Biology

Adjunct Professor

Contact

Email: coatsw@si.edu

Office Phone: 443-482-2271

Fax: 443-482-2380

Office Address: PO Box 28, Edgewater, Maryland 21037

URL: http://www.serc.si.edu/labs/protistan_ecology/index.jsp

Research Interests

Photosynthetic protists (microalgae) are responsible for much of the primary production that occurs in the world's oceans, and non-photosynthetic protists, protozoa which are capable of consuming prey, play pivotal roles in transfering energy and matter to higher levels in the food web.
The underlying theme of our research is that interactions among planktonic protists comprise a complex and poorly understood food web in which protozoan predators and parasites play an important role. By exploring relationships between protists and their physical and biological surroundings, we are working to understand the mechanisms by which energy and matter are transferred through or recycled within the marine food web.
Most of our work has centered on populations resident in the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay; however, recent research initiatives have examined protistan populations of the Rhode River subestuary.

Recent Publications

Eissler, Yoanna, Wang, Kui & Coats, D. W. Ultrastructural characterization of the lytic cycle of an intra-nuclear virus of Chaetoceros wighammi from Chesapeake Bay, USA. 2007 Joint Annual Meeting of the Phycological Society of America and the International Society of Protistologists, August 6-9, Providence, RI.
Cooney, Sean K., Stoecker, Diane K. & Coats, D. W. 2007. Ecology of the fish associated dinoflagellate Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum. 2007 Joint Annual Meeting of the Phycological Society of America and the International Society of Protistologists, August 6-9, Providence, RI.
Eissler, Y.,Wang, K., Chen, F., & Coats, D. W. 2006 Molecular characterization of Chaetoceros cf gracilis virus isolated from Chesapeake Bay, USA. 2006 Summer ASLO Meeting, 4-9 June, Victoria, British Columbia Canada.
Eissler, Y. & Coats D. W. 2006. Yoanna Eissler, D. Wayne Coats Characterization of Chaetoceros cf gracilis virus isolated from Chesapeake Bay. International Council for Science, Scienific Committee on Oceanic Research, Virus Ecology in Marine Systems: A Workshop on Methods, June 1-3, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Gribble, K. E., Coats, D. W., Anderson, D. M. 2006. Asexual and sexual reproduction in Protoperidinium steidingerae (Dinophyceae). International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae. 12th International Conference on Harmful Algae, 4-8 September 2006, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Cooney, S.K., Stoecker, D.K. & Coats, D.W. 2006. Ecology of the Fish Associated Dinoflagellate Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum. Atlantic Estuarine Research Society, Baltimore, MD.
Coats, D. W. 2006 Microbial Controls of Chesapeake Bay Phytoplankton. 13th Meeting of the East Coast Section of the International Society of Protistologists. Russell Sage College, Troy, NY, June 6-8, 2006.
Bai, X, Adolf, J., Bachvaroff, T., Sengco, M., Feinberg, M., Place, A., & Coats, D. W. 2006 Dinoflagellate host and parasite defense mechanisms against karlotoxin-membrane sterol composition. 2006 Gordon Conference on Marine Microbes, July 23-28, 2006, Biddeford, ME.

Education

(Smithsonian Environmental Research Center); Ph.D., University of Maryland, 1977. Protistology, with emphasis on ciliate and dinoflagellate ecology, structure and function, and taxonomy.