Gretchen Rollwagen Bollens
Clinical Assistant Professor
PhD, Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Address:
Washington State University Vancouver
Vancouver WA 98686-9600
Phone: 360-546-9115
Fax: 360-546-9064
Email: rollboll@vancouver.wsu.edu
Home Page:
WSUV Aquatic Ecology Lab home page

 

Research Interests

My research interests fall broadly within Biological Oceanography and Aquatic Ecology, with a focus on the community ecology of zooplankton, in particular the role of mesozooplankton (organisms < 2mm in size) and microzooplankton (organisms <200 µm in size) in pelagic food webs.  I have investigated the distribution, composition and trophic ecology of meso- and microzooplankton in a range of aquatic environments, from the open ocean (equatorial Pacific) to coastal and estuarine regions (coastal CA, San Francisco Estuary, Columbia River Estuary) to freshwater rivers and lakes (Columbia River, Vancouver Lake).  I am especially interested in how microzooplankton impact the flow of energy through the lower food web through their behavior as predators and grazers, as well as prey for higher organisms.  I am currently funded by the Office of Naval Research (behavior and grazing by zooplankton on phytoplankton thin layers), as well as the Vancouver Lake Watershed Partnership and the State of Washington Water Research Center (biological assessment of plankton in Vancouver Lake).

In addition to my scientific research activity, I am also very interested in science education and pedagogy, in particular training science graduate students as educators and providing professional development for in-service science teachers.  I am currently lead PI and Project Director for a $2.7 million National Science Foundation “GK-12” grant that partners WSUV environmental science graduate students with public school teachers in the Vancouver, Camas and La Center school districts in SW Washington (see the GK-12 website for more information: http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/programs/sci/GK12_home.html).  I also teach science pedagogy courses for graduate students at WSUV, and in the past at UC Berkeley.

Representative Publications

Bochdansky, A.B., Bollens, S.M., Rollwagen-Bollens, G.C.  (Submitted)  The effect of microzooplankton and copepods on vertical carbon fluxes in and around phytoplankton thin layers.  Limnology & Oceanography.

Rollwagen-Bollens, G.C. and Penry, D.L.  (In revision)  Variability in micro- and nanoplankton biomass and composition in the San Francisco Estuary:  Seasonal patterns and effects of the 1997-98 El Niño.  Marine Ecology Progress Series.

Gifford, S.M., Rollwagen-Bollens, G.C., Bollens, S.M.  (2007)  Mesozooplankton omnivory in the upper San Francisco Estuary.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 348: 33-46

Slaughter, A.M., Bollens, S.M., Rollwagen Bollens, G.C.  (2006)  Grazing impact of mesozooplankton in an upwelling region off northern California, 2000-2003.  Deep-Sea Research 53: 3099-3115

Rollwagen Bollens, G.C., Bollens, S.M., Penry, D.L.  (2006)  Vertical distribution of micro- and nanoplankton in the San Francisco Estuary, in relation to hydrography and predators.  Aquatic Microbial Ecology 44:143-163

Rollwagen Bollens, G.C. and Penry, D.L.  (2003)  Feeding dynamics of Acartia spp. copepods in a large, temperate estuary (San Francisco Bay, CA).  Marine Ecology Progress Series 257: 139-158

Rollwagen Bollens, G.C. and Landry, M.R.  (2000)  The biological response to iron fertilization in the eastern equatorial Pacific (IronEx II).  II. Mesozooplankton abundance, biomass, depth distribution and grazing.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 201: 43-56.

Coale, K., Johnson, K., Fitzwater, S., Gordon, R., Tanner, S., Chavez, F., Ferioli, L., Sakamoto, C., Rogers, P., Millero, F., Steinberg, P., Nightingale, P., Cooper, D., Cochlan, W., Landry, M., Constantinou, J., Rollwagen, G., Trasvina, A., Kudela, R. (1996) A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.  Nature  383:  495-501.

Courses

Introductory Biology: Organismal Biology (with lab), for majors (Biol 106)
Aquatic Microbial Ecology, for majors and graduate students (Biol 492/592)
Marine Biology, for non-majors (Biol 308)
Introduction to Ocean Science, for non-majors (Sci 230)
Land, Water, Sea: People and the Watershed, freshman interdisciplinary course (GE 105)
Global Change in a Local Context, freshman interdisciplinary course (GE 106)