Dr. Sarah Gravem is an Assistant Professor at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. She studies marine community ecology, with a focus on the effects of top predators on kelp forest and rocky intertidal ecosystems. She uses large-scale and long-term surveys to understand our changing marine ecosystems. She is also interested in the effects of predators on prey behavior and how this translates to ecosystem level effects. Her focal predators are the endangered sunflower sea star in kelp forests and the keystone predator the ochre star in the rocky intertidal. To do this work, her lab uses field work, scuba diving, field and lab experiments, and statistics.
