Courtney C. Stepien

Ph.D. Candidate
The University of Chicago

I am a 3rd year PhD student in Dr. Cathy Pfister's lab at the University of Chicago. My research explores the roles of evolutionary history and functional diversity in community responses to disturbance along differential environmental gradients. I am studying the role these factors play in the maintenance of a high-diversity algal assemblage (seaweed!) in the northeast Pacific intertidal ecosystem through a combination of field manipulations and phylogenetic and functional analyses. A key environmental change in the northeast Pacific is the decrease in ocean pH recorded in the locales I study. Because seaweeds are principal interactors with the nearshore carbon cycle, a functional attribute of seaweeds that I continue to focus on is carbon uptake by seaweeds.