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Scott Nixon

Scott W Nixon
Professor of Oceanography
333 Coastal Institute
401-874-6803

Educational Background

Ph.D., Botany (Ecology)
B.A., Biology (Chemistry)
Univ. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Univ. of Delaware
1970
1965

Areas of Specialization

Research

Scott Nixon's current research interests focus on productivity and biogeochemical cycling of coastal ecosystems, with emphasis on estuaries, lagoons, and wetlands. He also conducts ecosystem-level experiments using mesocosms and is interested in comparative and historical ecology. He is the URI UNESCO-Cousteau Chair in Coastal Ecology and Global Assessment. He served for 16 years as Director of the R.I. Sea Grant Program.

Teaching

Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Ecology of Narragansett Bay seminar (with C. A. Oviatt), Ph.D and MS research, Independent Study.

Outreach

Recent member National Research Council Ocean Studies Board; National Associate of the National Academies of Science, Vice-Chair of the NRC committee on Energlades Restoration, Chair of the NRC committee to review the Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Assessment Model, member of the NRC committee to review the Louisiana Coastal Restoration Plan; current member of the NRC Committee on the Independent Review of the Everglades Restoration Progress, Past Co-editor in chief of Estuaries and Coasts; member of the Mass. Bay Outfall Monitoring Scientific Advisory Comm. for EPA, Past member, Board of Directors of the Inst. for Coastal Studies, Univ. of North Carolina; member, Board of Directors, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Editorial Board of Journal of Sea Research.

Students

Mark Brush
Lora Harris
Joaquin Chaves
Luke Cole
Robinson Fulweiler
Christopher Mueller
Autumn Oczkowski
Kelly Henry
Peter DiMilla
Laura Windecker
Lindsey Fields
Brita Jessen
Leanna Heffner
Courtney Schmidt
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
M.S. and Ph.D.
M.S.
M.S. and Ph.D.
M.O.
Ph.D.
MS
M.S.
M.S.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
2002
2006
1997 and 2004
2005
2003 and 2007
2008
2009
2007
2006
2010
Candidate
Candidate
Candidate
Candidate

Publications:

Harris, L.A., B. Buckley, S.W. Nixon, and B. T. Allen. 2004. Experimental studies of predation by Bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix, in varying densities of seagrass and macroalgae. Marine Ecology Progress Series 281:233-239. Nixon, S.W. 2004. Marine resources and the human carrying capacity of coastal ecosystems in southern New England before European contact. Northeast Anthropology 68:1-23. Fulweiler, R.W. and S.W. Nixon. 2005. Terrestrial vegetation and the seasonal cycle of dissolved silica in a southern New England river. Biogeochemistry 74:115-130. Fulweiler, R.W. and S. W. Nixon. 2005. Export of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended solids from a southern New England watershed to Little Narragansett Bay. Biogeochemistry 76:567-593. Harris, L.A., C. M. Duarte, and S. W. Nixon. 2006. Allometric laws and prediction in estuarine and coastal ecology. Estuaries and Coasts 29:340-344. Nixon, S.W., B. Buckley, S. Granger, M. Entsua-Mensah, O. Ansa-Asare, M. White, and R. McKinney. 2007. Anthropogenic enrichment and nutrients in some tropical lagoons of Ghana, West Africa. Ecological Applications 17:S144 -S164. Yunev, O.A. , J. Carstensen, S. Moncheva, A. Khaliulin, G. Ærtebjerg, S. Nixon. 2007. Nutrient and phytoplankton trends on the western Black Sea shelf in response to cultural eutrophication and climate changes. Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science 74:63-76. Fulweiler, R.W., S.W. Nixon, B.A. Buckley, and S.L. Granger. 2007. Reversal of the net dinitrogen gas flux in coastal marine sediments. Nature 448:180 - 182. Oczkowski, A.J., S.W. Nixon, P.DiMilla, M.E.Q. Pilson, C. Thornber, S.L. Granger, B.A. Buckley, R. Mckinney, J. Chaves, and K.M. Henry. 2008. On the distribution and trophic importance of anthropogenic nitrogen in Narragansett Bay; an assessment using stable isotopes. Estuaries and Coasts 31:53-69. Thornber, C. S., P. DiMilla, S. W. Nixon, and R. A. McKinney. 2008. Natural and anthropogenic nitrogen uptake by bloom-forming macroalgae. Marine Pollution Bulletin 56:261-269. Oczkowski, A. and S. Nixon. 2008. Increasing nutrient concentrations and the rise and fall of a coastal fishery; a review of data from the Nile Delta, Egypt. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 77:309-319. Featured Article. Henry, K. M. and S. W. Nixon. 2008. A half century assessment of hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, growth in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Estuaries and Coasts 31:755-766. Oczkowski, A., S. Nixon, S. Granger, A. El-Sayed, M. Altabet, and R. McKinney. 2008. A preliminary survey of the nitrogen and carbon isotope characteristics of fish from the lagoons of Egypt’s Nile Delta. Estuaries and Coasts 31:1130-1142. Fulweiler, R. W., S. W. Nixon, B. A. Buckley, and S. L. Granger. 2008. Net Sediment N2 Fluxes in a coastal marine system – experimental manipulation and a conceptual model. Ecosystems 11:1168 - 1180. Nixon, S.W., B. Buckley, S. Granger, L. Harris, A. Oczkowski, R. Fulweiler, and L. Cole. 2008. Nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to Narragansett Bay: Past, present, and future. Pp 101-176 In: B. Costa-Pierce and A. Desbonnet (eds. ) Science for Ecosystem-Based Estuarine Management: Narragansett Bay in the 21st Century. Springer Verlag, NY. Fulweiler, R.W. and S.W. Nixon. 2009. Responses of benthic-pelagic coupling to climate change in a temperate estuary. Hydrobiologia 629:147-256. Nixon, S. W., R. W. Fulweiler, B. A. Buckley, S. L. Granger, B. L. Nowicki, and K. M. Henry. 2009. The impact of changing climate on phenology, productivity, and benthic-pelagic- coupling in Narragansett Bay. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. Featured Article 82: 1-18. Nixon, S.W. 2009. Eutrophication and the macroscope. Hydrobiologia 629: 5-19. Oczkowski, A. J., S. W. Nixon, S. L. Granger, A. F. ElSayed, and R. A. McKinney. Anthropogenic enhancement of Egypt’s Mediterranean fishery. 2009.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 1364-1367. Boesch, D., W. Boynton, L. Crowder, R. Diaz, R. Howarth, D. Mee, S. Nixon, N. Rabalais, R. Rosenberg, J. Sanders, D. Scavia, and R. Turner. 2009 Nutrient enrichment drives Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. Eos 90: 117-118. Breitberg, D., K. Craig, S. Fulford, K. Rose, W. Boynton, D. Brady, B. Ciotti, R. Diez, D. Friedland, J. Hagy, D. Hart, A. Hines, E. Houd, S. Kolesar, S. Nixon, J. Rice, D. Secor, and T. Targett. 2009. Nutrient enrichment and fisheries exploitation: interactive effects on estuarine living resources and their management. Hydrobiologia 629:31-47. White, M., C. Andrzejewski, K. Awusabo-Asare, A. Kumi-Kyereme, S. Nixon, B. Buckley, S. Granger, and H. Reed. 2009. Urbanization and environmental quality: insights from Ghana on sustainable policies. In: deSherbinin, A., A. Rahman, A. Barbieri, J. Fotso, and Y. Zhu (eds.) Urban Population-Development-Environment Dynamics in the Developing World: Case Studies and Lessons Learned. CICRED Paris. Available at: http://www.populationenvironmentresearch.org/workshops.jsp#W2007 Nixon, S. S. and R. W. Fulweiler. 2009. Nutrient pollution, eutrophication, and the degradation of coastal marine ecosystems. Pp. 23-58. In: C. M. Duarte (ed.) Global Loss of Coastal Habitats: Rates, Causes and Consequences. Fundación BBVA, Bilbao, Spain. Brush, M. J. and S. W. Nixon. 2010. Modeling the role of macro-algae in a shallow sub- estuary of Narragansett Bay, RI (USA). Ecological Modeling 221:1065-1079. Oczkowski, A. J., M. E. Q. Pilson, and S. W. Nixon. 2010. A marked gradient in δ13C values of clams Mercenaria mercenaria across a marine embayment may reflect variations in ecosystem metabolism. Marine Ecology Progress Series 414:145-153. Oczkowski, A. J. and S. W. Nixon. 2010. Lagoons of the Nile Delta. Pp.255-284. In: M. Kennish and H. Paerl (eds.) Coastal Lagoons: Critical Habitats of Environmental Change. CRC Press Marine Science Book Series. Boynton, DiMilla, P., S. Nixon, M. Altabet, and R. McKinney. 2011. Some challenges of an "upside down" nitrogen budget - science and management in Greenwich Bay, RI (USA). Marine Pollution Bulletin 62(4):672-680.Oczkowski, A. J., F. G. Lewis, S. W. Nixon, H. L. Edmiston, R. S. Robinson, and J. P. Chanton. 2011. Fresh water inflow and oyster productivity in Apalachicola Bay, FL (USA). Estuaries and Coasts 34:993-1005.Nixon, S. W. and R. W. Fulweiler. Environmental footprints and shadows in an urban estuary, Narragansett Bay, RI (USA). Regional Environmental Change. In press - available on line. Fulweiler, R. W. and S. W. Nixon. 2011. Net sediment N2 fluxes in a southern New England estuary- variations in space and time. Biogeochemistry 106.-available on line.

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  Boynton, W. R. and S. W. Nixon. Budget analyses of estuarine ecosystems. In: J. Day, W. M. Kemp, and A. Yanez-Arancibia (eds.) Estuarine Ecology, 2nd ed. John Wiley. In press.

Presentations:

Spring and Fall ASLO 2008 ;Brown University 2008; Louisiana State University 2008; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 2009; New England Water and Environment Association 2009; North American Benthological Society 2010; CERF, Fall 2011;