Research Program                                  

My research has focused on coastal ecosystems, particularly salt marshes, estuaries and coastal lagoons along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the USA and in the Mediterranean. I am currently President of the Estuarine Research Federation. Recently I have been involved in studies of low order and headwater streams within the coastal plain. In these various ecosystems I have studied nutrient cycling, especially the nitrogen and carbon cycles, and energy flow. While initial interests were in the microbial communities and processes, their importance and regulation; my research has often taken broader perspective. Thus I have studied primary production of macrophytes, food webs, and ecosystem state changes. My work has had laboratory, field and modeling components. Much of my efforts have been devoted to network analysis as a mathematical tool for the comparisons among and within ecosystems. I have been active in promoting large-scale studies. These efforts have been associated with the U.S. Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) and International LTER programs and the Coastal Module of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), a program of the United Nations. I served as chair of the panel that developed the plan for the Coastal module of GTOS and continue to lead the scientific efforts of the program.

Courses Taught

BIOL 3220, 3221. Microbiology.

BIOL 3550, 4550. Network Biology

BIOL 5270. Marine Community Ecology

BIOL 6280, 6281. Systems Ecology

BIOL 6850, 6850. Global Issues in Coastal Ecology

Recent Publications (since 2004)

Keusenkothen, M. A., and R. R. Christian. 2004. Responses of salt marshes to disturbance in an ecomorphological context, with a case study of trampling by deer. pp. 203-230. In S. Fagherazzi, M. Marani, and L. K. Blum (eds.). Ecomorphology of Tidal Marshes. American Geophysical Union, Coastal and Estuarine Monograph Series Vol. 59. 

Blum, L. K. and R. R. Christian. 2004. Belowground production and decomposition along a tidal gradient in a Virginia salt marsh. pp. 47-74. In S. Fagherazzi, M. Marani, and L. K. Blum (eds.). Ecomorphology of Tidal Marshes. American Geophysical Union, Coastal and Estuarine Monograph Series Vol. 59.

Christian, R. R., J. E. O'Neal, B. Peierls, L. Valdes, and H. W. Paerl. 2004. Episodic nutrient loading impacts on eutrophication of the southern Pamlico Sound: the effects of the 1999 hurricanes. UNC-WRRI Report No. 349. Raleigh, NC. 57 pp.

Baird, D., R. R. Christian, C. H. Peterson, and G. Johnson. 2004. Consequences of hypoxia on estuarine ecosystem function: energy diversion from consumers to microbes. Ecological Applications 14: 805-822.

Christian, R. R., J. K. Dame, G. Johnson, C. H. Peterson, and D. Baird. 2004. Monitoring and Modeling of the Neuse River Estuary, Phase 2: Functional assessment of environmental phenomena through network analysis. UNC-WRRI Report No. 343-E. Raleigh, NC. 93 pp.

Rheinhardt, R.D., K.H. Miller, R.R. Christian, G.F.R. Meyer, C.W. Bason, E.C. Hardison, and M.M. Brinson. 2005. Applying Ecological Assessments to Planning Stream Restorations in Coastal Plain North Carolina. Report to the Ecosystem Enhancement Program, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Raleigh, NC. 101 pp.

Powers, S. P., C. H. Peterson, R. R. Christian, E. Sullivan, M. J. Powers, M. J. Bishop, and C. P. Buzzelli. 2005. Effects of eutrophication on bottom habitat and prey resources of demersal fishes. Marine Ecology Progress Series 302: 233-243.

Christian, R. R., D. Baird, J. Luczkovich, J. C. Johnson, U. Scharler, and R. E. Ulanowicz. 2005.  Role of network analysis in comparative ecosystem ecology of estuaries. pp. 25-40. In A. Belgrano, U. M. Scharler, J. Dunne, and R. E. Ulanowicz (eds). Complexity in Aquatic Food Webs: an Ecosystem Approach. Oxford University Press. Oxford, UK.

Morris, J. T., R. R. Christian, and R. E. Ulanowicz. 2005. Analysis of Size and Complexity of Randomly Constructed Food Webs by Information Theoretic Metrics. pp. 73-85. In A. Belgrano, U. M. Scharler, J. Dunne, and R. E. Ulanowicz (eds). Complexity in Aquatic Food Webs: an Ecosystem Approach. Oxford University Press. Oxford, UK.

Christian, R. R. 2005. Beyond the Mediterranean to global observations of coastal lagoons. Hydrobiologia 550:1-8.

Christian, R. R., and S. Mazzilli. 2005. Coastal GTOS and its remote sensing needs for initial products. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Remote Sensing for Marine and Coastal Environments, Halifax, Canada. May. (CD ROM)

FAO, 2005. Coastal GTOS Draft Strategic design and phase 1 implementation plan. By Christian, R., Baird, D., Bowen, R., Clark, D., di Giacomo, P., Jiménez, J., Kineman, J., Mazzilli, S., de Mora, S., Servin G., Talaue-McManus, L., Viaroli, P., Yap, H. GTOS Report No. 36, FAO, Rome, 2004. 93 pp.

Keramitsoglou I., C. Kontoes, N. Sifakis, Chr. Haffner-Sifakis, E. Fitoka, R.R. Christian, A. Serebryakova, P. Tomas-Vives, and A. Kouvelis S., Dimiza. 2006  Towards a standardised methodology for inventorying and monitoring Mediterranean wetlands using Earth observation. Proceedings of Globwetland Symposium. 19-20 September 2006, Frascati, Rome, Italy. http://www.globwetland.org/symposium06/symposium.html

Christian, R. R., P. M. DiGiacomo, T. C. Malone, and L. Talaue-McManus. 2006. Opportunities and challenges of establishing coastal observing systems. Estuaries and Coasts 29: 871-875.

Borrett, S. R., S. J. Whipple, B. C. Patten, and R. R. Christian. 2006. Indirect effects and distributed control in ecosystems: Temporal variation of indirect effects in a seven-compartment model of nitrogen flow in the Neuse River Estuary, USA—Time series analysis. Ecological Modelling 194:178-188.

Dame, J. K., and R. R. Christian. 2006. Uncertainty and the use of network analysis for ecosystem-based fishery management. Fisheries 31: 331-341.

Paerl, H. W., L. M. Valdez, A. R. Joyner, B. L. Peierls, M. F. Piehler, S. R. Riggs, R. R. Christian, L. A. Eby, L. B. Crowder, J. S. Ramus, E. J. Clesceri, C. P. Buzzelli, and R. A. Luettich, Jr. 2006. Ecological response to hurricane events in the Pamlico Sound System, NC and implications for assessment and management in a regime of increased frequency. Estuaries and Coasts. 29(6A):1033-1045.

Rheinhardt, R. D., M. M. Brinson, R. R. Christian, K. H. Miller, and G. F. Meyer. 2007. A referenced-based framework for evaluating the ecological condition of stream networks in small watersheds. Wetlands: 27: 524-542.

Dame, J. K., and R. R. Christian. 2007. A statistical test of network analysis: can it detect differences in food web properties? Ecosystems 10: 906-923.

Christian, R. R., and S. Mazzilli. 2007.  Defining the coast and sentinel ecosystems for coastal observations of global change. Hydrobiologia 577: 55-70. (see Hydrobiologia 583:385 for erratum on order of authorship from original. It should read Mazzilli and Christian)

Dame. J. K. and R. R. Christian. 2008. Evaluation of ecological network analysis: validation of output. Ecological Modelling 210: 327-338.

Day, J. W., R. R. Christian, D. M. Boesch, A. Yáñez-Arancibia, J. T. Morris, R. R. Twilley, L. Naylor, L. Schaffner, and C. Stevenson 2008. Consequences of Climate Change on the Ecogeomorphology of Coastal Wetlands. Estuaries and Coasts 31: 477-491.

Peterson, C. H., R.T. Barber, K. L. Cottingham, H. K. Lotze, C. A. Simenstad, R. R. Christian. M. F. Peihler, J. Wilson. 2008. Chapter 7. National Estuaries. pp. 7-1 to 7-108. In CCSP, 2008: Preliminary review of adaptation options for climate-sensitive ecosystems and resources. A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. [Julius, S.H., J.M. West (eds.), J.S. Baron, L.A. Joyce, P. Kareiva, B.D. Keller, M.A. Palmer, C.H. Peterson, and J.M. Scott (Authors)]. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA, 873 pp.

Brinson, M. M., and R. R. Christian. (In press) Assessing functions of wetlands and the need for reference. Biologia Ambientale

Laboratory Personnel