Mary Beth Decker

CV Links

Curriculum Vitae

Associate Research Scientist
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520-8106
Tel: 203-432-6293; Fax: 203-432-5176
Email: marybeth.decker@yale.edu

Education

Ph.D. University of California, Irvine,
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. 1995.
B.S. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Biology. 1987.

Professional Experience

2001-present Associate Research Scientist, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
2001 Associate Research Scientist, School of Forestry and Environmental Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
1999-2001 Assistant Research Scientist, Horn Point Laboratory,
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, Maryland.
1998 Assistant Professor, one-year appointment, Department of Biology,
American University, Washington, DC.
1997 Visiting Professor, Biological Sciences Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
1995-1996 Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Norwegian Polar Institute, Oslo, Norway.
1988-1995 Research Assistant, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, California.

Fellowships and Awards

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, ECOFORE, Development of an operational model for predicting the near real time distribution and abundance of the scyphomedusa, Chrysaora quinquecirrha, in Chesapeake Bay. Co-PIs: R. R. Hood, C. W. Brown, T. E. Gross, J. E. Purcell. 2004-2007.
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Nowcasting sea nettles in Chesapeake Bay--Habitat model validation. 2003-2004.
Maryland Sea Grant, Defining the habitat and forecasting the distribution of sea nettles (Chrysaora quinquecirrha) in Chesapeake Bay. Co-PIs: Drs. C. W. Brown, R. R. Hood, J. E. Purcell. 2001.
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Defining the habitat of sea nettles in Chesapeake Bay. 2000.
Environmental Protection Agency, Effects of low dissolved oxygen on trophic interactions, distributions, and survival within the dominant planktonic food web of a eutrophic temperate estuary. Co-PIs: Drs. D. L. Breitburg, J. E. Purcell, K. A. Rose. 1999-2001
Regents Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Irvine. 1995.
NASA Global Change Fellowship, Ecology of High Latitude Marine Birds in Relation to Variations in Oceanographic and Climatic Processes. Faculty mentor: Dr. G. L. Hunt. 1991-1994

Selected Publications

Reprints available upon request.

Decker, M. B., D. L. Breitburg, and J. E. Purcell. In press. Effects of low dissolved oxygen on zooplankton predation by the ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi. Marine Ecology Progress Series.
[click here for abstract]
Purcell, J. E. and M. B. Decker. In press. Effects of climate on relative predation by scyphomedusae and ctenophores on copepods in Chesapeake Bay during 1987-2000. Limnology and Oceanography.
[click here for abstract]
Decker, M. B, D. L. Breitburg, and N. H Marcus. 2003. Geographical differences in the behavioral response of zooplankton to hypoxia: local adaptation to an anthropogenic stressor? Ecological Applications 13 (4): 1104-1109.
[click here for abstract]
Breitburg, D. L., A. Adamack, K. A. Rose, S. E. Kolesar, M.B. Decker, J. E. Purcell, J. E. Keister, and J. H. Cowan, Jr. 2003. The pattern and influence of low dissolved oxygen in the Patuxent River, a seasonally hypoxic estuary. Estuaries 26 (2A): 280-297.
[click here for abstract]
Brown, C. W., R. R. Hood, Z. Li, M.B. Decker, T. Gross, J. Purcell, and H. Wang. 2002. Forecasting system predicts presence of sea nettles in Chesapeake Bay. Eos, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 83 (30): 321, 325-326.
[click here for abstract]
Condon, R., M.B. Decker, and J. E. Purcell. 2001. Effects of low dissolved oxygen on survival and asexual reproduction of scyphozoan polyps (Chrysaora quinquecirrha). Hydrobiologia 451: 89-95.
[click here for abstract]
Purcell, J. E., T. Shiganova, M.B. Deckerand E. D. Houde. 2001. The ctenophore Mnemiopsis in native and exotic habitats: U.S. estuaries versus the Black Sea basin. Hydrobiologia 451: 145-176.
[click here for abstract]
Purcell, J. E., D. L. Breitburg, M.B. Decker, W. M. Graham, M. J. Youngbluth, and K. A. Rastoff. 2001. Pelagic cnidarians and ctenophores in low dissolved oxygen environments: a review, Pages 77-100 in N. N. Rabalais and R. E. Turner (eds.), Coastal Hypoxia: Consequences for Living Resources and Ecosystems. Coastal and Estuarine Studies 58, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.
[click here for abstract]
Kitaysky, A. S., G. L. Hunt, Jr., E. N. Flint, M. A. Rubega, and M.B. Decker. 2000. Resource allocation in breeding seabirds: responses to fluctuations in their food supply. Marine Ecology Progress Series 206: 283-296.
[click here for abstract]
Mehlum, F., G. L. Hunt, Jr., Z. Klusek, and M. B. Decker. 1999. Scale-dependent correlations between the abundance of Brunnich’s guillemots and their prey. J. Anim. Ecol. 68: 60-72.
[click here for abstract]
Decker, M. B, M. Gavrilo, F. Mehlum and V. Bakken. 1998. Distribution and abundance of birds and marine mammals in the Eastern Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, late summer 1995. Meddelelser No. 155, Norsk Polarinstitutt, Oslo.
[click here for abstract]
Mehlum, F., G. L., Hunt, Jr., M.B. Decker, and N. Nordlund. 1998. Hydrographic features, cetaceans and the foraging of thick-billed murres and other marine birds in the northwestern Barents Sea. Arctic 51: 243-252.
[click here for abstract]
Vance, T. C., R.D. Brodeur, C. Baier, K. Coyle, M.B. Decker, G. Hunt, J.M., Napp, J.D. Schumacher, P.J. Stabeno, D. Stockwell, C. Tynan, T.E. Whitledge and S. Zeeman. 1998. Aquamarine waters recorded for first time in Eastern Bering Sea. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, Vol. 79: 121, 126.
[click here for abstract]
Decker, M. B and G. L. Hunt, Jr. 1996. Foraging by murres (Uria sp.) at tidal fronts surrounding the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. Marine Ecology Progress Series 139: 1-10.
[click here for abstract]
Decker, M. B., G. L. Hunt, Jr. and G. V. Byrd. 1996. The relationship among sea-surface temperature, the abundance of juvenile walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), and the reproductive performance and diets of seabirds at the Pribilof Islands, southeastern Bering Sea. p. 213-214 in U. S. Dep. Commer. NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 126, “Ecology of Juvenile Walleye Pollock, Theragra chalcogramma”.
Hunt, G. L., Jr., M. B. Decker and A. S. Kitaysky. 1996. Fluctuations in the Bering Sea ecosystem as reflected in the reproductive ecology and diets of kittiwakes on the Pribilof Islands, 1975 to 1990. Aquatic Predators and Their Prey (eds. S. P. R. Greenstreet and M. L. Tasker). Fishing News Books, Oxford.
Hunt, G. L., Jr., K. O. Coyle, S. Hoffman, M. B. Decker, and E. Flint. 1996. Foraging ecology of short-tailed shearwaters near the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 141: 1-11.
Mehlum, F., G. L. Hunt, Jr., Z. Klusek, M. B. Decker and N. Nordlund. 1996. The importance of prey aggregations to the distribution of Brunnich's Guillemonts in Storfjorden, Svalbard. Polar Biology. 16: 537- 547.
Decker, M. B., G. L. Hunt, Jr. and G. V. Byrd. 1995. The relationship between sea-surface temperature, the abundance of juvenile walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), and the reproductive performance and diets of seabirds at the Pribilof Islands, southeastern Bering Sea. Pp. 425-437 in R. J. Beamish [ed.] Climate change and northern fish populations. Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 121.
Coyle, K. O., G. L. Hunt, Jr., M. B. Decker, and T. J. Weingartner. 1992. Murre foraging, epibenthic sound scattering and tidal advection over a shoal near St. George Island, Bering Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 83: 1-14.