Glenn R. Lopez

Biography

GLENN R. LOPEZ joined as Professor of Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology,The Stony Brook University School of Medicine.

Research Interest

My research focuses on ecological and oceanographic processes in the benthos. I am especially interested in the nutrition of deposit feeding invertebrates. These detritivores live by feeding on decomposing phytodetritus that sinks to the seabed. My lab has investigated strategies that animals use this nutritionally diverse and dilute food source, integrating physiological, geochemical and ecological approaches in these studies. I also have a longstanding interest in the limits of detritivory in the benthos, particular with respect to body size and feeding depth. In current research I am collaborating with several colleagues to study ecological and physical processes in Great South Bay that will provide the foundation for ecosystem-based management of the system. I am examining the role of benthic suspension feeders such as tunicates and tube worms in this shallow ecosystem; they are currently the dominant benthic suspension feeders since the dramatic decline of hard clams.