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To find out more about the Urban Marine Ecology (UME) Laboratory at UW Tacoma, please visit the Laboratory page.


About Urban Marine Ecology

Urban Marine Ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology focusing on the characteristics and processes that drive marine ecosystems in urban areas. Unlike terrestrial urban ecology, which has evolved and matured over many decades, urban ecology in coastal environments is a relatively recent phenomenon that has emerged only within the last few decades. Yet it is an active area of research, with scientists around the world regularly contributing new findings and discoveries.

The objective of urbanmarineecology.org is to share emerging knowledge about how marine organisms and communities respond to urban life and about successful eco-shoreline design strategies.

urbanmarineecology.org was created by Dr. Eliza C. Heery, an ecologist studying the effects of urbanization on benthic (= seafloor) ecosystems. You can contact Eliza here and read more about her work below.

About Eliza Heery

(c) Ed Gullekson
Photo by Ed Gullekson

Eliza is a marine ecologist researching ecological processes and community dynamics on urban artificial structures in coastal cities. She received her PhD from the University of Washington, MS from Virginia Tech, and BS from Emory University. Upon completion of her PhD she served as a postdoc at the National University of Singapore before moving to Smithsonian’s MarineGEO program. In December 2022, she joined the faculty of the University of Washington Tacoma as an Assistant Professor in Ecology.

Eliza’s research has explored several aspects of urbanized marine ecology, from the ecological role of artificial structures and armored shorelines, to the response of specific organisms to urban environmental conditions. Here are some highlights:

Follow Eliza on Twitter, Instagram, Google Scholar, or ResearchGate.