Dr. Kenneth P. Sebens is a Professor of Biology, in the UW Department of Biology, Seattle, and Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. Recently, he served as Director of the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories (2005-2013) and A.O. Dennis Willows Director's Endowed Professor of Biology. Dr. Sebens received his BA from the University of Connecticut in 1972 and his PhD from the University of Washington in 1977. During 1977-1985, he was Assistant and then Associate Professor at Harvard University, Associate Curator at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. He then became a Professor of Biology at Northeastern University (1985-1991), and Director of Northeastern's Marine Science Center at Nahant, MA, and of the East-West (now Three Seas) Marine Biology Program. From 1991 to 2003, he was Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland College Park, Professor in the UM Center for Environmental Science, and Director of the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Graduate Program for the UM System (to 1997). He also served as the first Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, during 2003-2005.
Dr. Sebens is a fellow of AAAS and was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholarship in 1998. Over the past 35 years, Dr. Sebens has published over 90 papers and book chapters on a wide variety of topics. His paper on indeterminate growth and optimal size in marine invertebrates, published in the journal "Ecology" in 1982 resulted in the Ecological Society of America's 1983 George Mercer Award for "outstanding ecological research published in the United States and Canada".
Funding for Dr. Sebens' research (since 1978) comprises over 33 awards, including continuous funding from the National Science Foundation (1979-2015). During the past five years, he has had two concurrent NSF research awards and two NSF facilities grants (FSML). He is the Principal Investigator on a NSF GK-12 program grant, Co-PI on a NSF IGERT graduate training program award, and has had other support from NOAA, WDOE, and NIH. Dr. Sebens has mentored 32 graduate students at four universities since 1978, several of whom now have careers as university faculty and research scientists. Read more here!
Check out Dr. Sebens' current CV here.
NSF Field Stations and Marine Laboratories Program. Modernization of Computer, Communications, and Data Management Equipment at the Nantucket Field Station. U. Mass Boston (S.Oktay-Quigley PI, G. Beck, W. Robinson, W. Dripps Co-PIs) (2005-2007) $48,685
N.I.H. Genomics and the Life Aquatic. Symposium, Friday Harbor Labs, U.W. (B. Swalla, C. Amemiya, CO-PIs) (2006 – 2007) $13,000
NSF, Field Stations and Marine Labs. Graduate housing at FHL, (2008-2010) $250,000 (w/ $250,000 UW match)
NSF, GK-12 Program. UW OACIS – Ocean and Coastal Interdisciplinary Science (2008-2013) (D.Armstrong, D.Grunbaum Co-PIs) $2,890,000
NSF, Field Stations and Marine Labs. Ocean Acidification Research Facility at FHL DBI-0829486, (2008-2010) $275,000 (w/ $350,000 UW match, $75,000 donations))
Provost's Bridge Fund (UW). Subtidal ecological research at FHL (2008-2009) $50,000
Washington Research Foundation. Research Apprenticeship Program, FHL. (2007-2008) $140,000
NSF Biological Oceanography (2009-2013) OCE0925718, Spatial Subsidy and Trophic Connectivity between Nearshore Macrophyte Production and Subtidal Food Webs (D. Duggins PI, S. Simonstad, J. Eckman Co-PIs) $893,463
NSF Biological Oceanography (2009-2012) OCE0850809, Effects of marine preserves and nonindigenous species on rocky subtidal communities: indirect interactions, disturbance and community dynamics $718,4888
Elahi, R. and K.P. Sebens. 2014. Redundancy among invertebrate grazers leads to non-additive consequences for benthic community structure: a candidate mechanism for the maintenance of urchin barrens. Submitted to PLoS One (in press)
Elahi, R. and K. Sebens. 2014. Mesoscale variability in oceanographic retention sets the abiotic stage for subtidal benthic diversity. Marine Ecology Progress Series (submitted, in revision)
Elahi, R. and K. P. Sebens. 2012. Consumers mediate natural variation between prey richness and resource use in a benthic marine community (in press at Marine Ecology Progress Series)
Sebens, K.P., G. Bernardi , M.R. Patterson, and D. Burkepile. 2012. Saturation Diving and Underwater Laboratories: How Underwater Technology Has Aided Research on Coral Biology and Reef Ecology. In: M. Lang ed. Research and Discoveries: The Revolution of Science through Scuba. Smithsonian Institution Press. (in press).
Heidelberg, KB, O'Neil KL, Bythell JC, Sebens KP. 2010. Vertical distribution and diel patterns of zooplankton abundance and biomass at Conch Reef, Florida Keys (USA). Journal of Plankton Research. 32(1):75-91.
Satterlie, RA, Pearse JS, Sebens KP. 2009. The black box, the creature from the Black Lagoon, August Krogh, and the dominant animal. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 49(2):89-92.
Jenkins, SR, Moore P, Burrows MT, Garbary DJ, Hawkins SJ, Ingolfsson A, Sebens KP, Snelgrove PVR,Wethey DS, Woodin SA. 2008. Comparative Ecology of North Atlantic Shores: Do Differences in Players Matter for Process? Ecology. 89(11):S3-S23.
Badgley, BD, Lipschultz F, Sebens KP. 2006. Nitrate uptake by the reef coral Diploria strigosa: effects of concentration, water flow, and irradiance. Marine Biology. 149(2):327-338.
Heidelberg, KB, Sebens KP, Purcell JE. 2004. Composition and sources of near reef zooplankton on a Jamaican forereef along with implications for coral feeding. Coral Reefs. 23(2):263-276.
Mills, MM, Lipschultz F, Sebens KP. 2004. Particulate matter ingestion and associated nitrogen uptake by four species of scleractinian corals. Coral Reefs. 23(3):311-323.
Mills, MM, Sebens KP. 2004. Ingestion and assimilation of nitrogen from benthic sediments by three species of coral. Marine Biology. 145(6):1097-1106.
Ferrier-Pages, C, Witting J, Tambutte E, Sebens KP. 2003. Effect of natural zooplankton feeding on the tissue and skeletal growth of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata. Coral Reefs. 22(3):229-240.
Sebens, KP, Helmuth B, Carrington E, Agius B. 2003. Effects of water flow on growth and energetics of the scleractinian coral Agaricia tenuifolia in Belize. Coral Reefs. 22(1):35-47.
Sebens, KP. 2002. Energetic constraints, size gradients, and size limits in benthic marine invertebrates. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 42(4):853-861.
A dynamic approach to preservation...
The research being conducted by the Sebens lab was recently highlighted in International Innovation, Europe's leading portal for scientific dissemination. By examining how species are affected by large predator protection, Dr. Ken Sebens influences global thinking on the value of marine protected areas.
Check out the full article here!
Friday Harbor Labs
The Friday Harbor Laboratories are located on San Juan Island, part of an archipelago that lies between the mainland and Vancouver Island. The Laboratories are well situated for research on many aspects of marine biology and oceanography. The waters around San Juan Island are relatively free from pollution, and although the salinity is in general like that of the open ocean, there are a few estuarine situations of low salinity. There are swift tideways as well as quiet bays and lagoons. A tidal range of about 4 meters exposes diverse intertidal areas of rock, sand, and mud. The flora and fauna are exceptionally rich.
Representatives of nearly all major groups of marine algae and invertebrates can be obtained by collecting at the shore, and depths down to 300 meters can be explored by dredging and other collecting techniques. Many of the organisms available are important for research in physiology, development, and ecology.
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