Photo of Rolf Gradinger

Contact Information

School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
252 O'Neill
P.O. Box 757220
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220
Phone: (907) 474-7407
Fax: (907) 474-7204
rrgradinger@alaska.edu

Rolf Gradinger Full Professor

Biological Oceanography • Marine Biology

Affiliations

Editorial Board of Polar Biology
IASC MWG

Specialties

sea ice ecology
microbial network
polar ecology
marine protists

Education

M.S. 1986 (Marine Biology)
Ph.D. 1990 University of Kiel (Marine Science)

Office Hours

Wednesdays, 1-2pm

Research Overview

I am interested in the dynamics of microbial communities in polar seas with most of my recent work focusing on the structuring role of sea ice for biological processes in Arctic waters.

My participation in SBI, BEST/BSIERP and the Arctic Ocean Diversity projects focused on the ice-based microbial food web and the coupling of sea ice, pelagic and benthic realms in Arctic waters.

Current Research Projects

Bering Sea Ecosystem Studies (NSF)
Polychaetes in the fast ice off Barrow, Alaska (National Science Foundation)
This project focuses on the largely unknown role of near-shore Arctic sea ice in the life cycle of marine benthic invertebrates with a major focus on polychaetes.
Arctic marine biodiversity (Sloan Foundation)
Ecology of ice related ecosystems

Publications

recent papers (for full list see above link):
Bluhm BA, et al. (2011) Arctic Marine Biodiversity: An Update of Species Richness and Examples of Biodiversity Change. Oceanography 24(3):232-248.

Lee SH, et al. (2011) Holes in Progressively Thinning Arctic Sea Ice Lead to New Ice Algae Habitat. Oceanography 24(3):302-308.

Poulin M, et al. (2011) The pan-Arctic biodiversity of marine pelagic and sea-ice unicellular eukaryotes: a first-attempt assessment. Marine Biodiversity 41(1):13-28-28.

McConnell B, Gradinger R, Iken K, & Bluhm BA (2012) Growth rates of arctic juvenile Scolelepis squamata (Polychaeta: Spionidae) isolated from Chukchi Sea fast ice. Polar Biol. 35(10):1487-1494.

Moran SB, M.W. Lomas, R.P. Kelly, K. Iken, R. Gradinger & Mathis JT (2012) Seasonal succession of net primary productivity, particulate organic carbon export, and autotrophic community composition in the eastern Bering Sea. Deep-Sea Research II,. 65-70:84-97.

Petrich C, Nicolaus M, & Gradinger R (2012) Sensitivity of the light field under sea ice to spatially inhomogeneous optical properties and incident light assessed with three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations. Cold Regions Science and Technology 73:1-11.

Weems J, Iken K, Gradinger R, & Wooller MJ (2012) Carbon and nitrogen assimilation in the Bering Sea clams Nuculana radiata and Macoma moesta. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 430-431:32-42.

Selected Publications

Gradinger, R.R., Baumann, M.E.M. (1991): Distribution of phytoplankton communities in relationship to the large scale hydrographical regime in Fram Strait 1984. Mar. Biol. 111: 311-321

Kurbjeweit, F., Gradinger, R., Weissenberger, J. (1993): The life cycle of Stephos longipes— an example for cryopelagic coupling in the Weddell Sea (Antarctica). Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 98: 255-262

Ikävalko, J., Gradinger, R (1997): Nanoflagellates and helizoans in the Arctic sea ice studied alive using light microscopy. Polar Biol. 17: 473-481

Gradinger, R., Friedrich, C., Spindler, M. (1999): Abundance, biomass and composition of the sea ice biota of the Greenland Sea pack ice. Deep-Sea Res. 46: 1457-1472

Gradinger, R. (1999): Vertical fine structure of algal biomass and composition in Arctic pack ice. Mar. Biol. 133: 745-754

Giesenhagen, C.; Detmer, A.E.; de Wall, J.; Weber, A.; Gradinger, R.R.; Jochem, F.J. (1999): How are planktonic microbial food webs and algal blooms affected by melting of Antarctic sea ice? - Microcosm simulations. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 20: 183-201

Mock, T., Gradinger, R. (2000): Effects of nutrient availability on photosynthetic carbon assimilation by cultured Arctic sea ice algae. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 202: 1-11

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