Michael A. Rex

Department of Biology University of Massachusetts-Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125 Phone: (617) 287-6678 Fax: (617) 287-6650 E-mail: michael.rex@umb.edu

Education

PhD, Harvard University, 1972
AB, Indiana University, 1968

Current Position

Professor
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Boston

Research Interests

My research is centered on the ecology and evolution of deep-sea benthic communities. It includes analyses of bathymetric and global-scale patterns of biodiversity and their causes. We are using satellite imagery to examine the relationship of surface production to community structure in the deep sea at different temporal and spatial scales. Geographic variation in body size of mollusks is being explored to study adaptation to the deep-sea environment. Multivariate analyses of shell architecture and mitochondrial DNA are being employed to study patterns of population differentiation in deep-sea mollusks. Adaptive radiation and taxon cycles are being investigated by documenting patterns of taxonomic diversity. A major long-term research goal is to synthesize patterns of distribution, geographic variation, taxonomic composition and life histories to formulate a model of evolution in deep-sea invertebrates.

Current Grant Support

Evolutionary Process in Deep-Sea Bivalves. The National Science Foundation. Biogical Oceanography. (OCE-0726382), funded 9/15/07-9/15/10, $589,258, R.J. Etter (PI), M.A. Rex

Selected Publications

Rex., M.A., C.T. Stuart and G. Coyne. 2000. Latitudinal gradients of species richness in the deep-sea benthos of the North Atlantic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 97: 4082-4085.

Levin, L.A., R.J. Etter, M.A. Rex, A.J. Gooday, C.R. Smith, J. Pineda, C.T. Stuart, R.R. Hessler and Pawson. 2001. Environmental influences on regional deep-sea species diversity. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 32: 51-93.

Stuart, C.T., M.A. Rex and R.J. Etter. 2003 Large-scale spatial and temporal patterns of deep-sea benthic species diversity. In P.A. Tyler, ed., Ecosystems of the World - Ecosystems of Deep Oceans, Elsevier, Amsterdam pp. 295-311.

McClain, C.R., N.A. Johnson and M.A. Rex. 2004. Morphological disparity as a biodiversity metric in lower bathyal and abyssal gastropod assemblages. Evolution 58: 338-348.

Boyle, E.E., J.D. Zardus, M.R. Chase, R.J. Etter and M.A. Rex. 2004. Strategies for molecular genetic studies of preserved deep-sea macrofauna. Deep-Sea Research I 51: 1319-1336.

Rex, M.A., C.R. McClain, N.A. Johnson, R.J. Etter. J.A. Allen, P. Bouchet and A. Waren. 2005. A source-sink hypothesis for abyssal biodiversity. American Naturalist 165:163-178.

Rex, M.A., J.A. Crame, C.T. Stuart and A. Clarke. 2005 Large-scale biogeographic patterns in marine mollusks: A confluence of history and productivity? Ecology 86: 2288-2297.

McClain, C.R., M.A. Rex and R. Jabbour. 2005. Deconstructing bathymetric body size patterns in deep-sea gastropods. Marine Ecology Progress Series 297: 181-187.

Etter, R.J., M.A. Rex, M.R. Chase and J. M. Quattro. 2005. Population differentiation decreases with depth in deep-sea bivalves. Evolution 59: 1497-1491.

Zardus, J.D., R.J. Etter, M.R. Chase, M.A. Rex and E.E. Boyle. 2006. Bathymetric and geographic population structure in the pan-Atlantic deep-sea bivalve Deminucula atacellana (Schenck 1939). Molecular Ecology 15: 639-651.

Rex, M.A., R.J. Etter, J.S. Morris, J. Crouse, C.R. McClain, N.A. Johnson, C. T. Stuart, J.W. Deming, R. Thies and R. Avery. 2006. Global bathymetric patterns of standing stock and body size in the deep-sea benthos. Marine Ecology Progress Series 317: 1-8.

Johnson, N.A., J.W. Campbell, T. S. Moore, M.A. Rex, R. J. Etter, C.R. McClain and M.D. Dowell. 2007. The relationship between standing stock of deep-sea macrobenthos and surface production in the western North Atlantic. Deep-Sea Research I 54:1350-1360.

McClain, C.R., M.A.Rex and R.J. Etter. 2008. Patterns in deep-sea macroecology. In J.D. Witman and K.Roy, editors, Marine Macroecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, in press.