that trait-mediated interactions also are important. Preliminary results indicate, for example, that green crab risk cues suppress snail-feeding rates to a degree that ultimately affects the abundance of several species of intertidal algae. We are currently focusing on two areas: (1) determining the relative importance of density and trait-mediated effects to algal diversity on large spatial scales in tide pool communities, and (2) how TMIIs may influence important ecological processes such as competition and facilitation.

Alternate Stable Community States on Rocky Intertidal Shores:

A highly influential idea in ecology is that community types may represent alternative stable states. That is, community types are stable and stochastic processes drive transitions to alternatives. More specifically the type of community present in a system is dependent on disturbance dynamics (size and frequency) and propagule availability after a disturbance event. This idea is conceptually appealing and has been suggested as an explanation of alternating community types on coral reefs and tropical grasslands. In collaboration with Dr. Mark Bertness, we have found that mussel beds and Ascophyllum canopy community types are likely deterministic rather than stochastic community types. Moreover, our results suggest that consumer pressure (predatory crabs, herbivorous and carnivorous snails) are critically important in determining the rate of community recovery after a disturbance event.

Selected Publications

Trussell, G.C., P.J. Ewanchuk, M.D. Bertness, B.R. Silliman. 2004.  Trophic cascades in rocky shore tide pools: distinguishing lethal and nonlethal effects.  Oecologia 139: 427-432.

Bertness, M.D., G.C. Trussell, P.J. Ewanchuk, B.R. Silliman. 2004. Reply to Petraitis and Dudgeon.  Ecology 85: 1165-1167.

Bertness, M.D., G.C. Trussell, P.J. Ewanchuk, B.R. Silliman, C. Mullan. 2004. Consumer controlled alternate community states on Gulf of Maine rocky shores.  Ecology 85:  1321-1331.

Trussell, G.C., P.J. Ewanchuk, M.D. Bertness.  2003.  Trait-mediated effects in rocky intertidal food chains: predator risk cues alter prey feeding rates.  Ecology 84: 629-640.

Trussell, G.C.  2002.  Evidence of countergradient variation in the growth of an intertidal snail in response to water velocity.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 243: 123-131.

Bertness, M.D., G.C. Trussell, P.E. Ewanchuk, B.R. Silliman. 2002. Do alternative stable states exist in the Gulf of Maine rocky intertidal zone? Ecology 83: 3434-3448.

Trussell, G.C., M.O. Nicklin. 2002. Inducible defenses in a marine snail: geographic variation in sensitivity to risk cues and the scaling of trade-offs. Ecology 83: 1635-1647. PDF

Trussell, G.C., P.J. Ewanchuk, M.D. Bertness. 2002. Field evidence of trait-mediated indirect effects in a rocky intertidal food web. Ecology Letters 5: 241-245. PDF

Trussell, G.C., R.J. Etter. 2001. Integrating the genetic and environmental forces that shape the evolution of geographic variation in a marine snail. Genetica 112: 321-337. PDF

Trussell, G.C., R.J. Etter. 2001. Integrating the genetic and environmental forces that shape the evolution of geographic variation in a marine snail. Pages 321-338 in A.P. Hendry, M.T. Kinnsion, editors. Microevolution: Rate, pattern, process. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Trussell, G.C. 2000a. Phenotypic clines, plasticity, and morphological trade-offs in an intertidal snail. Evolution 54: 151-166. PDF

Trussell, G.C. 2000b. Predator-induced morphological trade-offs in latitudinally-separated populations of Littorina obtusata. Evolutionary Ecology Research 2: 803-822. PDF

Trussell, G.C., L.D. Smith. 2000. Induced defenses in response to an invading crab predator: An explanation of historical and geographic phenotypic change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97: 2123-2127. PDF

Trussell, G.C. 1997a. Phenotypic plasticity in the foot size of an intertidal snail. Ecology 78: 1033-1048.

Trussell, G.C. 1997b. Phenotypic selection in an intertidal snail: The effects of a catastrophic storm. Marine Ecology Progress Series 151: 73-79.

Trussell, G.C. 1996a. Phenotypic plasticity in an intertidal snail: The role of a common crab predator. Evolution 50: 448-454.

Trussell, G.C. 1996b. The role of wave energy and crab predation as inducers of phenotypic plasticity in an intertidal snail. Hawaiian Shell News 44: p. 10.

Wheelwright, N.T., G.C. Trussell, J.P. Devine, R. Anderson.  1994.  Sexual dimorphism and population sex ratios in juvenile Savannah Sparrows.  Journal of Field Ornithology 65: 520-529

Trussell, G.C., A.S. Johnson, S.G. Rudolph, E.S. Gilfillan.  1993.  Resistance to dislodgement: Habitat and size-specific differences in morphology and tenacity in an intertidal snail.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 100: 135-144.

Gilfillan, E.S., D.S. Page, C.M. Kresja, S.H. Hanson, J.M. Foster, G.C. Trussell, B.J. Whalon.  1991.  The use of ordination techniques to follow community succession from oil impact to recovery in the field.  Chemistry and Ecology 5: 85-97.

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