
John F. Valentine, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Senior Marine Scientist III
Professor, University of South Alabama
Bio
Dr. John Valentine serves as the Executive Director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL). Prior to being named the Executive Director, he served as Chair of the Sea Lab’s University Programs. Since arriving at DISL, he has written or co-authored over 95 grant proposals for research. Support for his research has come from both federal and state agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) and The Nature Conservancy.
In 2015, a research team led by Dr. Valentine was awarded $6.5M to conduct studies on the role of biodiversity in determining the resiliency of the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon accident. More than 75 students, technicians, and post-doctoral students were supported by these efforts. He has been lead or second author on over 70 scientific articles in addition to serving as an academic editor for the scientific journals Marine Ecology Progress Series and PLoSOne. He has also served as a panelist for U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, and NOAA’s National Undersea Research Program.
In addition to his national leadership in the marine sciences, he currently serves on the Executive Boards of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, and Alabama’s Forever Wild Program. Recently, the Governor’s Water Agencies Working Group charged Dr. Valentine with assessing the impacts of future watershed withdrawal on coastal Alabama resources. Dr. Valentine is also a recent graduate of Leadership Alabama.
Research Interest
My current research interests examine the role of biotic processes, and human perturbations, in controlling the flow of energy among trophic levels both within and between marine habitats, with emphasis on submerged vegetated habitats. This research is being conducted in diverse locations ranging from the lower reaches of the Mobile Bay Delta to the Marine Protected Areas of the northern Florida Keys.
Much of the emphasis of this work is on 1) experimental assessments of grazing intensity in seagrass habitats, 2) responses of seagrasses to this grazing, and 3) the role of omnivory in controlling trophic cascades in marine systems. Newly funded work will examine 1) the degree to which marine production can subsidize the diets adult freshwater piscivorous fishes in oligohaline vegetated habitats in the northern Gulf of Mexico, 2) the relative value of infaunal functional groups to demersal fish growth, also in the northern Gulf of Mexico and 3) the indirect effects of the removal of large predatory fishes on the base of seagrass food webs in the Florida Keys. Finally, one planned project will be to investigate the degree to which seagrass detritus can subsidize the productivity of macroinvertebrates in nearby unvegetated habitats.
The overall significance of this research lies in its attempt to understand the processes that control the distribution and productivity of submerged vegetated habitats throughout the western Atlantic Ocean. Because of the widespread occurrence of these habitats, the extraordinary productivity, and richness of their associated biota, an understanding of the factors controlling their distribution and the degree to which they subsidize the productivity of nearby less productive habitats is essential to our understanding of how the overall productivity of nearshore waters is determined.
Education:
Ph.D., University of Alabama, 1989
Selected Current Research Grants
- Lead PI - Alabama Center for Ecological Resilience. Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (2015-2018). - $6,497,054
- Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and MESC/Dauphin Island Sea Lab Collaboration - $790,000.00
- National Science Foundation - "Collaborative Proposal: Gulf Coast ADVANCE: Cross-Institutional Synergy for Women Scientist - $44,652.00
Projects
Publications
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2020
Valentine, J.F. and K. L. Heck, Jr. Herbivory in Seagrass Meadows: an Evolving Paradigm. Estuaries and Coasts (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00849-3
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Martin, C.W., K.A Lewis, A.M. McDonald, T.P. Spearman, S.B. Alford, R.C. Christian, and J.F. Valentine. Disturbance-driven changes to northern Gulf of Mexico nekton communities following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: evidence for the need for expanded coastal monitoring systems. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 155: 111098. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111098.
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Stapleton, C.A., D.W. Haywick, M.L. Julius, L. Novoveska, and J.F. Valentine. How anthropogenic activities impacted Polecat Bay near Mobile, Alabama, USA: a paleoecological study and forensic investigation. Environmental Forensics. doi.org/10.1080/15275922.2020.1836073.
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2019
Martin, C.W. and J.F. Valentine. Invasion of Eurasian Milfoil Myriophyllum spicatum Lead to a “Trophic Dead End” and Reduced Food Web Complexity in Gulf of Mexico Estuarine Food Webs? Front. Environ. Sci. doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00166
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Seubert, E.A., N.E. Hussey, S.P. Powers, J.F. Valentine, and J.M. Drymon. Assessing trophic flexibility of a predator assemblage across a large estuarine seascape using blood plasma stable isotope analysis. Food Webs. Volume 21. e00132. doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2019.e00132.
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2018
Martin, C.W. and J.F. Valentine. Eurasian milfoil in Gulf of Mexico estuaries: does invasion of complex submerged vegetation lead to a “trophic dead end” in estuarine food webs? PeerJ Preprints. 6:e27454v1. doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27454v1.
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Kauffman, T.C., C.W. Martin, and J.F. Valentine. Hydrological alteration exacerbates the negative impacts of invasive Eurasian milfoil Myriophyllum spicatum by creating hypoxic conditions in a northern Gulf of Mexico estuary. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 592: 97-108.
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2016
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2015
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2014
Martin, C. W. and J. F. Valentine. Tolerance of embryos and hatchlings of the invasive apple snail Pomacea maculata to estuarine conditions Aquatic Ecology. 48:321-326
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Martin, C.W. and J.F. Valentine. Sexual and asexual reproductive strategies of invasive Eurasian milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) in estuarine environments. Hydrobiologia. 727:177-184.
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2013
Peterson, B. J., J. F. Valentine and K. L. Heck. The snapper–grunt pump: Habitat modification and facilitation of the associated benthic plant communities by reef-resident fish. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 441:50-54.
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Rozas, L. P., C.W. Martin, C. W., and J.F. Valentine. Effects of reduced hydrological connectivity on the nursery use of shallow estuarine habitats within a river delta. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 492:9-20
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Blackmon, D. C. and J. F. Valentine. Recurring nocturnal benthic emergence along the coral reef–seagrass interface in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: Evidence of a possible novel prey escape response. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 448:220 -227.
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2012
Lemoine, N. P. and J. F. Valentine. Structurally complex habitats provided by Acropora palmata influence ecosystem processes on a reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Coral Reefs 31:779 -786.
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2011
Martin, C. M. and J. F. Valentine. Impacts of a Habitat-Forming Exotic Species on Estuarine Structure and Function: An Experimental Assessment of Eurasian Milfoil. Estuaries and Coasts. 34:364 -372.
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2010
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2009
Chaplin, G. and J. F. Valentine. Secondary production of macroinvertebrates in the tidal influenced Mobile Bay Delta. Estuaries and Coasts 32:319 -332.
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Goecker, M., J. F. Valentine, S. S. Sklenar and G. Chaplin. Influence from hydrological modification on energy and nutrient transference in a deltaic food web. Estuaries and Coasts. 32: 173 -187.
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2008
Valentine J. F., K. L.Heck, Jr., D. Blackmon, B. J. Peterson, M. E. Goecker, J. Christian, R. M. Kroutil, M. A. VanderKlift , K. D. Kirsch, and M. Beck. Exploited species impacts on trophic linkages along reef -seagrass interfaces in the Florida Keys. Ecological Applications 18:1501 -1515.
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2007
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Fioravanti. G. and J. F. Valentine. Impacts of reef architecture and fishing on food webs in back reef environments of the upper Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Florida Scientist 70:120 -136.
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Park, K., J. F. Valentine, K. R. Weis, and M. R. Dardeau. Effects of Hurricane Ivan on Mobile Bay, Alabama. Journal of Coastal Research 23:1332 -1336.
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2006
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Heck, K. L., J. F. Valentine, J. R. Pennock, G. Chaplin and P. M. Spitzer. How herbivores can mediate the effects of nutrient enrichment on seagrass meadows: unexpected results of a field experiment. Marine Ecology Progress Series 326:145 -156.
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Valentine, J. F. and J. Emmett Duffy. The Central Role of Grazing in Seagrass Ecology. In: SEAGRASSES: BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION. Pp. 463 -501. Springer, Dordrecht.
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Heck, K. L. and J. F. Valentine. Plant-herbivore interactions in seagrass meadows. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 330:420 -436.
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2005
Valentine, J. F. and K. L. Heck, Jr. Interaction strength at the coral reef-seagrass interface: has overfishing diminished the importance of seagrass habitat production for coral reef food webs. Coral Reefs 24:209 -213.
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2004
Valentine, J. F., E. F. Blythe, S. Madhavan and T. D. Sherman. Effects of stimulated herbivory on nitrogen enzyme levels, assimilation and allocation in Thalassia testudinum. Aquatic Botany 79:235 -255.
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2003
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2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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1995
Valentine, J.F., M. Dardeau, M. Zolkewitz and G. Crozier. An environmental assessment of the health of Mobile Bay using benthic infaunal organisms: A report to the Gulf Coast Industrial Environmental Forum. 32 p.