Nichole Price, PhD


Senior Research Scientist
Center for Seafood Solutions Director
Benthic Marine Ecologist
Phone: +1 (207) 315-2567, ext. 306
nprice@bigelow.org

For media inquiries, please contact sprofaizer@bigelow.org



Education

B.A., Biology and Math, Connecticut College, 2000

M.S., Applied Statistics and Probability, Univ. California Santa Barbara (UCSB), 2007

Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, UCSB, 2008


Research Interests

Nichole Price is a benthic marine ecologist with interest in how global change phenomena, like ocean acidification and warming, can alter bottom-dwelling species interactions, community dynamics, and ecosystem function in shallow coastal regimes. Her work focuses primarily on the eco-physiology of seaweeds and calcifying invertebrates and their current and future role in dissolved inorganic carbon and nutrient cycling. Nichole utilizes state-of-the-art analytical tools including prototype autonomous oceanographic instrument packages in field campaigns, develops custom experimental aquaria in the lab, and applies emerging technological approaches (like environmental DNA) to tackle fundamental ecological research questions about population dynamics, biological feedbacks, and ecosystem services. Nichole also applies her expertise to explore mitigation strategies for coastal acidification (the ‘Halo’ effect) and climate change (e.g., blue carbon and uses of farmed seaweeds). She has focused on these topics primarily on tropical coral reefs and temperate systems and extrapolates her results from each biome to regional and global scales using statistical modelling.

Price Publications

  • Donham, E.M., Hamilton, S.L., Price, N.N., Kram, S., Kelly, E., Johnson, M.D., Neu, A.T. and Smith, J., 2021. Experimental assessment of the impacts of ocean acidification and urchin grazing on benthic kelp forest assemblages. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 540, p.151548.
  • Vijn, S., Compart, D.P., Dutta, N., Foukis, A., Hess, M., Hristov, A.N., Kalscheur, K.F., Kebreab, E., Nuzhdin, S.V., Price, N.N. and Sun, Y., 2020. Key considerations for the use of seaweed to reduce enteric methane emissions from cattle. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7, p.1135.
  • Neal B†, Honisch B, Warrender T, Work T, Williams G, Price NN2. Tropical reef fish herbivory controls acute outbreaks of a marine fungal pathogen. Conditionally accepted with minor revisions, Oecologia 193 (3): 603-617
  • Calhoun, S.K., Haas, A.F., Takeshita, Y., Johnson, M.D., Fox, M.D., Kelly, E.L., Mueller, B., Vermeij, M.J., Kelly, L.W., Nelson, C.E. and Price, N.N., 2020. Evidence for a biological source of widespread, reproducible nighttime oxygen spikes in tropical reef ecosystems has implications for coral health. bioRxiv.
  • Cyronak, T. †, Takeshita, Y., Courtney, T.A., DeCarlo, E.H., Eyre, B.D., Kline, D.I., Martz, T., Page, H., Price, N.N., Smith, J. and Stoltenberg, L., 2019. Diel temperature and pH variability scale with depth across diverse coral reef habitats. Limnology and Oceanography Letters 5(2): 193-203. doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10129
  • Price NN, Albright R, Carpenter RC, Chuie A, Fan T-Y, Gates RD, Harii S, Kitano H, Kurihara H, Legendre L, Mitarai S, Muko S, Nozawa Y, Padilla-Gamino J, Sakai K, Steneck R, Suzuki G, van Oppen M, Yarid A, Satoh NL, & Edmunds PJ. Coral reefs on the move: worldwide recruitment declines and expansion to higher latitudes. 2019 Marine Ecology Progress Series 621:1-17 FEATURE ARTICLE
  • TM Work, GS Aeby, BP Neal†, NN Price, E Conklin, A Pollock (2018) Managing an invasive corallimorph at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Line Islands, Central Pacific. Biological Invasions https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1696-1
  • GJ Williams§, SA Sandin§, BJ Zgliczynski, JM Gove, MD Fox, JS Rogers, KA Furby, AC Hartmann, ZR Caldwell, NN Price, JE Smith. (2018) Biophysical drivers of coral trophic depth zonationMarine Biology 165: 60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-018-3314-2
  • *S.K. Calhoun SK, Haas AF, Takeshita Y, Johnson MD, Fox MD, Kelly ELA, Mueller B, Vermeij MJA, Kelly LW, Nelson CE, Price NN, Roach TNF, Rohwer F, Smith JE. (2017) Exploring the occurrence of and explanations for nighttime dissolved oxygen spikes across coral reef environments PeerJ Preprints
  • Y Takeshita*, EM Briggs, A Carter*, E Donham*, TR Martz, W McGillis, NN Price, and JE Smith. (2016) Assessment of net community production and calcification of a coral reef using a boundary layer approach. Geophysical Research Letters 121, 5655–5671, doi:10.1002/2016JC011886.
  • Enochs IC, Manzello DP, Tribollet A, Valentino L, Kolodziej G, Donham EM*, Mark D. Fitchett, Renee Carlton, and Nichole N. Price (2016) Elevated colonization of microborers at a volcanically acidified coral reef. PLoS ONE 11(7): e0159818. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159818
  • B Vargas-Angel, CL Richards, PS Vroom, NN Price, T Schils, CW Young, J Smith, M Johnson*, RE Brainard. (2015) Baseline assessment of net calcium carbonate accretion rates on U.S. Pacific reefs. PLoS One 10 (12), e0142196
  • Kram SL†, Price NN, Donham EM†, Johnson MD†, Kelly ELA, Hamilton SL, & Smith JE. (2015). Variable responses of temperate calcified and fleshy macroalgae to elevated pCO2 and warming. ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil, fsv16
  • Takeshita Y, Frieder CA, Martz TR, Ballard JR, Feely RA, Kram S†, Nam S, Navarro MO, Price NN, and Smith JE. (2015). Including high frequency variability in coastal ocean acidification projections. Biogeosciences Discussions 12(9) -accepted for publication.
  • Enochs IC, Manzello DP, Donham E†, Kolodziej G, Okano R, Johnston L, Young C, Iguel J, Edwards C, Fox M, Valentino L, Johnson S, Benavente D, Clark SJ, Burton T, Eynaud Y, Price NN (2015) Ocean acidification causes shift from coral to macroalgal dominance on reefs. Second round of review in Nature Climate Change doi:10.1038/nclimate2758.
  • Alin SR, RE Brainard, NN Price, JA Newton, A Cohen, WT Peterson, EH DeCarlo, EH Shadwick, S Noakes, and N Bednaršek (2015) Characterizing the natural system: Toward sustained, integrated coastal ocean acidification observing networks to facilitate resource management and decision support. Oceanography 28(2):92–107, http://dx.doi.org/​10.5670/oceanog.2015.34.
  • Gledhill DK, MM White, J Salisbury, H Thomas, I Mlsna, M Liebman, B Mook, J Grear, AC Candelmo, RC Chambers, CJ Gobler, CW Hunt, AL King, NN Price, SR Signorini, E Stancioff, C Stymiest, RA Wahle, JD Waller, ND Rebuck, ZA Wang, TL Capson, JR Morrison, SR Cooley, and SC Doney (2015) Ocean and coastal acidification off New England and Nova Scotia. Oceanography 28(2):182–197, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2015.41.
  • Edmunds PJ, Steneck R, Albright R, Carpenter RC, Chui APY, Fan T-Y, Harii S, Kitano H, Kurihara H, Legendre L, Mitarai S, Muko S, Nozawa Y, Padilla-Gamino J, Price NN, Sakai K, Suzuki G, van Oppen MJH, Yarid A, and Gates RD (2015) Geographic variation in long-term trajectories of change in coral recruitment: a global-to-local perspective. Marine and Freshwater Research 66, 609–622.
  • Johnson MD§†, Price NN§, & Smith JE (2014) Contrasting effects of ocean acidification on tropical fleshy and calcareous algae. PeerJ 2:e411.
  • Williams GJ§, Price NN§, Ushijima B, Aeby GS, Callahan S, Davy SK, Gove JM, Johnson MD†, Knapp IS, Shore A, Smith JE, Videau P, & Work TM (2014) Ocean warming and acidification show complex interactive effects on the dynamics of a marine fungal disease. Proc. Royal Soc. B 281: 20133069.
  • Hamilton SL, Smith JE, Price NN,& Sandin SA (2014) Quantifying patterns of fish herbivory on an uninhabited predator-dominated central Pacific coral reef, Palmyra Atoll (USA). Marine Ecology Progress Series. 501:141-155 DOI 10.3354/meps10684.
  • Stewart HL, Price NN, Holbrook SJ, Schmitt RJ, & Brooks AJ (2013) Determinants of the onset and strength of mutualistic interactions between branching corals and associate crabs. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 493: 155-163 DOI 10.3354/meps10525.
  • Smith JE, Price NN, Nelson CE, &Haas AF (2013) Coupled changes in dissolved oxygen and pH caused by metabolism of benthic coral reef organisms. Marine Biology. 160(9): 2437-2447 DOI 10.1007/s00227-013-2239-z.
  • Price NN, Martz TR, Brainard RE, & Smith JE (2012) Diel variability in seawater pH relates to calcification and benthic community structure on coral reefs. PLoS ONE 7(8): e43843.
  • Buenau K, Price NN, & Nisbet RJ (2012) Size dependence, facilitation, and microhabitats mediate space competition between coral and crustose coralline algae. Ecological Modeling 237:23-33.
  • Hofmann GE, Smith JE, Johnson KS, Send U, Levin LA, Micheli F, Paytan A, Price NN, Peterson B, Takeshita Y, Matson PG, Crook ED, Kroeker KJ, Gambi MC, Rivest EB, Frieder CA, Yu PC, & Martz TR (2011) High-frequency dynamics of ocean pH: a multi-ecosystem comparison. PLoS ONE. 6 (12) e28983.
  • Price NN, Hamilton SL, Tootell J, & Smith JE (2011) Species-specific consequences of ocean acidification for the calcareous tropical green algae Halimeda. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 440:67-78 DOI 10.3354/meps09309.
  • Buenau K, Price NN, & Nisbet RJ (2011) Local interactions drive size dependent space competition between coral and crustose coralline algae. Oikos. 120:941-949 (awarded Editors Choice)
  • Price NN (2010) Habitat selection, facilitation, and biotic settlement cues affect distribution and performance of coral recruits in French Polynesia. Oecologia. 163(3):747-758 (top 20 Jan-May 2013)

§authors contributed equally to this work

†graduate student

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